HTEC, a global product engineering and AI transformation company, launches The HTEC AI Value Realization Report 2026, revealing a new challenge emerging as organizations move beyond AI experimentation: investment is accelerating faster than many companies’ ability to measure, govern and consistently realize its value.

The independent study finds that 79 per cent of organizations have increased AI investment over the past year, with spending rising by 31 per cent on average. Yet 77 per cent of executives now believe AI value is constrained more by people and processes than by technology.

The findings point to a significant shift in the enterprise AI debate. The question is becoming less about whether organizations can deploy AI and more about whether they can turn it into sustained and measurable business performance.

“The AI conversation has moved on. The challenge is no longer simply getting access to AI or finding places to deploy it. It is proving that investment is translating into meaningful business outcomes,” said Alex Rumble, Chief Marketing Officer at HTEC.

“What stands out from this research is that the biggest barriers are increasingly organizational rather than technological. Companies need to be as deliberate about adoption, operating models, measurement and governance as they have been about the technology itself.”