UK firms overconfident as AI integration badly lags

OneAdvanced said UK organisations have increased investment in artificial intelligence faster than they can integrate it into day-to-day operations, leaving many companies with fragmented systems and uneven results.

The software supplier published findings from its 10th Annual Trends Report, based on insights from more than 4,500 UK senior decision makers across a range of industries. It said the gap between AI ambition and operational delivery has widened as organisations deploy new tools across limited parts of their workflows.

The report described AI adoption and integration as the top business priority for respondents. It also found that nearly half of organisations still use AI in less than a quarter of their operations.

OneAdvanced said perceptions of progress remain high. It reported that 80% of organisations believe they are equal to or ahead of their competition in AI adoption. The same research said 51% believe they are ahead of competitors when it comes to AI-enabled workflows, while 30% consider themselves on par.

The findings point to an overconfidence in AI maturity, according to the company. It said many organisations have introduced AI, but they have not embedded it into everyday work at scale.

Integration issues

Integration emerged as a persistent barrier. OneAdvanced said 58.8% of organisations report difficulties integrating software platforms. In the report text, the company also put the figure at 59%.

More than half of organisations, at 56%, described themselves as being in "automation purgatory". OneAdvanced used that term for organisations caught between manual processes and fully integrated, AI-enabled operations.

The company said these gaps slow decision-making and restrict visibility across organisations. It also said they reduce the impact of AI investment in operational settings.

Uneven value

The report also found a perception gap between senior executives and operational teams on the benefits of AI spending. OneAdvanced said the C-suite believes it extracts three times more value from AI investments than operational managers.

The company linked this gap to inconsistent delivery of data-enabled decision support across organisations. It said insight appears to reach senior leadership more reliably than it reaches teams responsible for front-line delivery.

OneAdvanced positioned the findings as evidence that organisations have prioritised new technology purchasing over the harder work of integrating data, processes, and governance. It said the outcome often looks like isolated use cases rather than organisation-wide change.

Skills bottleneck

Skills gaps also featured prominently in the research. OneAdvanced said organisations identify skills gaps as a major organisational challenge, yet training and development rank among the lowest business priorities.

The company said that imbalance limits the ability to operationalise AI at scale. It also said it slows effective human-machine collaboration inside organisations.

Many organisations have increased AI-related activity without building the internal capability to manage new workflows, the company said. It also pointed to a need for stronger workforce readiness alongside systems integration.

Longer timelines

The report compared current conditions with expectations from a decade ago. OneAdvanced said earlier editions of its trends research found that British organisations expected digital transformation to be largely complete by 2026.

"Ten years ago, our Annual Trends research found that British organisations expected their digital transformation to be largely complete by 2026. However, this is far from the case. While innovation and investment have raced ahead, integration lags and the failure to adequately prepare people to harness AI's potential means that the promise of human-machine collaboration remains out of reach. If the UK wants to lead on the global stage, it has to drive better AI adoption at pace as a matter of urgency, or be left behind," said Simon Walsh, Chief Executive Officer, OneAdvanced.

OneAdvanced is based in Birmingham and sells sector-focused software. It said its customer base spans areas including health and social care, education, housing, legal services, and supply chains.

The company said organisations will need to address platform integration, workforce readiness, and execution if they want AI investment to translate into wider operational use.