Research from ServiceNow indicates an 18-point gap between AI strategy and execution in EMEA.

Despite massive artificial intelligence spending, European businesses are struggling to turn their investments into measurable results, a new ServiceNow index has found.

Organisations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) assessed for the ‘Enterprise AI Maturity Index 2026’ scored 51 out of 100 for their overall AI maturity – up from 34 out of 100 since last year – but only managed to hit 40 points when it comes to actual AI-enabled workflows.

Leadership, vision and strategy scores reached 58, according to the report, which surveyed more than 4,700 senior executives across 16 countries. 1,700 were based across EMEA.

Business are paying for AI capability that they haven’t yet unlocked, the report found, with only 16pc of those surveyed saying they replaced fragmented legacy systems with an integrated platform.

And while 59pc of the surveyed professionals said their organisations had moved beyond piloting agentic AI, only 9pc said they have made “meaningful progress” towards building autonomous, multistep workflows.

This comes as global corporate AI spending hit $581bn in 2025, with ServiceNow projections estimating that AI will represent more than 20pc of an organisation’s IT budget by 2027. Government AI spend, meanwhile, rose 140pc year over year, more than any other industry surveyed.

ServiceNow pointed to data quality, governance and workflow foundations as “critical barrier[s]” to scaling AI across the enterprise sector.

It also found that businesses based in Ireland that already operate against rising costs and tighter margins are facing added pressures in the AI field.

Ireland is currently making efforts to upskill workers in AI, support businesses in adopting the technology and introduce new policies to attract data centres.

“Organisations in Ireland are among the most ambitious on AI in Europe. The challenge isn’t commitment. It’s connecting that commitment to the operational infrastructure that makes AI work across the enterprise and, more importantly, getting it live with the right guardrails and governance,” explained Paul Turley, senior director at ServiceNow Ireland.

“The organisations that have closed that gap are already seeing returns the rest have yet to match. The contrast is stark – those bridging the gap aren’t just using AI more, they’re using it differently, running autonomous, multi-step workflows at roughly 18 times the rate of the rest of the market.”

ServiceNow’s survey found data to be the biggest barrier to AI execution, with 73pc of EMEA executives citing inadequate data accuracy, access and management as major issues.

57pc of surveyed organisations in the region use agentic AI, but only 9pc use the technology to create autonomous workflows, according to ServiceNow, meaning AI is merely assisting employees without a significant change in how an organisation works.

Meanwhile, only 19pc of EMEA organisations said they have implemented AI testing, auditing and risk processes, despite the EU’s strict rules applying to European organisations.

ServiceNow finds governance maturity to be the defining factor between organisations succeeding in the AI race or  lagging behind.

Successful organisations combine strong data management, testing and risk controls with integrated workflows, enabling them to scale AI confidently, according to the report. As a result, they managed to deliver a 164pc return on investment and can expect this to rise to 199pc within two years, the report said.

“Mature governance enables these organisations to scale confidently and move faster than their peers. For Irish businesses, the EU AI Act makes governance unavoidable, but the Index shows it should be welcomed rather than resisted,” said ServiceNow.

Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.