30 ottobre 2025
AI Readiness in Italy: The Paradox Between Rapid Adoption and Strategic Preparation
46% of professionals use artificial intelligence, but only 6% of companies are truly AI-driven. The data explaining the gap between usage and strategic maturity
Artificial intelligence is experiencing a paradox in the Italian business landscape: while AI tool adoption has grown explosively, jumping from 12% to 46% in just one year according to the EY Italy AI Barometer 2025, the true strategic readiness of companies tells a very different story. Only 6% of Italian companies can be considered “AI-driven,” capable of integrating artificial intelligence deeply and strategically into their processes.
This gap between usage and maturity isn’t merely semantic; it represents the fundamental difference between experimenting with AI tools and building lasting competitive advantage. Three studies published in 2025 - the global Cisco AI Readiness Index, altermAInd’s AI Leadership Readiness study focused on Italy, and the EY Italy AI Barometer - offer complementary perspectives on where the Italian business ecosystem truly stands in its journey toward AI maturity.
The Global Picture: Only 13% Are Strategically Ready
The Cisco AI Readiness Index 2025, based on analysis of eight thousand business and IT leaders worldwide, establishes that only 13% of global organizations are fully ready for AI adoption and strategic integration. These companies, termed “Pacesetters,” are four times more likely to move AI projects from pilot to production and see measurable value with 50% higher probability compared to other organizations.
The Cisco report evaluates readiness based on six fundamental pillars that distinguish those who experiment from those who scale successfully:
- Formalized strategy
- Adaptable infrastructure
- Data quality
- Transparent governance
- Internal talent
- Innovation-oriented corporate culture
The real difference lies not in initial investment but in the ability to orchestrate these six elements coherently and measurably.
AI Infrastructure Debt: An Invisible Obstacle
The report introduces the innovative concept of “AI infrastructure debt”: the growing gap between companies’ ambitions to implement artificial intelligence and the actual readiness of their technological infrastructure. Unlike financial debt, this debt doesn’t appear on balance sheets but manifests as progressive slowdown in innovation and rising operational costs.
The data highlights the scope of the problem: 62% of companies expect AI workloads to increase by more than 30% in the next three years, but only one in four has adequate computing capacity. Even more critical, about 30% of organizations have security systems capable of managing and controlling autonomous AI agents, the next technological frontier that 83% of companies plan to adopt within a year.
Italy: The Gap Between Practical Use and Strategic Maturity
The Italian context presents specific characteristics that make the path to AI maturity even more complex. The AI Leadership Readiness 2025 research by altermAInd, conducted on 231 professionals from Italian SMEs and large companies, offers a particularly stark picture: only 6% of Italian companies are considered “AI-driven,” while 42% of businesses remain in a “traditional” category without a clear implementation strategy.
This finding doesn’t contradict the 46% of professionals who according to EY use AI at work, but reveals its nature: usage is predominantly tied to individual productivity rather than strategic process transformation. The most common applications are text writing (60% of users) and chatbot and voice assistant use (47%), tools that require minimal investment but generate limited impact on structural competitiveness.
The Dimensional Divide: Large Companies vs SMEs
One of the most critical aspects emerging from the altermAInd research is the stark divide between large companies and small-medium enterprises. Large Italian organizations achieve an AI maturity score of 47 out of 100, while SMEs stop at 34 out of 100. This thirteen-point difference isn’t marginal: it represents the gap between those who can afford dedicated teams, scalable infrastructure, and structured training paths, and those who must balance innovation with limited resources and internally built competencies.
The main barriers identified are clear and cross-cutting: lack of internal competencies is reported by 53% of respondents, followed by poor clarity on concrete use cases (42%). It’s not a problem of technological availability but of ability to translate AI potential into applications that generate measurable business value.
The Three Speeds of AI in Italy: Adoption, Usage, Maturity
To understand the Italian landscape, we must distinguish three levels of artificial intelligence engagement, each measured by different research with apparently contrasting but actually complementary results.
First Speed - Technological Adoption: According to a study cited by Italia Oggi, 71% of Italian companies have adopted at least one AI technology. This figure measures the formal presence of AI tools in the organization, without evaluating their impact or strategic integration.
Second Speed - Practical Usage: The EY Italy AI Barometer documents that 46% of professionals use AI in daily work. Growth from 12% the previous year is primarily driven by top management: 59% of managers have increased AI use, compared to 39% of employees. Usage is predominantly tactical, focused on individual efficiency rather than process transformation.
Third Speed - Strategic Maturity: Only 6% of companies according to altermAInd have achieved “AI-driven” status, with deep integration of artificial intelligence in strategy, processes, and corporate culture. This group achieves lasting competitive advantages and significant ROI from AI investments.
How to Move from Experimentation to Strategic Maturity
The data converges on a crucial point: the difference between those who benefit from AI and those who merely cope with it lies not in the quantity of tools adopted but in the ability to orchestrate strategy, infrastructure, data, governance, talent, and culture into a coherent and measurable system.
Italian companies wanting to evolve from first speed (adoption) to third (maturity) must address specific priorities:
Scalable Infrastructure: Invest in architectures that grow with AI needs, avoiding the infrastructure debt that blocks future innovation.
Data Quality: AI is only as effective as the data it’s trained on. Data governance isn’t a regulatory constraint but the foundation of AI value.
Value-Driven Use Cases: Start with real business problems with measurable ROI, not technological trends. AI should solve specific problems, not be implemented “because everyone else is doing it.”
Systematic Measurement: Only 32% of global companies systematically measure AI project impact. Without clear metrics, it’s impossible to distinguish success from noise.
From Tactical Speed to Strategic Depth
The Italian artificial intelligence paradox - high adoption, low maturity - isn’t a condemnation but an opportunity for course correction. Companies that recognize the difference between using AI tools and building AI-driven capabilities have a clear path ahead, traced by global Pacesetters’ best practices and supported by a growing Italian research and innovation ecosystem.
For organizations wanting to move from tactical experimentation to strategic transformation based on artificial intelligence, solutions designed for the Italian context exist that guarantee data sovereignty, AI Act compliance, and measurable results from the first implementations.
Want to discover how to build true AI maturity in your organization? Contact us for a strategic assessment and learn how to transform adoption into lasting competitive advantage.
Sources
International Research:
- Cisco (2025). “AI Readiness Index 2025 - Realizing the Value of AI”: cisco.com
- CXM World (2025). “Cisco’s AI Readiness Index 2025 Reports: Mind the Gap”: cxm.world
Italy Focus Research:
- altermAInd (2025). “AI Leadership Readiness 2025”: research on 231 Italian company professionals - innovation-nation.it
- EY Italy (2025). “AI Barometer 2025”: AI adoption analysis in Italy - firstonline.info
- Artificial Intelligence Observatory - Politecnico di Milano (2025). “AI Adoption and Compliance in Italian Organizations”
Regulations and Institutions:
- European Commission (2024). “AI Act - European Regulation on Artificial Intelligence”: europa.eu
- Italia Oggi (2024). “AI Technology Adoption in Italian Companies”: reviewofailaw.com
Carolina Magrini
Marketing Specialist senior. Specialista in Marketing analitico strategico omnicanale - Business data analysis | Prompt engineer.b
At Aidia, we develop AI-based software solutions, NLP solutions, Big Data Analytics, and Data Science. Innovative solutions to optimize processes and streamline workflows. To learn more, contact us or send an email to info@aidia.it.
