Houston, Texas - April 24, 2025 - Chief Outsiders, the nation's premier provider of fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Chief Sales Officer (CSO), and Chief Revenue Officer services to mid-market companies, today released findings from a survey of 237 CEOs and other C-suite executives regarding the application of AI in their organizations. The “AI Maturity Assessment” survey reveals that, while companies have made promising strides in AI adoption around marketing, customer experience, and operations, they tend to underinvest in strategic applications.

Certain areas are seeing rapid AI adoption. A significant number of companies (38%) report using AI to improve products and services to automate and enhance marketing processes and operations (37%), improve their customer experience (32%), and optimize operations (34%).

AI adoption is less prevalent in other areas, however, such as automating and improving sales processes (26%). And while 38% of respondents use AI for product and service improvement, only 20% agree or strongly agree that they regularly use AI-curated data and insights to improve products and services. Likewise, only 20% say that they use AI to enhance data-driven decision making.

Areas of Neglect

The survey suggests a general lack of emphasis on strategic integration. Only 16% of respondents said they agree and 5% said they strongly agree with the statement: “We proactively prioritize the most important AI-driven technologies to invest in.”

Question: We proactively prioritize the most important AI-driven technologies to invest in.

The executives surveyed also indicate little concern for measuring the impacts of AI initiatives. Only 19% of respondents report tracking the effect that AI has on business transformation. The figure is even lower when the same question is asked about AI’s impact on the operating model (17%).

Question: We measure and manage the impact that AI is making in our business transformation.

Talent management and acquisition also suggest a lack of AI maturity. Only 17% of companies proactively hire candidates with AI proficiency, although 32% do provide opportunities for staff to develop AI-related competencies.

Question: We proactively seek new hires who are proficient using AI.

Takeaways for Business Leaders

“This survey validates two hypotheses we held,” said Ed Valdez, Partner and CMO at Chief Outsiders, who designed the survey. “First, a significant number of American companies are applying AI in areas such as marketing, customer experience, and operations. Second, executives aren’t aligning AI investments with their business goals and strategies, nor are they measuring its impact or adapting hiring and training practices that reflect its growing importance.

“Companies that don’t embed the technology within their broader growth strategy will ultimately fail to realize the full value that AI can bring to their business, their employees, and their customers. We expect, however, to see significant leaps in operational efficiency and growth within the businesses that have made AI-maturity a strategic priority.”

Note to the Editor

The full survey report, including answers to 22 questions, is available upon request. Ed Valdez is also available for interviews.

A visual representation of the survey’s findings can be found at this link. The following note may accompany the visual: “The vast majority of respondents are in the Discover stage of the AI life cycle and are aspiring to advance to the Emerge and Formalize stages.”

Methodology Note

The survey was conducted from January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024, sampling 237 CEOs and C-suite leaders of American companies. The survey has a margin of error of ±6% and a confidence level of 95%.