The performance disparity between AI frontrunners and stragglers is accelerating with the advent of agentic AI, positioning just 5% of global companies as "future-built" innovators that systematically harness AI for substantial value creation. Drawing from a comprehensive BCG survey of 1,250 executives across industries, the report underscores how these leaders are reshaping business models while the majority lags in maturity and outcomes.
As AI maturity evolves, the gap between leaders and others is stark: future-built firms project spending over twice as much on AI in 2025 compared to laggards, yielding 1.7x revenue growth, 3.6x three-year total shareholder return, and 1.6x EBIT margin advantages. Surveyed across 41 capabilities in strategy, technology, people, innovation, and outcomes, the analysis reveals software, telecom, and fintech sectors at the forefront, while fashion, chemicals, and construction trail. "AI is reshaping the business landscape far faster than previous technology waves," said Nicolas de Bellefonds, a managing director and senior partner and global leader of BCG's AI efforts, and a coauthor of the report. "The companies that are capturing real value from AI aren't just automating—they're reshaping and reinventing how their businesses work. And they're pulling away."
Agentic AI—systems that autonomously learn, reason, and execute multistep tasks—emerges as a pivotal accelerator, comprising 17% of 2025 AI value and forecasted to reach 29% by 2028. Future-built organizations dedicate 15% of AI budgets to agents, with one-third deploying them versus 12% of scalers and nearly none among laggards. This disparity amplifies the value gap, urging firms to integrate agents into redesigned workflows rather than isolated pilots. "Agentic AI isn't a future concept—it's already reshaping workflows and redefining roles. Companies should view it as the next step in scaling AI, not as the starting point," said Amanda Luther, a managing director and senior partner at BCG and a coauthor of the report. "Agents represent a huge opportunity but aren't simply plug-and-play: companies urgently need to redesign how work gets done, addressing the impact of agents on existing processes, roles, and skills."
AI's impact is most pronounced in operational cores, capturing 70% of potential value in sales and marketing, manufacturing, supply chain, and pricing—distinct from IT's 13% share. This focus enables leaders to prioritize high-impact initiatives, fostering reinvention over mere efficiency gains and highlighting the need for targeted capability building across sectors.
Future-built companies adhere to a replicable playbook comprising five strategies: aggressive top-down AI ambition, value-prioritized business reinvention, human-AI collaboration models, proactive talent ecosystems, and robust tech-data foundations. This framework offers a clear path for the 95% trailing organizations to accelerate. "The technology is advancing weekly, and leading companies are accelerating," said Michael Grebe, a managing director and senior partner at BCG and a coauthor of the report. "For the majority of firms, catching up will require more than investment—it will take reinvention. The good news is that the playbook followed by future-built companies is clearly delineated and available to all."
BCG's insights from The Widening AI Value Gap: Build for the Future 2025 emphasize the urgency for laggards and scalers to adopt this playbook, leveraging agentic AI and core-function focus to close the gap and thrive in an AI-driven economy.
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