Alteryx has released its "2026 IT Leader Research: The State of AI Ownership, Agents, and ROI" report, revealing that organizations are entering a new phase of AI maturity where success is no longer defined by AI adoption alone, but by the ability to translate AI investment into measurable business outcomes.
80% expect AI spending to increase over next two years.
69% report moderate or significant ROI from AI investments.
53% struggle to translate business context into AI systems.
77% agree business context is critical to accurate AI outputs.
93% are confident agentic AI could deliver measurable ROI within two years.
Only 18% have fully self-service access to cloud data for business users.
AI investment continues to accelerate as organizations move beyond experimentation toward enterprise-scale deployment. Eighty percent of organizations expect AI spending to increase over the next two years across infrastructure, workflow automation, data platforms, and governance. With that investment comes greater accountability. Technology leaders are increasingly measuring AI success through productivity improvements (53%), cost reduction (45%), and revenue growth or broader business impact (39%). More than one-third (35%) say the ability to measure AI ROI will be one of the capabilities that most distinguishes technology leaders from their peers.
According to the research, 77% of IT leaders agree that business context, including the rules, definitions, and operational knowledge that shape how their organizations operate, is essential for producing accurate and relevant AI outputs. Yet more than half (53%) say their organization struggles to translate that business context into the systems and workflows AI depends on. Much of that business logic still lives in spreadsheets, macros, documentation, email threads, and the expertise of the people closest to the work. AI should be grounded in the rules and logic the business already trusts.
"Our research highlights a growing gap between AI ambition and enterprise-scale execution," said Andy MacMillan, CEO of Alteryx. "Organizations have proven they're willing to invest in AI, and many are already seeing returns. But scaling AI requires more than better models. It requires making the business knowledge people use every day available to the systems making decisions."
MacMillan concluded, "The organizations creating lasting value from AI will be the ones that operationalize their business logic so it becomes visible, governed, repeatable, and ready for AI."
About Alteryx
Alteryx is a leading AI-ready data and analytics company that powers actionable insights to help organizations drive smarter, faster decisions with data. More than 8,000 customers around the world rely on Alteryx to automate analytics, improve revenue performance, manage costs, and mitigate risk across their businesses.
