Dive Brief:
- AI has become one of the largest enterprise investments, with 80% of AI spending sitting outside the IT budget, according to a Wednesday report from BCG. The research group surveyed more than 1,300 CIOs and other tech leaders about the role of the technology within their organizations.
- Spending on AI jumped from 1.7% of revenue in late 2025 to 3.3% now, the report found. A growing share of that spending is going to non-technical deployment, and is earmarked for initiatives like AI talent or governance development.
- AI represents business transformation, so it makes sense that the investment is being spread out across different teams, Vlad Lukic, global leader for BCG’s tech and digital advantage practice, told CIO Dive in an email. “What CIOs do need, though, is visibility and a common management model across that spend,” he said.
Dive Insight:
With widening AI use across the enterprise, CIOs will need to develop a broader view of where the technology is deployed, how it's tied to business outcomes and what overall cost looks like.
“More often, CIOs need to play the role of a chief integration officer by setting the architecture and controls,” Lukic said. “Helping the business scale what works and making sure spend can be connected back to value, rather than managed as a collection of disconnected projects.”
CIOs feel pressure to successfully adopt AI and deliver ROI — 61% of tech leaders said they fear losing their job if they fail to lead their organization through the AI transition, according to a Writer survey published in April.
Enterprises continue to fuel AI investments in pursuit of productivity gains despite a lack of clear ROI as the technology evolves. Agentic AI can boost productivity, but the C-suite has struggled to find sustained business value, according to a July report published by Accenture.
Agentic AI differs from earlier prediction models in that it can move beyond helping with an individual task and start reshaping an end-to-end workflow, Lukic said. That’s where companies are reporting value, he added.
Agentic systems are on track to account for two-fifths of all AI value by 2030, and 42% of companies said they expect to grant agents autonomy by then, the BCG report found. Nearly half of tech leaders currently attribute measurable value to AI.
But autonomy itself doesn’t create value, Lukic said. Companies getting the most from their agents have structured operating models, data, ownership and controls around their agents.
BCG's report suggested that companies orchestrating an AI overhaul focus 10% of their effort on algorithms, 20% on technology and data, and the remaining 70% on people, organization and processes.
A strong tech stack won’t reap ROI in a static workflow or with employees that don’t adopt it, Lukic said.
“The bulk of the work is in redesigning processes, changing roles and ways of working, building new skills, and managing the organizational change required to make AI part of day-to-day operations,” Lukic said.
