A surprising paradox has emerged in the enterprise AI landscape: despite unprecedented investment and attention, companies are actually becoming less mature in their AI implementation. ServiceNow, a cloud computing company, and Oxford Economics recently released their 2025 Enterprise AI Maturity Index study revealing that average AI maturity scores dropped nine points on a 100-point scale compared to the previous year.
This counterintuitive finding reflects a broader reality about the breakneck pace of AI development. The technology is evolving faster than most organizations can adapt, creating a gap between ambition and execution that’s leaving many businesses feeling less confident about their AI capabilities than they were just months ago.
The rapid evolution of AI technology has created what amounts to a moving target for enterprise adoption. In 2022, OpenAI introduced the business world to generative AI through ChatGPT, fundamentally changing expectations about what artificial intelligence could accomplish. By 2024, the focus shifted to AI agents—autonomous software programs that can perform tasks and make decisions without constant human oversight. Now, “agentic AI” represents the latest frontier, where these agents can work together in coordinated systems to handle complex, multi-step business processes.
This relentless pace means that companies who felt confident about their AI strategy six months ago now find themselves questioning whether they’re even asking the right questions. A business that successfully deployed a few localized AI use cases in 2024 might have felt sophisticated, but the emergence of AI agents has revealed how much more is possible—and how much they still don’t know.
The complexity extends beyond just keeping up with new capabilities. Organizations are grappling with uncertainty around unproven pilot projects, the limitations of basic use cases, and the challenge of scaling AI initiatives across different departments and functions. Naturally, this has made many companies more cautious and reserved in their approach.
However, not all companies are falling behind. ServiceNow identifies a group of progressive leaders called “AI Pacesetters”—organizations that view uncertainty as an opportunity rather than a roadblock. These companies scored nine points higher in AI maturity and were significantly more likely to report improved experiences, operational efficiency, and faster innovation from their AI implementations.
What sets these organizations apart isn’t just their technology choices, but their mindset. Instead of being overwhelmed by AI’s rapid evolution, they use it as motivation to challenge assumptions and explore more ambitious pilot projects. This approach helps them discover more impactful use cases and achieve better business outcomes.
The ServiceNow study evaluated organizations across five critical dimensions of AI readiness:
Early-stage AI maturity typically involves companies beginning to understand AI and exploring potential applications within their organization. Full maturity represents transformation, where AI vision focuses on innovation and drives fundamental changes to how the business operates.
The decline in average scores suggests that as AI capabilities expand, companies are realizing how much more sophisticated their approach needs to become. This represents a healthy reality check rather than actual regression—organizations are simply measuring themselves against a higher standard.
Rachael Sandel, group chief information officer at Orica, a global mining services company, recently won a ServiceNow 2025 Pacesetter Award for her team’s AI leadership. Her approach offers a practical framework that other organizations can adapt.
Sandel identified seven essential steps that proved crucial to Orica’s AI advancement:
Rather than creating a standalone AI strategy, align AI initiatives with your established technology roadmap and incorporate them into existing business functions. This integration supports collective objectives including safety, productivity, and sustainability while avoiding duplicated efforts.
Create a solid technological foundation that can support advanced AI applications. Legacy systems often cannot handle the data processing requirements and integration needs that modern AI solutions demand.
Form two distinct groups to handle different aspects of AI governance:
Establish clear principles aligned with core company values, implement structured risk management approaches, and create three separate governance layers through the AI Center of Excellence, AI Council, and internal audit functions.
Hire individuals who demonstrate curiosity and adaptability while providing comprehensive training and upskilling opportunities for existing employees. Consolidate AI expertise within the Center of Excellence and prepare management for the operational changes that AI implementation requires.
Extend current pilot projects to include AI agents—autonomous software programs that can handle tasks, make decisions, and interact with business systems. Begin integrating these agents into existing workflows while simultaneously planning for broader adoption where agents work alongside humans and coordinate across multiple platforms and data sources.
Look beyond current use cases to envision how AI could fundamentally transform business processes, customer experiences, and operational models.
Most businesses currently approach AI through familiar frameworks, asking tactical questions: How can we implement AI in our current work? How can we use it to automate repetitive tasks or optimize supply chains? While these applications provide value, they represent incremental improvements rather than transformational change.
The companies achieving breakthrough results ask fundamentally different questions. Instead of “How do we add AI to what we do?” they ask “How should we reimagine what we do with AI capabilities?” This shift from augmentation to transformation requires questioning basic assumptions about business processes, customer interactions, and organizational structures.
The difference between “having a vision” and “being visionary” becomes crucial here. Visionary organizations question why something should be done, not just how to do it better. They recognize that AI’s full potential requires genuine transformation, starting with internal processes and extending to customer experiences and market positioning.
The decline in AI maturity scores, while initially concerning, actually signals a healthy development. Organizations are becoming more sophisticated in their understanding of what AI maturity truly requires. They’re moving beyond surface-level implementations toward comprehensive strategies that address technology, people, governance, and business transformation simultaneously.
For companies feeling overwhelmed by AI’s rapid pace, the message is encouraging: it’s still early, and there’s time to build a solid foundation. The AI Pacesetters demonstrate that success comes not from rushing to implement the latest AI trends, but from thoughtfully building the organizational capabilities needed to harness AI’s transformational potential.
The companies that emerge as leaders won’t necessarily be those who adopted AI first, but those who built the strongest foundations for sustained AI-driven transformation. In a landscape where the technology continues evolving at breakneck speed, that foundation becomes the ultimate competitive advantage.
Join hosts Anthony, Shane, and Francesca for essential insights on AI's impact on jobs, careers, and business. Stay ahead of the curve – listen now!
Join hosts Anthony, Shane, and Francesca for essential insights on AI's impact on jobs, careers, and business. Stay ahead of the curve – listen now!
No hype. No doom. Just actionable resources and strategies to accelerate your success in the age of AI.
