Eight in 10 corporate IT leaders recognise the importance of a digital work environment for using AI, but only 10% of organisations have redesigned their work systems to fit AI, a survey showed. The analysis said organisations are struggling to deliver tangible results because they are not prepared, despite a boom in AI adoption.

On Oct. 12, IT outlet TechRadar reported that Lenovo analysed companies’ AI adoption and workplace readiness in its sixth Work Reborn report. The survey covered 1,200 IT leaders at companies with more than 1,000 employees in 12 countries including the United States, Britain and Japan in August.

In the survey, 80% of respondents said a digital work environment is key to successful AI transition. The share citing AI innovation as a major IT task reached 76%, but only 27% of organisations had expanded AI across multiple work areas.

That suggests companies are focusing on adopting AI tools while falling behind on fundamental changes in how work is done. Only 10% of companies had redesigned work processes, employee roles and IT support systems to fit AI.

Systems for measuring the performance of AI investment were also lacking. Only 10% of organisations continuously measured work improvements from AI use and reflected them in investment decisions.

A gap also emerged in employee training and adoption management. While 70% of companies run AI adoption programmes, only 12% measure usage rates and effects by employee or team and reflect them in training and technology adoption.

Lenovo assessed AI workplace readiness across five areas: architecture, operations, trust, workforce and value. Organisations applying AI across core work functions averaged 4.1 out of 5, while organisations at the review stage scored 2.7.

Rakshit Ghura (락시트 구라), vice president of digital workplace solutions at Lenovo, stressed that companies are curious about what value they are getting from AI investment. He said they should assess shorter processing times, fewer repetitive problems and improved quality of outputs.

Lenovo suggested that AI adoption alone cannot guarantee productivity gains. It said companies need to redesign work flows, technology and management systems overall so people and AI agents can work together.