#ai-readiness

#ai-readiness

Cisco's recent AI Readiness Index shows that in EMEA, only 11% of companies are completely ready for AI compared to 13% worldwide. This is a number that hasn't changed much in three years. While 82% of organizations intend to use AI, and 44% anticipate a significant increase in AI workloads within a year, only 30% believe their current IT infrastructure can support today's AI technologies.

Most haven't even defined what they want their AI agents to do. The networking hardware manufacturer found in its 2025 AI Readiness Index that most companies are planning to deploy additional AI agents in the next few years, and 86 percent expect it to improve employee productivity within three years, but those expectations don't necessarily match the reality of what it takes for such an initiative to succeed.

Regarding AI agents, the survey found ambition was outpacing readiness. Overall, 83% of organisations planned to deploy AI agents, and nearly 40% expected them to work alongside employees within a year. But the study discovered that, for majority of these companies, AI agents were exposing weak foundations - that is, systems that can barely handle reactive, task-based AI, let alone AI systems that act autonomously and learn continuously.

A new survey reveals a striking "AI readiness gap" in the modern workplace: those using AI tools the most-including top executives and Gen Z employees-are often the least likely to receive meaningful guidance, training, or even company approval for their use. The findings come from WalkMe, an SAP company, which surveyed over 1,000 U.S. workers for the 2025 edition of its " AI in the Workplace " survey.