AI success starts in the boardroom and needs an enterprise-wide agenda

Organizations that treat AI as a growth engine, rebuilding their foundations accordingly and managing the human implications with intent, are emerging with a competitive edge. A wide-ranging survey from consultancy NTT Data shines a light on how companies are successfully leveraging AI.

Tech strategies and overall business strategies are increasingly seen as two sides of the same coin. That is the takeaway from the study, which surveyed 2,500 senior executives across 35 countries and reveals a fundamental shift in the corporate world.

Categorizing businesses as either AI leaders or AI laggards, the survey shows that nearly half (46%) of AI leaders said they “aim to move fast and lead the market with AI.” Only a quarter of AI laggards had the same ambition.

A holistic approach

Most organizations that have been successful with AI have moved past simply aligning their technology with their business goals and have instead fused the two into a single, unified approach. This integration is no longer a supporting feature but has become the primary driver of operational and financial destinies.

The data highlights a significant performance gap between organizations that have mastered this technology and those that have not. Approximately 15% of the surveyed companies are classified as leaders because they have well-defined strategies and have realized much higher profits than their peers.

While around a quarter of AI laggards said they were willing to “let others take the risks first” when it comes to AI strategy, only 17% of AI leaders said the same. This shows that AI leaders are wagering on AI integration – a gamble that in many cases pays off.

These leading organizations are nearly two and a half times more likely to report revenue growth exceeding 10% and are more than three times as likely to operate with high profit margins. These companies often choose to move quickly and lead the market rather than waiting for others to take risks first.

“Once AI and business strategies are aligned, the single most effective move is to pick one or two domains that deliver disproportionate value and redesign them end-to-end with AI,” said Abhijit Dubey, CEO of NTT Data.

Investments

The companies that are leaders in AI work to create a cycle where investments in early successes later drive further reinvestment and stimulate growth. The study shows that the level of investment in AI matters.

Leaders are almost twice as likely as all other organizations to describe their AI spending as “very significant” and many plan to significantly increase their investment over the next two years because they are already seeing results.

Beyond just LLMs

A key development identified in the research is the evolution of technology from systems that create content to systems that can perform useful actions. While systems that generate text and images (mainly LLMs) became common several years ago, there has been a trend towards autonomous systems that can execute and optimize tasks in a continuous cycle.

This change allows organizations to transform static work processes into systems that adapt to new information. Furthermore, many leaders are now prioritizing security by using localized infrastructure that keeps data within national borders or company-controlled environments to ensure compliance with regional laws.

Human touch is still key

The human element remains a critical component of this technological transition. The most successful organizations do not use AI to replace their employees. Instead, they focus on upskilling their highly skilled staff, allowing them to use these tools to increase their productivity and focus on more complex work.

This strategy involves careful management of organizational change to address employee fears and build confidence in new ways of working. When experienced employees embrace AI tools, they often become the most effective advocates for progress within their companies.

To manage this large-scale transformation, leading organizations are centralizing their oversight and creating specialized leadership positions. More than three-quarters of these top performers have appointed a dedicated officer to oversee AI, ensuring that innovation remains aligned with business outcomes and risk management.

These leaders emphasize the importance of rebuilding core systems with intelligence built directly into them rather than just adding it as a surface-level feature. Ultimately, the study suggests that the ability to harness these advanced tools is now a requirement for any organization seeking long-term growth and stability.

“AI accountability now belongs in the boardroom and demands an enterprise-wide agenda,” said Yutaka Sasaki, president and CEO of NTT Data Group. “AI leaders are already are using AI to differentiate, grow, and reinvent how humans and machines create value together.”