AI Investment Boom Fuelled More by Fear of Missing Out Than Actual Results

Enterprises are investing aggressively in AI to avoid being left behind – but less than a quarter say AI implementations have exceeded expectations, often due to inadequate networks.

LONDON, 1 June 2026 – Enterprise AI spending is climbing rapidly, with boards racing to deploy the technology faster than they can measure whether it works. According to the latest IDC InfoBrief, commissioned by Expereo*, around 70% of organizations are investing in AI, motivated by its potential or by the fear of falling behind the competition, but they lag in disciplined ROI evaluation, and one in five (20%) admit they are investing aggressively in AI with little evaluation, driven by the fear of being left behind.

The IDC InfoBrief, based on a survey of 800 technology leaders across Europe, the US, and APAC, found that AI has become one of the most prioritized technology investments globally. When asked which technologies their organization will prioritize in terms of effort and/or financial investment over the next 12 months, 51% of organizations said AI or ML. However, returns are failing to keep pace with the hype. Just 19% of global organizations surveyed say their AI implementations have exceeded expectations, and only 5% report they have significantly exceeded them.* The most-cited reasons for underperformance are inadequate or poor-quality training data (51%), higher-than-expected costs or ROI not achieved (47%), and AI not performing as well as expected (46%).

Underpinning many of these challenges is also a network and infrastructure readiness gap. 26% of organizations whose AI implementations have failed to meet expectations cite inadequate network or connectivity performance as a contributing factor. Looking ahead, 54% of organizations say they need more flexible and scalable networks to thrive in an AI-driven environment, and 51% need greater resilience and reliability to maximise uptime.

Ben Elms, CEO, Expereo, says: “Every enterprise we speak to is investing in AI, yet the data shows a clear gap opening up between AI ambition and AI outcomes. More often than not, that gap comes down to the network underneath. AI only delivers on its promise when the infrastructure carrying it is built to support it.

Without resilient, scalable, cloud-optimised networks, even the most well-funded AI programmes will struggle to deliver ROI. Getting the network right is no longer an IT decision; it is one of the most important conversations happening in the boardroom today to help fulfil AI ambition."

The pressure to invest is most acute in APAC, where 37% of organizations admit they are investing aggressively in AI driven by fear of being left behind – nearly double the global average and well ahead of the US (10%) and Europe (13%). APAC is also leading on adoption, with 35% reporting extensive AI use across the organization, against a global average of 25%.

Boardrooms are also waking up to the longer-term risks of unchecked AI investment. According to the survey, 54% of global tech leaders cite the creation of new security risks as a significant potential future threat for their organization’s use of AI, while 39% are concerned about losing track of AI-related costs and ROI once the technology is embedded across the business.

For the full IDC InfoBrief, commissioned by Expereo, “Enterprise Horizons 2026: Where Innovation Meets Reality” (doc #EUR154457526-IB, May 2026) click here.

*IDC Resource Map: Enterprise Horizons 2026​ Global Technology Leaders’ Priorities: Balancing Innovation and Risk, sponsored by Expereo, Doc #EUR254330326, February 2026

About Expereo

Expereo is a world-leading Managed Network as a Service provider that connects people, places, and things anywhere. Solutions include Global Internet, SD-WAN/SASE, and Enhanced Internet. With an extensive global reach, Expereo is the trusted partner of 60% of Fortune 500 companies. It powers enterprise and government sites in more than 190 countries, with the ability to connect to any location worldwide, working with over 2,300 partners to help customers improve productivity and empowering their networks and cloud services with the agility, flexibility, and value of the Internet, with optimal network performance.

Expereo was acquired in Feb 2021, by Vitruvian Partners which acquired a majority shareholding from Seven2.