New research shows AI adoption is most often blocked by security concerns, budget, and unclear ROI
BOSTON and DUBLIN – Scaling AI remains a major challenge for enterprises, notes a new Forrester Consulting study commissioned by Tines. Despite heavy investment, the research finds that the most cited barrier to large-scale AI implementations is security and governance concerns (38%), followed by budget constraints (35%), the inability to prove ROI (34%), and fragmented ownership across departments (33%).
The study, entitled “Unlocking AI’s Full Value: How IT Orchestrates Secure, Scalable Innovation,” surveyed 417 IT leaders and practitioners from North America and Europe, all of whom play a central role in shaping their organizations’ AI and automation strategies. The findings underscore that while AI is a top boardroom priority, enterprises continue to struggle in scaling its adoption safely and effectively, leaving many AI initiatives siloed and disconnected.
“AI is on every boardroom agenda and is being used by employees, whether it’s sanctioned or not. But most organizations haven’t yet figured out how to scale it safely and effectively,” said Eoin Hinchy, CEO and co-founder of Tines. “This research confirms what we hear from our customers every day: without IT leading the way, AI projects remain stuck. IT leaders have the expertise to orchestrate AI responsibly, connecting teams and ensuring that security, compliance, and trust are built in from the start.”
As organizations scale AI adoption and usage, IT teams are taking a cautious yet strategic approach, placing governance and compliance at the center of their plans. Over the next year, their top priorities include:
- Focusing on ensuring AI solutions meet privacy and governance requirements (54% of respondents)
- Working to enhance employee experience through stronger, privacy-conscious IT capabilities (44%)
- Aiming to reduce IT costs without compromising compliance (42%)
- Prioritizing efforts to minimize risk, particularly around data security and AI deployments (40%)
- Strengthening the reliability and resilience of IT systems to support AI-driven change (39%)
Prioritizing Orchestration Turns IT Into a Catalyst for AI Adoption and Growth
The study highlights that IT leaders see themselves as essential to making AI deliver real business outcomes. Thirty-eight percent of respondents say IT should own and lead AI orchestration, while another 28% see IT as the coordination hub between departments. Nearly half (48%) strongly agree that IT is uniquely positioned to orchestrate AI across systems, workflows, and teams.
When orchestration is prioritized, the research finds that organizations can scale AI adoption responsibly, embed it into existing workflows without disruption, and accelerate measurable impact. This shift also further elevates IT from a reactive support function to a primary strategic driver of business transformation.
Yet many organizations still underestimate IT’s broader role. Thirty-eight percent of IT leaders say their contributions are frequently overlooked, largely due to visibility gaps at the executive level. Four in ten respondents point to a lack of board-level visibility into IT’s impact, while 37% cite misalignment between IT and executive vision. Closing this gap represents a critical opportunity: by improving communication, alignment through orchestration, IT can cement its role as a central force in enterprise strategy and innovation.
“As AI becomes core to how businesses operate, IT’s role has never been more important,” said Eoin Hinchy, CEO and co-founder of Tines. “When the IT function leads orchestration, they move beyond being seen as just keeping the lights on. They become the driving force that helps organizations scale AI responsibly and unlock a new level of productivity.”
Click here to download “Unlocking AI’s Full Value: How IT Orchestrates Secure, Scalable Innovation.”
About Tines
Tines is the intelligent workflow platform trusted by the world’s most advanced organizations. Companies like Canva, Coinbase, Databricks, Gitlab, Mars, Reddit use Tines to power their most important workflows. With Tines, they’ve built a secure, flexible foundation to operationalize AI and automation, unlocking productivity, moving faster, and future-proofing how work gets done.
Co-headquartered in Dublin and Boston, Tines has raised $272M from investors including Goldman Sachs, SoftBank, Felicis, Addition, Accel, Blossom Capital, and Lux Capital. Learn more at www.tines.com.
