BCG AI RADAR

From Potential to Profit:

Closing the AI Impact Gap

JANUARY 2025
SURVEY METHODOLOGY

Global research of 1,803 C-level executives on AI in 2025

Executive roles Company revenue Markets Industries and key functions
US 214 TMT 323
14% 14% India 200
Germany 198 Financial institutions 256
5%
UK 182
Consumer/retail 250
France 171
31%
Italy 102 Healthcare/medical 192
CEO
30% Singapore 101
CSO
<$500M Transportation/travel/tourism 145
CxO 1 Brazil 87
17% $500M–<$1B
CTO Japan 82 Energy 144
$1B–<$2B
CIO UAE 81
8% $2B–<$5B
Manufacturing 142
CDO2 Spain 79
>$5B
9% C-suite3 16% Nigeria 65
Industrial goods 110
Indonesia 64
7%
Australia 46 Public sector 110
Saudi Arabia 45
Insurance 49
22% Greater China 38
27% South Africa 28 Marketing 41
Morocco 12
Qatar 8 Real estate 41

Source: BCG AI Radar 2025 Survey

Note: Revenue thresholds for survey inclusion: $500+ million USD (US, Europe, Japan, Australia); $100+ million USD (rest of APAC, Middle East, Africa). Survey conducted September to December 2024.
1
CxO represents other executives who directly report to the CEO (e.g., CMO, CFO, COO, etc.). 2Includes CDO and CAIO. 3C-suite includes EVP, SVP, VP, Chairman, President.
Where is the value in AI?
 GenAI investments are projected to increase by
60% in the next 3 years

+60%

AI ambitions are
growing alongside +30%

investments

2023 2024 2027

Source: BCG IT Spend Survey 2024.
One in three companies across all markets are planning to spend
$25 million+ on AI in 2025
How much are you planning to invest in AI in 2025?

Japan 53% 26% 10% 11%

US 59% 23% 9% 9%

Singapore 63% 25% 6% 6%

UK 65% 18% 10% 7%

France 69% 17% 6% 8%

Up to $25M
Germany 69% 18% 9% 4% $26M–$50M
India 71% 15% 8% 6% $51M–$100M
>$100M
UAE 78% 15% 6% 1%

Spain 81% 6% 5% 8%
Italy 83% 12% 3% 2%

Brazil 86% 12% 2%

Global 69% 18% 7% 6% One in three companies

Source: BCG AI Radar 2025 Survey (n=1,803).

 … but, only

75%
of executives rank AI/GenAI as a top three strategic priority …
25%
of executives are
seeing significant
value from AI

Source: BCG Radar 2025 Survery (n=1,803).

What are leading companies doing differently?
 Deploy AI in everyday tasks
to realize 10% to 20%
productivity potential

Three value plays to Reshape critical functions for

30% to 50% enhancement in
maximize AI potential efficiency and effectiveness

Invent new products and

services to build long-term
competitive advantage

Source: BCG analysis.

 They focus +80% of their AI investments in reshaping
critical functions and inventing new products and services

Leading 18%

companies go
Deploy
Individual-productivity focused

well beyond 40%

Reshape

deploy …
Process-level productivity aimed
at reshaping critical functions

Invent
Company-level innovation
42% core to the business

+80%

Source: BCG Build for the Future 2024 Global Study (merged with Digital
Acceleration Index), (n=1,000).
 Share of AI investments in Deploy, Reshape,
and Invent initiatives

… but most
companies aren’t
yet prioritizing 27% Deploy
Individual-productivity focused

investments in 44%
Reshape

higher-impact
Process-level productivity aimed
at reshaping critical functions
56%
plays Invent
Company-level innovation
core to the business
29%

Source: BCG AI Radar 2025 Survey (n=1,803).

Leading companies extract greater value by
focusing their AI investments
40%
6.1 In reality, most
companies go broad
3.5

2.1x and dilute efforts

across multiple
pilots, seeing lower
AI use cases More ROI for AI
ROI as a result
prioritized anticipated

Leading companies
Other companies

Source: BCG Build for the Future 2024 Global Study (merged with Digital Acceleration Index), (n=1,000).
 Yet 60% of companies are failing to define and monitor any
Leading financial KPIs related to AI value creation
companies set
How is your organization tracking value creation from AI?
clear goals and
track top- and
bottom-line 32% 28% 16% 24%

impact
60%
Not tracking yet Operational only Financial only Operational and financial

Source: BCG AI Radar 2025 Survey (n=1,803).

Leaders follow the 10-20-70 principle to create value

10% Algorithms … but

20% Technology
2 in 3
companies struggle to:

· Reimagine workflows and drive

70% People and processes incentives, culture, and change

· Hire AI talent and upskill workforce

Source: BCG AI Radar 2025 Survey (n=1,803).

Note: AI talent refers to AI specialists (i.e., data scientists, ML ops engineers) and non–specialists (i.e., upskilled talent leveraging AI tools).
 Data privacy and security 66%

AI risks that
companies must Lack of control or understanding 48%
navigate of AI decisions

Regulatory challenges
44%
and compliance

Source: BCG AI Radar 2025 Survey (n=1,803).

Note: Percentages correspond to share of executives ranking risk in their top 3.
Cybersecurity 76%
remains critical

Recognize that their AI cybersecurity

measures need further improvements

Source: BCG AI Radar 2025 Survey (n=1,803).

2025: The year of AI agents?
 What an agent is

What is an
agent? Memory Reasoning Systems
Remembering across tasks Decomposing a problem Accessing external
Simply put, and changing states and planning actions systems on your behalf

it’s an AI that
What an agent does
has learned to
use tools
Observes Plans Acts
Collect and process data Evaluate possible actions Execute by leveraging internal
from environment and prioritize toward a goal or external tools/systems
Source: BCG Analysis
 67% However, agents require
deep reimagination of
work and are not a silver
bullet for impact15%

are considering autonomous agents as

part of their AI transformation

Source: BCG AI Radar 2025 Survey (n=1,803).

Optimism around AI agents is consistent across geographies
Role that companies see for AI agents moving into 2025

US 37% 37% 74%

Japan 26% 46% 72%
UAE 32% 40% 72%
Singapore 31% 40% 71%
India 34% 36% 70%
UK 27% 41% 68%
France 34% 33% 67%
Germany 30% 33% 63% Central or
complementary role
Spain 38% 24% 62%
Exploring
Brazil 31% 30% 61%
Italy 18% 38% 56%

Global 32% 35% 67%

Source: BCG AI Radar 2025 Survey (n=1,803).
 Unlocking new potential to reshape processes and services
Agents deliver up to 3x more productivity and speed benefits compared to
traditional assistants

Breaking down silos

The biggest opportunity is seamless enterprise collaboration through zero-touch
services, advanced planning, and automated customer 360 activation

AI agents:
Key leadership Managing the risks of more complexity
AI agents are more complex than assistants, requiring robust testing and

priorities optimization to manage operational and cyber risks effectively

Cutting through the hype

Mislabeling and overhype of “agents” will dilute trust and lead to unmet
expectations; leaders must clarify capabilities and set realistic goals

Moving forward
Success lies in targeted, high-impact applications, focused on practical design,
Source: BCG analysis.
seamless integration, and data quality over hype
With AI agents on the rise, who will hold
the power: humans or AI?
Executives see talent and AI as complementary

Human-centered AI-focused

14% 64% 22%

Prioritizing AI and humans working AI taking the lead,

human talent, side by side but humans retaining
using AI only oversight
when necessary

Source: BCG AI Radar 2025 Survey (n=1,803).

 How do you expect the workforce in your organization to change?

Increase headcount,
More FTEs 8% adding new skills

Less than 10% of

executives expect
a decrease in
More productivity and
Existing workforce 68% upskilling of existing talent
to meet AI needs

headcount due
to AI automation
Restructure workforce
Net neutral 17% with new roles to replace
redundant ones
Decrease headcount
Fewer FTEs 7%
due to AI automation
Source: BCG AI Radar 2025 (n=1,803).
 ~70% of the companies have trained
less than 1 in 4 of their workforce

AI upskilling is
accelerating,
but the work is 71%

94%
not over
Companies with more
than 25% of their workforce
trained on AI/GenAI tools
29%

6%

Source: BCG AI Radar 2025 Survey (n=1,803). 2023 2024

 Companies with more than one-quarter of their workforce trained
on AI/GenAI tools

Singapore and
Singapore 44%

Japan 38%

Japan lead in Germany 30%

AI/GenAI Spain 29%

upskilling; Brazil France

UK
29%

29%
and Italy are US 29%

falling behind UAE 27%

India 26%

Italy 20%

Brazil 20%
29%
globally
Source: BCG AI Radar 2025 Survey (n=1,803).
Strategic playbook for CEOs
 Breaking through AI’s imagination gap
Rethink what is possible with AI and business transformation

Targeting and prioritizing AI efforts

Focus on a few transformative opportunities in core functions

Leading companies
maximize value Putting AI at the service of enterprise ambition
Define and track clear KPIs
creation by...
Leading the cultural and organizational change
Lean in personally and drive the change

Preparing for what’s next

Source: BCG analysis. Anticipate AI’s next value play and accompanying risks