TLDR: A new global study by management and technology consultancy BearingPoint highlights a significant and widening gap in AI adoption among organizations. The report, titled ‘Resilient by design: How Agentic AI is reinventing organizations,’ indicates that only 7% of companies have fully integrated AI, with merely 8% successfully scaling their AI initiatives. It emphasizes the critical shift towards ‘agentic AI’ as the next competitive frontier and warns that laggards risk falling behind in innovation and resilience.
AMSTERDAM – Management and technology consultancy BearingPoint has released a new thought leadership report, ‘Resilient by design: How Agentic AI is reinventing organizations,’ revealing a stark and growing disparity in artificial intelligence adoption across global enterprises. The study, published on September 23, 2025, underscores an urgent need for C-suite leaders to move beyond pilot projects and embed AI into the core of their operating models, particularly in preparation for the emerging frontier of ‘agentic AI.’
The report’s findings paint a challenging picture: only 7% of organizations have fully integrated AI across their operations, and a mere 8% are scaling their AI initiatives as planned. This indicates a widening gap between AI leaders and those lagging behind, who are struggling with scaling challenges, workforce mismatches, and the slow adoption of next-generation agentic AI architectures.
Frederic Gigant, Partner and Global Leader Customer & Growth at BearingPoint, emphasized the strategic importance of this shift, stating, “AI is the new backbone of competitiveness. Generative AI may have grabbed all the headlines, but the real inflection point is agentic AI. Companies that rethink and rebuild target operating models around agentic architectures will not only gain efficiency but also set the pace of innovation and resilience for their industries.”
The study, based on a global survey of 1,010 senior executives conducted in August 2025, covered key markets including Germany, France, the UK, the Nordics, other European countries, the US, and China. Respondents represented major industries such as financial services, automotive, retail, manufacturing, and technology. BearingPoint’s consulting experience with leading organizations on AI transformation programs also informed the report.
The maturity gap is evident, with 26% of organizations having moved beyond pilots to scale AI across core operations, while a significant 20% remain hesitant and risk falling further behind. Key obstacles hindering widespread AI adoption include regulatory concerns (cited by 47% of respondents), legacy infrastructure (35%), and resistance to change within the organization (26%).
Furthermore, the study highlights a dual challenge in the workforce. A staggering 92% of organizations report up to 20% workforce overcapacity in legacy roles, while 94% face acute shortages of over 30% in AI-critical skills. This mismatch underscores the need for strategic workforce planning and upskilling initiatives to bridge the talent gap.
Also Read:
- Google Cloud Report: Over Half of Enterprises Now Deploying AI Agents, Driving Accelerated ROI
- IBM Research Reveals AI Agents as Indispensable for Enterprise Workflows, Not Merely Experimental
BearingPoint warns that organizations delaying comprehensive AI integration risk not only falling behind in efficiency but also forfeiting their ability to lead in innovation, resilience, and customer trust. The report provides a roadmap for organizations to evolve into resilient, adaptive enterprises capable of thriving in a future where AI agents act, make decisions, and collaborate in real-time.
