Trust in AI may be growing, but implementation is still lagging in the UK, according to research from Insight Enterprises.

Over half (57%) of organisations say they are very confident in autonomous AI’s reliability in core business processes, the research found.

Yet, despite this increasing trust, implementation is lagging. The survey unveiled that 6 in 10 organisations are stuck in pilot or experimental phases. Most are deploying AI in low-risk, narrowly defined areas, with only 24% using it in production for clearly scoped use cases.

The UK shows stronger AI maturity than its European peers, with 9% of organisations having fully embedded AI into operations, the highest in the region, and ranking second in scaled deployment. However, the overall level of integration remains low, with most UK businesses (70%) yet to move beyond small-scale pilots.

“While it is encouraging to see that 9% of UK organisations have fully embedded AI into their operations – the highest in Europe – this also underscores the urgent need for companies to move beyond pilot phases,” Santo Orlando, practice director at Insight, said.

“The UK has the potential to lead the way in strategic AI adoption, but realising this potential requires a concerted effort to overcome the operational hurdles that currently impede progress. By embracing AI as a core component of their strategies, and grounding AI in business reality, UK organisations can unlock significant efficiencies and drive innovation.”

Top Barriers to Scaling AI

The research, part of Insight’s EMEA AI Maturity Report, reveals that trust is not the problem — only 1% of IT decision-makers cite a lack of confidence in the technology.

Instead, adoption is being slowed by operational and organisational challenges, such as technology integration issues (36%), and skills gaps for managing AI systems (23%).

Respondents also cited cultural resistance to AI adoption (17%), and governance and compliance framework gaps (14%).

As a result, AI maturity remains limited. Most markets are still navigating early or scaling phases, with just 5% of organisations across Europe reporting that AI is fully embedded into their operations. A further 15% say they’ve scaled AI in production. The vast majority remain in the stages of early exploration, awareness or pilot testing, highlighting a significant gap between confidence and real-world applications.

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Infrastructure Choices Add Complexity

More than half (52%) of organisations prefer cloud-based AI, with 16% strongly in favour. Yet, 44% still lean toward on-premises solutions, often due to concerns around control, compliance and performance. Balancing cloud and on-premises workloads demands a level of maturity that many enterprises are yet to achieve.

Adrian Gregory, EMEA President at Insight said: “This research captures the general excitement about AI’s transformational potential, but also the challenges in successful implementation. There are limited outcomes from taking a technology led approach and just giving tools to teammates and hoping something will happen. More strategic transformations are often stuck in pilot phases.”

“As the leading AI Solutions Integrator, we believe it starts with business understanding together with AI Forward Deployed Engineers to build rapid working prototypes in a handful of days along with use case priority backlog, a full implementation plan and a business case for ROI.

“Businesses need partners that don’t just offer technical expertise but provide strategic guidance on integration and accountability frameworks to help them implement AI responsibly and effectively. This is even more critical when we consider that only half of respondents reported having clear frameworks.”