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88% of UK enterprises are already deploying AI agents, but over half face barriers to further deployments – including skills gaps, business cases, and lack of quality data or technology partner
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Speed and customer experience are seen as primary benefits of AI agent adoption
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73% of UK enterprises say ability to deploy AI agents within existing systems is important
New research from KTSL, the independent service management and integration specialist, reveals a transitional state of AI agent adoption in the UK. The independent survey of UK enterprises across retail, pharmaceutical, and financial services finds that while most enterprises are enthusiastically adopting AI agents, there are still gaps to bridge before deployments reach full fruition.
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While 88% are actively deploying AI agents, and 73% say that the ability to deploy them within existing systems is a priority. The survey also found that 71% of AI agent deployments are meeting or exceeding ROI expectations.
However, 56.5% of all respondents indicated that they were facing a number of barriers to meaningful progress, including a lack of internal knowledge or skills (29%), insufficient business case, lack of quality data and no suitable technology partner (all 28%), highlighting an issue for some enterprises in identifying and deploying the right use cases.
AI agents in the UK: deployed for speed and integration, not just cost
AI agents, designed to autonomously perform tasks and achieve specific goals by interacting with their environment, have emerged as a high-profile business use case of AI today as enterprises look to leverage technology for transformation and growth, but findings suggest that enterprise-level investment in these tools is required to unlock value. Without investment, companies may struggle to deliver value for IT use cases, even those with the clearest impact, e.g. delivering services, handling outages, and preventing issues.
The research, commissioned by KTSL in partnership with BMC Helix, was conducted in January 2026 by independent market research firm Censuswide and explores the reality of adoption. It surveyed 400 UK senior IT leaders working across large enterprises in financial services, retail and pharmaceuticals.
The research report, “The 2026 state of AI agents in the UK”, found that faster IT incident resolution and enhanced customer experience (both at 44%) are seen as the primary benefits of AI agent adoption, followed by costs savings (29%), indicating that the appeal of AI agents is more to do with what they can improve than what they can reduce.
Aaron Perrott, CTO at KTSL said: “Enterprises are clear about the value of AI agents, but our research highlights a market in transition. Confidence is high yet many are struggling when it comes to deploying agents in practice and realising tangible business impact. Our research reveals a clear dividing line: enterprises that have invested in the right skills and can navigate complex legacy technology environments are best placed to outperform those going it alone.”
Tom Hockton, Area Vice President of UK & Ireland Sales at BMC Helix, said: “Adopting agentic AI can feel daunting, but experienced technology partners have seen these challenges before and can help companies overcome the barriers, from integrating agents across existing systems to improving data quality so compliance is built-in. By investing in the right platform, enterprises can put AI into action, and not just deliver use cases, but also create capacity and reset the limits for delivering business possibility. Companies that make it to the other side are seeing reduced complexity, improved service quality in IT, and demonstrated results that help them pull ahead of the competition.”
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