Businesses seeing returns, but data remains a hurdle: Survey

Indian companies are stepping up their use of artificial intelligence (AI), with many moving beyond pilot projects and beginning to deploy the technology across their businesses, according to Dun & Bradstreet’s latest AI Momentum Survey.

The survey found that every organisation surveyed has some form of AI initiative underway. While 44% are still testing or planning AI projects, 30% have started rolling out AI into day-to-day operations. Another 19% have integrated AI into multiple core business functions, while 7% have begun using agentic AI workflows.

Companies also plan to keep spending on AI. More than half (56%) expect their AI investments to rise moderately, while 13% anticipate a significant increase. The remaining 31% said they would maintain current spending levels, with none expecting to cut AI investments.

The study found that AI is already delivering business benefits for many organisations. Nearly three-fourths (73%) said they have seen measurable returns from their AI initiatives. However, for most companies, those gains are still limited to specific teams or pilot projects. Half of the respondents said AI had generated returns in selected parts of the business, while 23% reported benefits across multiple projects.

Despite the progress, the survey found that many businesses are yet to build the data foundation needed to scale AI. Just 4% of organisations said their enterprise data is fully prepared to support AI at scale. Most respondents said their data is either partially ready (58%) or mostly ready (30%), indicating that data quality and readiness remain key challenges.

“Indian businesses are moving quickly from AI experimentation to enterprise adoption, with growing evidence of business value and return on investment,” said Julian Prower, Executive Vice President, Global Business Operations & Transformation and Managing Director & CEO, India & Taiwan, Dun & Bradstreet.

“As organisations scale AI across the enterprise, the quality of their data will increasingly determine the quality of outcomes. Dun & Bradstreet enables organizations to build AI on a foundation of trusted business identity, context, and insight, helping translate the AI momentum into sustainable growth and competitive advantage,” he added.

The findings are part of Dun & Bradstreet’s quarterly AI Momentum Survey, which tracks AI adoption, investment, deployment and business outcomes across 10,000 businesses in 32 countries.