The rise of AI adoption: UK moves beyond experimentation, but major barriers remain

Introduction

Artificial intelligence is finally crossing a threshold in the UK. UK businesses are quickly moving from experimentation to enterprise-wide operational priority, seeking measurable ROI.

However, a closer look at UK companies reveals a more nuanced reality. The new Enterprise AI Adoption Impact Index from Infor™ has found that while confidence in AI adoption is high, leaders are still navigating the operational challenges required to make AI meaningful at scale.

Infor’s latest research found that data security is now ranked as a major concern and barrier to the roll-out of AI across business departments. Nearly half (45%) of UK professionals surveyed in the Enterprise AI Adoption Impact Index expressed serious concerns about AI’s ability to protect sensitive company and client data from being improperly shared or even stolen. Data security is noted as a barrier to execution. In the UK, there are distinct tensions in the 2026 AI landscape. Universal adoption intent is faced with stalled execution, driven by a ‘readiness gap’ where businesses are realising that data, security, and process, rather than the AI technology itself, are barriers to implementation they must navigate.

Key Findings in the UK

• Data security becomes a major constraint barrier: 45% of UK businesses report data security concerns as a barrier to fully scaling AI, reinforcing that trust and governance are foundational challenges.
• AI readiness gap emerges: While 74% of UK businesses report having the capability to manage AI implementation, nearly a third of organisations still face structural barriers, highlighting a disconnect between readiness and real-world execution.
• Talent gap remains a pressure point: 20% UK businesses cite a lack of internal AI expertise, indicating that the challenge is no longer isolated to specific regions, but shared across markets.
• Infrastructure is the underlying bottleneck: Businesses consistently point to data, integration and system limitations as core barriers. This suggests that the ability to operationalise AI is constrained less by access to technology and more by the environments in which it is deployed.

The adoption and protection gap

As companies race to implement generative AI, the inability to properly govern, secure, and classify data has forced many to pause or scale back deployments. The broader pattern is consistent: trust remains foundational to AI adoption.

The question of whether AI be deployed securely, responsibly, and in alignment with regulatory expectations, is an ongoing discussion in boardrooms across the country.

AI has moved fast but providers must move faster to ensure data security to gain trust across the business community in the UK.

Closely linked to the security of data is the sovereignty issue. Infor will be one of the few UK vendors offering data sovereignty for UK customers, as announced in 2025 with AWS Sovereign Cloud. This will be on General Availability in the coming months.

The talent constraint

The research highlighted that a shortfall in talent in the UK remains a critical hurdle in scaling AI that organisations must overcome. Otherwise, they run the very real risk of competitive disadvantage in a fast-evolving market.

20% of UK businesses reported a lack of internal AI expertise as a barrier. This signals an evolution in the AI lifecycle, with a focus shift from access to tools and use cases in the early implementation, to execution in the later phases that requires specialised skills.

Productivity gains from AI are triggering overcapacity in legacy roles, while simultaneously exposing acute shortages in AI-critical skills. It calls for organisations to rethink workforce planning not as an HR exercise but as a strategic lever for resilience, competitiveness and a systematic workstream in every AI strategy.

From adoption to execution

While many organisations recognise the potential of AI to drive efficiency, fuel innovation, and unlock new growth, scaling AI to realise these benefits is where the true challenge lies.

The execution gap does not look the same in every industry. In manufacturing, the bottleneck is often legacy infrastructure. In healthcare, it is governance and compliance. In distribution, it is data fragmentation across supply chains.

The organisations closing the gap fastest and addressing barriers are those working with tools designed for their specific operational realities.

Adoption is not just about deploying a few pilot projects or exploring use cases, it's about embedding AI into the fabric of the organisation to deliver consistent, measurable impact. The AI transition calls for a strategic, integrated approach that overcomes real-world barriers, such as fragmented data, unclear governance and skills gaps.

Learn how Infor's industry-specific AI solutions can help your organisation move from experimentation to execution.

About the Enterprise AI Adoption Impact Index

This analysis is based on survey data collected from business decision-makers across the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France in March–April 2026. The research was commissioned with YouGov on behalf of Infor. In Germany, 266 decision-makers were surveyed to provide a comprehensive picture of national AI strategies and barriers.

The survey included:

• 251 respondents in the United States
• 257 respondents in the United Kingdom
• 266 respondents in Germany
• 250 respondents in France

The study explored how organisations are approaching artificial intelligence, including current adoption levels, perceived readiness, and key barriers such as data security, talent, and infrastructure.

Respondents represent a cross-section of industries and organisation sizes, providing a global view of how businesses are navigating the shift from AI experimentation to execution.