EXL Study Reveals 10% of Firms Are AI Leaders Driving 27% Revenue Growth
EXLS•EXL’s 2026 U.S. Enterprise AI Study finds 76% of companies believe they lead AI adoption, but only 10% meet AI Leader criteria for enterprise-wide integration. AI Leaders achieve 27% revenue growth, 26% cost reduction and 22% margin improvement by redesigning operating models, while 70% report data infrastructure as biggest barrier.
1. Study Overview
EXL’s 2026 U.S. Enterprise AI Study surveyed 322 senior decision makers across banking, insurance, retail, utilities, life sciences and healthcare payers to assess AI adoption and performance gaps. It reveals a major disconnect between perceived progress and actual enterprise-wide AI integration.
2. AI Leaders vs Laggards
Only 10% of respondents qualify as AI Leaders by embedding AI into core workflows and redesigning operating models, while 76% believe they lead adoption. AI Leaders report average revenue growth of 27%, cost savings of 26% and margin improvements of 22%, far outperforming Laggards.
3. Barriers to Scaling AI
Data infrastructure is cited by 70% of firms as the primary obstacle, with 34% flagging data privacy and security, 31% pointing to siloed data and another 31% noting limited model transparency. Among Laggards, 83% still face siloed data across functions.
