Boards Will Demand ROI On AI In 2026 But Teams Aren't Ready
ITWire, Monday, December 15th, 2025
2025 was the year every board demanded an AI strategy. In 2026, they will demand results. After more than a year of pilots and experiments, most businesses have observed marginal gains at best. In fact, MIT reported that 95 per cent of generative AI pilots are failing. So, what's the solution?
As AI matures, boards will expect experimentation to turn into ROI, but many teams don't have the infrastructure or processes in place to make this a reality. Here are four key ways teams can overcome common challenges and start realising ROI on their AI investments in 2026.
Building a foundation for success
Many organisations are starting to realise that the real limitation with AI adoption is the complexity of fragmented legacy systems. Poor integration between old systems tends to lead to data silos, outdated information and missing context. For AI projects, where data is the lifeblood, poor data can lead to poor outcomes. As such, businesses are realising that AI maturity is directly tied to integration maturity.