The headline number is a 102% increase in UK AI spending over the past year. The maturity number is less flattering: a composite score of 51 out of 100, with only 6% of UK organisations having made progress on autonomous workflows, and just 15% having achieved the streamlined, integrated cross-functional AI that vendors promise when organisations sign the contract.
Four specific barriers keep surfacing across the 250 UK respondents. Data quality and access block 73% of executives before they can meaningfully deploy AI at scale. Legacy systems, a less discussed but structurally deeper problem, have been replaced by only 17% of UK businesses with integrated platforms. Governance is in the same bracket: only 20% of organisations have implemented AI testing, auditing and risk controls. And 63% say they use agentic AI but use it, largely, to assist individual employees rather than redesign how workflows move across business units.
"UK organisations are investing heavily in AI, which tells us the challenge is not ambition. It is connecting that commitment to the operational infrastructure that makes AI work across the enterprise. Too many businesses are bolting AI onto fragmented systems, disconnected assistants and workflows that have not yet been reimagined. The next phase is about moving from isolated pilots to trusted, end-to-end workflows that can deliver at scale," said Damian Stirrett, Group Vice President and General Manager, UK & Ireland, ServiceNow.
The index also identifies a group ServiceNow calls AI leaders — 21% of surveyed organisations, characterised not by higher AI budgets but by governance maturity. This group reports a current AI ROI of 164%, rising to a projected 199% within two years. They are five times more productive, 2.6 times better at scaling AI, and 2.5 times more effective at managing risk than their peers. The common thread is not a particular technology stack. It is having built the compliance, audit and data management layer before scaling the AI layer on top.
Across EMEA, the spending picture is similar: a 113% increase in AI budgets over the past year, with the shortfall in autonomous workflows as the lowest-scoring pillar region-wide. By 2027, AI is expected to account for just over 20% of IT budgets across the region. The study was conducted by ThoughtLab on ServiceNow's behalf, surveying 4,500 executives and 2,000 employees across 19 countries and 12 industries.
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