Only 17% of Indian firms fully ready for AI value realisation: Cisco report

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to reshape global business dynamics, a new report by Cisco has revealed that only 17 per cent of organisations in India are fully prepared to realise the full value of AI, highlighting a significant readiness gap despite increasing adoption and investment in the technology.

The Cisco AI Readiness Index 2025, a comprehensive global study, surveyed 8,000 senior IT and business leaders across 26 industries from organisations with over 500 employees. The double-blind survey assessed how effectively businesses are deploying, managing, and scaling AI initiatives to generate measurable value.

According to the findings, while 32 per cent of Indian businesses now rank AI as a top budget priority, a large proportion continue to face structural challenges including unclear success metrics, insufficient infrastructure, and lack of scalable implementation frameworks. These weaknesses, the report notes, are undermining the ability of companies to extract tangible business outcomes from their AI investments.

The report also highlighted a growing sense of urgency among Indian enterprises: half of all organisations surveyed said they have felt an increased need over the past six months to prove the return on AI investments. However, only 40 per cent have established clear processes to measure AI’s impact, and a mere 24 per cent have successfully moved AI use cases beyond the pilot phase into full-scale deployment.

Commenting on the findings, Sanjay Kaul, Managing Director of Cisco India, said, “Indian organisations are increasingly recognising AI as a strategic priority. However, our study shows that realising the full value of AI requires not just investment, but clear measurement frameworks, robust infrastructure, and an enterprise-wide culture that embraces data-driven decision-making. The opportunity is immense, but readiness is the differentiator.”

Cisco’s findings mirror a broader global trend where enthusiasm for AI is outpacing operational readiness. Industry experts suggest that India’s strong technology ecosystem, coupled with supportive government policies on digital transformation, provides a unique opportunity to bridge this readiness about sustained investment in AI literacy, infrastructure modernisation, and outcome-driven deployment will be crucial to realising long-term value.