The average UK business is spending £20.6 million on AI this year, up 27% on 2025, according to the second Value of AI in the UK report from SAP, produced with Oxford Economics.
Businesses expect returns on that spending to rise from 22% in 2026 to 39% within two years, and plan to increase investment by a further 45% over the same period. AI supports 31% of tasks in the average UK business today and is expected to support half by 2028.
The report's warning is about readiness. Seven in ten UK businesses (70%) are piloting agent-based use cases, with expected average returns from agentic AI rising from £2.7 million in 2025 to £12.6 million over the next two years. Yet 49% say agents are being deployed faster than they can be standardised and governed, and only 9% consider their governance skills and expertise fully ready. More than six in ten (61%) are still developing the formal processes and oversight they need.
Data is the other brake. Seven in ten (70%) say data quality or availability stops them getting more value from AI, and 67% name integrated data systems as the most useful enabler of readiness. The share of firms taking a strategic, holistic approach has risen from 7% to 11%, while 41% describe their approach as piecemeal and 40% prioritise AI investment at departmental level.
"UK businesses are at a turning point with AI," said Leila Romane, Managing Director, SAP UK & Ireland. "This means moving beyond isolated pilots, establishing strong data and governance foundations, and putting people at the centre of their AI transformation."
Naomi Weir, Technology and Innovation Director at the CBI, which contributed insight to the report, argued that governance helps rather than hinders. "Good governance is not a brake on AI adoption - it's actually the opposite," she said.
On skills, 83% of businesses are already upskilling or reskilling staff, and 79% agree that getting full value needs workforce change beyond technical training. Claire Meadows, People Transformation Director at Mitie, said an AI assistant handled more than 29,000 HR interactions in three months and helped cut calls to People Support by 36%.
SAP commissioned Oxford Economics to run an online survey between March and May 2026. The sample was 2,600 respondents at director level or above across 13 countries, split evenly between midmarket organisations and enterprises. Financial estimates were collected in US dollars and converted to sterling at a rate of 0.75.
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