The appetite for AI adoption is high, but CIOs across the UK&I are worried the pace is too fast

CIO insights 2026

United Kingdom, Mar 3, 2026

03 MARCH 2026, LONDON, UK: Logicalis, a global technology service provider, has today announced the release of its annual CIO Report, and the adoption of AI is at the forefront of CIOs' minds.

New Data released by Logicalis Global delivers a warning for how AI is being adopted within global organisations

  • 90% of UK CIOs said the appetite for AI adoption has increased in the last 12 months
  • Over a third of UK CIOs (36%) believe the pace of AI adoption within their organisation is "too fast"
  • 61% of UK CIOs said that their organisation's AI strategy is not fully aligned with their overall business plan
  • 38% of CIOs said that, given the challenges it presents, they wish AI hadn't been invented

It is clear from the results that AI is no longer emerging at the edges of the organisation - it is becoming central to how work is done, how decisions are made and how value is created. 90% of UK CIOs said that their organisation's appetite for AI adoption has increased in the last 12 months.

However, this appetite needs to be managed effectively as over a third of UK CIOs (36%) believe the pace of AI adoption within their organisation is “too fast” - which rises to 51% of CIOs globally. Interestingly, this caution may arise from the fact that 61% of UK CIOs said that their organisation's AI strategy is not fully aligned with their overall business plan.

The rapid adoption of AI into global business has meant that governance has sometimes struggled to keep pace. As found in the Logicalis 2026 CIO report, when AI activity advances ahead of business governance, the CIO inherits responsibility for reconciling ambition with accountability. Without stable operating models, organisations risk regulatory exposure, operational disruption and wasted investment that fails to translate into measurable value.
The risk is not that organisations invest in AI, but that they do so without a clear line of sight between experimentation, organisational value and long-term operating models.

Despite the call for caution, UK CIOs admit that AI is already delivering value in specific areas, particularly where data, ownership and processes are relatively well established. The top three areas identified by UK CIOs where the use of AI is having the greatest impact in their organisations are:

  • Improving day-to-day service delivery (59%)
  • Strengthening predictive analytics, data-driven forecasting, and actionable business insights (57%)
  • Enhancing customer experience (48%)

This year's report reveals a complex challenge for CIOs navigating the biggest innovation of our lifetime. Organisations are not short of ambition or appetite for AI; they are short of the frameworks, skills and confidence to deploy it at scale.

The challenge right now is not whether to invest in AI, but how to build the foundations that will make that investment effective, safe and sustainable. Today’s CIO is no longer just a technology operator; they are strategically coordinating risk, ensuring accountability and driving value creation throughout the entire organisation.

Bob Bailkoski
CEO, Logicalis Group

As the UK looks to champion how AI can supercharge growth, unlock new jobs, improve public services and deliver benefits for people across the globe, UK CIOs are asking that AI innovation doesn't develop without stable operating models behind them. What works in a learning environment does not always survive the demands of scale, auditability or regulatory scrutiny. For example:

  • 81% of UK CIOs say that a lack of internal technical skill/ talent is a barrier to AI adoption within their organisation - 27% saying it is a significant barrier
  • 63% said that staff lack skills for responsible AI use, risking compliance and reputational issues

CIOs are navigating a landscape defined by acceleration, fragmentation and rising expectations.
They are being asked to move faster, deliver more value, and assume greater responsibility, often before the organisational foundation needed to support that responsibility is fully in place. For CIOs, the real work now is not proving what AI can do, but making it reliable enough to be scaled with confidence to deliver a net business benefit.

What this latest research reveals isn’t hesitation, but realism. CIOs must now focus on building governance frameworks that evolve alongside AI deployment, ensuring innovation does not outpace operational resilience.

Neil Eke
CEO, Logicalis UK&I

Across all four chapters of the 2026 CIO Report:

  1. Setting the Agenda
  2. From Confidence to Capability
  3. Managing Security in the AI era
  4. The next frontier

A consistent tension among CIOs is clear. Ambition is high, momentum is strong, and belief in AI's potential is widespread. Yet, at the same time, confidence in governance, scalability and long-term control is shaky.

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About the research

At the end of 2025, Logicalis commissioned independent market research specialist Vanson Bourne to do a survey. Vanson Bourne interviewed 1,000 Business and IT professionals across EMEA, APAC, US and South America. Only respondents with “decision-maker” roles in organisations with a minimum of 250 employees, and with involvement with the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) within their organisations, were interviewed. The 2026 CIO report marks the 12th consecutive year Logicalis has undertaken this study.

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Access the report

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Media contacts:

Anthony Monks 
ITPR 
logicalis@itpr.co.uk    
0207 183 8200
07842 386 809


About Logicalis UK&I:

We are Architects of Change™. 

We help organisations succeed in a digital-first world. At Logicalis, we harness our collective technology expertise to help our clients build a blueprint for success, so they can deliver sustainable outcomes that matter.

Our lifecycle services across cloud, connectivity, collaboration and security are designed to help optimise operations, reduce risk and empower employees.

As a global technology service provider, we deliver next-generation digital managed services to provide our clients with real-time visibility and actionable insights across the performance of their digital ecosystem including; reliability, user experience, security, economic performance and sustainability.

Our 7000+ ‘Architects of Change’ are based in 30 territories around the globe, helping our 10,000+ clients across a range of industry sectors, create sustainable outcomes through technology.

Logicalis has annualised revenues of $1.63 billion, from operations in Europe, North America, Latin
America, Asia Pacific, and Africa. It is a division of Datatec Limited, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, with revenues of over $3.6 billion.
 

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