Enterprises want to go faster on the AI front

This was always deemed to be the year that talk turned into action around artificial intelligence (AI) and customers would adopt the technology, but many want to go faster than they have been over 2025, according to research carried out by Climb Channel Solutions.

The channel player’s AI readiness report found that 52% of executives it quizzed had increased their investments this year in AI tools and services, but felt that they could do more.

That appetite for further investment was matched with a desire to get a quick return on investment (ROI). Many in the UK wanted to see a return in under six months, but Climb’s report found that the process from AI exploration to execution took just under 12 months and less than 11 months from deployment to ROI. The reasons for that demand included the pressure that IT decision-makers were coming under from their own customers to provide more AI functionality.

The report indicated that customers still needed to train staff, with just under half of UK enterprise staffers yet to get any instruction.

Aside from delivering the products and training, the report also underlined the security challenge and the need for the channel to help introduce policies and secure data.

Climb found that more than half the workforce was already using AI tools, often without bosses knowing, with many organisations failing to provide guidance on which tools were safe to use. Some 54% even indicated that they entered confidential data into AI platforms.

Ultimately, workplace culture is key to supporting the success of AI roll-out. Climb’s report found that there were mixed views, with a quarter viewing the deployment of the technology as too quick, but a similar number took the opposite view and complained of slowness.

Climb stated that AI success required leadership alignment, clear cross-organisational communication, and improved employee confidence.

Gerard Brophy, CRO at Climb, said it had undertaken the report, with the assistance of Censuswide, to get a better picture of current customer attitudes to AI, adding: “Climb’s AI readiness report was designed to better understand how enterprises are capitalising on the huge opportunities presented by AI – both internally and for their customers.

“It is clear that momentum continues to build, but there is so much more growth that can be achieved by harnessing AI’s capabilities to take businesses forward,” he said. “This was also an opportunity to highlight the channel opportunity. Partners and vendors should be very optimistic about what lies ahead.

“For us at Climb, this is why we are always looking to engage with new businesses, technologies and partners that support organisations in leveraging AI to drive their businesses forward.”

Brophy said that those channel opportunities would continue to emerge as enterprises continued to ramp up AI spending, adding: “What really jumped out at us when we reviewed the data was the majority of enterprise leaders revealing that there is growing demand among their customers for more AI solutions and services. For partners and vendors, this is a huge growth opportunity.”