A survey of 250 senior technology leaders finds that while artificial intelligence (AI) is making their teams more productive, many of them are finding it challenging to find and retain the expertise needed to derive the most value.
Conducted by Reveal, a unit of Infragistics that provides analytics tools, the survey finds 53% of respondents have seen productivity gains, with nearly half (47%) being able to take on new projects. Two-thirds of respondents (66%) credited AI with driving those gains, followed by investing in skills development (63%), embedded analytics (62%) and automation of repetitive tasks (62%). More than three quarters (77%) said they plan to increase usage of AI in 2026.
At the same time, however, half of respondents (50%) said recruiting and retaining skilled technology talent has emerged as the single biggest business challenge for 2026, followed by incorporating AI into business workflows (42%) and investments in skills development (63%) as the engines behind rising productivity. The data confirms a clear shift: productivity is increasingly achieved through smarter systems, not longer hours.
The paradox is that as organizations operationalize AI they are starting to appreciate a simple fact. It’s individuals with the most business and technical expertise that are best able to take full advantage of AI, says Infragistics COO Jason Beres.
Overall, the survey suggests technology leaders are contending with multiple issues, increasing employee productivity (54%), incorporating AI (42%), economic cutbacks (35%), limited resources (31%) at the top of the list of concerns.
Nevertheless, a total of 40% plan to adopt new applications, while 34% said they plan to develop new applications. Well over half (57%) said integrating AI into the development process is their top challenge, followed by security threats (49%) and data privacy and regulatory compliance (48%).
At the same time, a quarter of respondents said their organization plans to cut spending in 2026 due to a weakening economy. Inflation (60%), rising costs (58%), economic instability (53%), tariffs (50%), and higher interest rates (40%) are among the top pressures influencing planning decisions, the survey finds. More than half report their organization is delaying launches or expansions (54%), while 43% are reducing innovation budgets and 35% are changing development team locations. Only 17% said external global issues have had no impact on their plans.
Adding to those issues are anxieties over the pace at which organizations are adopting AI, says Beres. “Anxiety is at an all time high,” he notes. “Every business owner thinks they are falling behind.”
Much of that anxiety is being driven by claims providers of AI platform are making about AI to excite investors, adds Beres.
Each organization will need to determine what level of investments to make based on their own set of unique priorities. The one thing that is certain is that more AI is being embedded within a wider range of applications. As AI becomes more accessible, there is little doubt employees will find ways to integrate AI into workflows at significantly higher levels of scale.
In the meantime, however, when it comes to operationalizing AI it’s also fair to say that just about every organization to one degree or another is dealing with the same basic set of issues and challenges.
