European organisations are moving steadily toward autonomous IT operations, but differing approaches to agentic AI are shaping distinct maturity paths, in comparison to North American counterparts. This is according to new research from Digitate, a leading global provider of agentic AI platform for autonomous IT operations. The findings form part of Digitate’s three-year global programme examining how enterprise AI adoption and maturity are evolving at different rates across Europe and North America.
Drawing on responses from 600 IT decision-makers across the U.S. and Canada, the 2025 study, conducted by Sapio Research, builds on Digitate’s 2023 (US) and 2024 (Europe) reports to provide a rare three-year view of how enterprise AI adoption is actually progressing. This research programme tracks what organisations have truly delivered over time, separating expectation from reality.
The findings show that near-universal AI adoption and growing maturity are now translating into higher trust, clearer use cases and tangible business impact. This is evidence that enterprises are moving beyond pilots and beginning to lay the foundations for the autonomous enterprise.
ROI trends remain consistent across regions
Trust and adoption remain high across both regions, with AI uptake rising from 90% in an organisation in 2023 to 100% today. However, the data shows that organisations’ journeys towards maturity vary across regions, impacting implementation success.
The three-year programme reveals that European enterprises are placing greater emphasis on governance, prioritising data stewardship, stronger oversight frameworks and ethical deployment, while North American organisations are scaling Agentic AI more rapidly as they move toward autonomy and enterprise-wide value realisation.
Median ROI across both regions sit within a similar range (approximately $170M in Europe and $175M in North America), indicating organisations are seeing comparable financial value from their AI investments overall.
While North America is advancing toward autonomy more quickly, the findings show that Europe continues to lead in structured governance and risk management. These foundations provide longer-term resilience, even as deployment strategies differ between regions.
An evolution from automation to autonomy
The research highlights a clear progression in enterprise AI adoption. In 2023, North American organisations were primarily focused on automation, streamlining processes, improving efficiency and reducing manual overheads. By 2025, they have entered the Agentic AI era. Just under half (45%) of enterprises already operate semi- or fully autonomous systems, projected to reach 74% by 2030, as organisations embed autonomous capabilities and pursue value realisation.
This evolution illustrates how enterprises have advanced from tactical automation to more strategic AI adoption, with autonomy now reshaping processes and delivering measurable commercial impact.
“In just three years, AI has moved from an operational utility to a strategic capability, and one that’s trusted, governed, and profitable,” said Avi Bhagtani, Chief Marketing Officer at Digitate. “Agentic AI is the bridge between human ingenuity and autonomous intelligence that marks the dawn of IT as a profit-driving, strategic capability.”
Moving toward Agentic AI globally
Across both regions, the research identifies Agentic AI as the defining technology of the next decade – systems capable of autonomous decision-making, proactive optimisation and cross-functional collaboration. These capabilities are poised to transform IT from a traditional cost centre into a strategic profit enabler, reshaping how organisations deliver services, manage operations and capture value.
The shift toward autonomous IT also reflects broader business pressures: rising technology costs, talent shortages and increasing operational complexity. Agentic AI is emerging as the mechanism that bridges human expertise with autonomous intelligence, by improving accuracy, accelerating response times and strengthening resilience across the organisation.
“Enterprises have moved from experimenting with automation to scaling AI for measurable impact,” concludes Bhagtani. “The next frontier, Agentic AI, is set to deliver deeper intelligence, adaptability, and financial value – the engine of enterprise profitability and innovation. As organisations balance autonomy with accountability, those that embed trust, transparency, and human engagement into their AI strategy will shape the future of digital business
