Cisco has released the results of its third annual AI Readiness Index, revealing that a small but consistent group of organisations – dubbed “Pacesetters” – continue to outperform their peers across every measure of AI value creation.

The study, which surveyed more than 8,000 AI leaders across 30 markets and 26 industries, found that these Pacesetters – around 13% of organisations globally – are four times more likely to move AI pilots into production and 50% more likely to see measurable value from their efforts.

According to Cisco, this advantage reflects a “system-level approach” that aligns strategic vision with the data, infrastructure, and governance required to sustain long-term AI growth. Nearly all of these companies (98%) are already designing their networks to handle AI’s growing scale and complexity, compared to less than half (46%) of organisations overall.

“We’re moving past the era of question-answering chatbots and stepping into the next major phase of AI: agents that independently execute tasks,” said Jeetu Patel, Cisco’s President and Chief Product Officer.

“Today’s study shows that over 80% of companies are prioritising agentic solutions, with two out of three reporting that these systems are already meeting or exceeding their performance goals. The evidence points to a massive competitive advantage: companies that are further along are seeing dramatically stronger returns than their peers.”

More confirmation that Agentic AI on the rise

The report is the latest of many to highlight the seemingly inescapable influence of agentic AI – systems that can act autonomously and collaborate with human employees. Cisco found that 83% of organisations plan to deploy AI agents, with nearly 40% expecting them to work alongside staff within the next year.

However, the majority of companies lack the secure, scalable infrastructure needed to support such systems. Over half (54%) of respondents said their networks cannot scale for complexity or data volume, and just 15% described their networks as flexible or adaptable enough to meet AI demands.

Pacesetters, by contrast, appear better positioned. Their readiness comes from sustained investment and disciplined governance: 71% report fully flexible networks that can scale instantly for new AI projects, and 77% plan to expand data centre capacity within the next 12 months.

AI Infrastructure Debt is fast becoming a big problem

This year’s report introduces a new concept – “AI Infrastructure Debt” – describing the accumulated cost of neglected upgrades, underfunded architecture, and fragmented systems that erode AI’s long-term value.

Cisco warns that this debt is already visible in many organisations. Sixty-two per cent of respondents expect workloads to increase by more than 30% over the next three years, 64% struggle to centralise data, and only a quarter report having robust GPU capacity. Fewer than one in three can detect or prevent AI-specific threats.

Although even the most advanced firms are not immune, the report notes that Pacesetters’ stronger foundations, governance, and investment discipline allow them to avoid risks compounding into costly obstacles.

It’s pretty clear that readiness is a competitive advantage

Across several key indicators, Pacesetters stand out for embedding AI deeply into their business operations rather than treating it as a side initiative. Ninety-nine per cent have a defined AI roadmap (compared with 58% overall), and nearly all (96%) have both short- and long-term funding strategies.

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These organisations are also far more likely to track the impact of their investments – 95% do so, versus 30% of others – and 71% expect their AI use cases to generate new revenue streams, more than double the average. In turn, 90% report measurable gains in profitability, productivity, and innovation.

As AI agents and autonomous systems push organisations toward constant compute demand, Cisco’s findings underscore that readiness – not experimentation alone – drives value. The report concludes that those building secure, scalable, and measurable foundations today are best positioned to capture the competitive advantage of tomorrow’s AI landscape.