Midsize companies expect AI gains, but integration woes curb progress

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Dive Brief:

Midsized businesses are expecting a boost in productivity from the deployment of AI tools, according to a Netrio report published Monday. More than 70% of 410 midmarket IT leaders surveyed by Censuswide in April said the technology will particularly benefit IT operations and service desks.
However, midsized businesses still face barriers to AI development, with security, privacy and compliance concerns among the most commonly cited obstacles, identified by nearly 1 in 5 respondents. IT leaders also listed data readiness and integration complexity as key barriers.
“AI has moved from experimentation to execution in the midmarket, but execution is where the real challenges begin,” Al Calabrese, VP of AI services at Netrio, said in the release accompanying the report. “Companies are investing in AI but are struggling with how to get real returns from it.”

Dive Insight
AI adoption and ambitions are running high, with 82% of respondents saying they’ve already rolled out the technology in production. Yet Netrio’s report highlighted a disconnect between the momentum and the operational maturity needed to sustain it, with just 26% saying they’ve scaled and governed AI across operations.
Alongside IT operations, software development and cybersecurity, emerged as areas where leaders expect the most impact, reflecting growing confidence in AI’s ability to automate routine tasks and lift workforce productivity.
As the power of more advanced AI models come into view, cybersecurity worries are lingering.
Nearly three-quarters of executives reported either a confirmed AI-related security incident or a near miss over the past year. On the matter of governance, fewer than half said they have a formal AI policy with actively enforced controls.
The disconnect extends to how AI is being used day to day. While nearly all of respondents are confident their organizations will see measurable ROI from AI within 24 months, just over half said they act on AI outputs without human review, raising questions about whether oversight is keeping pace with adoption.
Despite concerns, investment isn’t slowing. Almost 9 in 10 of those surveyed plan to invest at least $100,000 in AI over the next one to two years, and more than half will fuel their AI plans with $250,000 or more over the same period.
AI spending is increasingly targeted at the areas respondents flagged as gaps: AI training and upskilling, data platform and integration work, AI tool licenses, cloud infrastructure and security tooling and controls.
The findings point to a shift in market dynamics, with the next phase of AI adoption less defined by access to the technology and more by organizations’ ability to harness it effectively.
“What will set the winners apart from the stragglers is who can create a usable, governable, secure, and supportable AI environment,” the report said. “The next phase of AI success in the midmarket will belong to those willing to do the hard work to ensure their environment is ready to operationalize and empower the full extent of their AI tools.”