--- title: "Enterprise AI adoption: flying blind is not an option — Marsanne Studio AI watch" description: "A study by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services and Nexthink shows that employee adoption of AI is outpacing CIOs' ability to govern it." url: "https://marsanne.studio/en/ai-watch/enterprise-ai-adoption-flying-blind-is-not-an-269bcf/" lang: "en" --- [Marsanne Studio](https://marsanne.studio/en/) [← Back to home](https://marsanne.studio/en/ai-watch) [← The AI watch](https://marsanne.studio/en/ai-watch) Data study · 23 September 2026 # Enterprise AI adoption: flying blind is not an option Original title, in French: “Adoption de l’IA en entreprise : le pilotage à l’aveugle n’est pas une option” **Publication** Alliancy (France) **Authors** Marc Frentzel, Nexthink **Published on** 23 September 2026 · read in the page structured data ## Summary According to a study conducted by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services with Nexthink among 259 decision-makers in February-March 2026, 58% of respondents believe the pace of AI adoption by employees exceeds IT's ability to monitor it, and 57% say this adoption exceeds the ability to measure its effects. 53% point to a shadow IT problem, with data exposure (79%) and regulatory risks (53%) as the main concerns. Only 19% of organisations plan to invest in tools providing visibility into usage, while 42% cite inadequate infrastructure as the main obstacle. The study concludes that CIOs' strategy needs to be rethought in light of this gap between adoption and governance. Summary based on the full text of the article. [Read the article on Alliancy →](https://alliancy.fr/adoption-de-lia-en-entreprise-le-pilotage-a-laveugle-nest-pas-une-option-4f886a88-76e2-4092-986f-98285e0e4ff5) ## Figures cited - 66 % share of organisations for which encouraging rapid AI adoption is a priority 259 decision-makers involved in AI decisions, February-March 2026 > « 66 % des répondants affirment que favoriser une adoption rapide de l'IA est une priorité pour leur organisation. » Source: Bridging the AI Acceleration Gap, Harvard Business Review Analytic Services / Nexthink - 58 % share of respondents who believe AI adoption exceeds IT's ability to monitor it 259 decision-makers, February-March 2026 > « 58 % reconnaissent que le rythme d'adoption de l'IA par les collaborateurs dépasse déjà la capacité de leur IT à la surveiller et à la gouverner. » Source: Bridging the AI Acceleration Gap, Harvard Business Review Analytic Services / Nexthink - 57 % share of respondents who believe adoption exceeds the ability to measure its effects 259 decision-makers, February-March 2026 > « 57 % vont plus loin, estimant que cette adoption va plus vite que la capacité de l'organisation à en mesurer les effets. » Source: Bridging the AI Acceleration Gap, Harvard Business Review Analytic Services / Nexthink - 53 % share of respondents who believe AI has created a shadow IT problem 259 decision-makers, February-March 2026 > « 53 % des répondants estiment que l'IA a créé un problème de shadow IT au sein de leur organisation. » Source: Bridging the AI Acceleration Gap, Harvard Business Review Analytic Services / Nexthink - 79 % share of respondents citing data exposure and security breaches as their main concern 259 decision-makers, February-March 2026 > « 79 % citent l'exposition des données et les failles de sécurité » Source: Bridging the AI Acceleration Gap, Harvard Business Review Analytic Services / Nexthink - 53 % share of respondents citing regulatory and legal risks 259 decision-makers, February-March 2026 > « 53 % les risques réglementaires et juridiques » Source: Bridging the AI Acceleration Gap, Harvard Business Review Analytic Services / Nexthink - 45 % share of respondents whose IT organisation must govern AI without clear visibility into its actual use 259 decision-makers, February-March 2026 > « 45 % des répondants confirment que l'on demande à leur organisation IT de gouverner l'IA sans visibilité claire sur ses usages réels. » Source: Bridging the AI Acceleration Gap, Harvard Business Review Analytic Services / Nexthink - 46 % share of organisations that consider they have sufficient visibility into formal AI use 259 decision-makers, February-March 2026 > « 46 % des organisations jugent disposer d'une visibilité suffisante sur l’usage formel de l’IA » Source: Bridging the AI Acceleration Gap, Harvard Business Review Analytic Services / Nexthink - 27 % share of organisations with sufficient visibility into informal AI use 259 decision-makers, February-March 2026 > « ce chiffre chute à seulement 27 % dès qu'il s'agit des usages informels, via des IA que les collaborateurs déploient de leur propre initiative. » Source: Bridging the AI Acceleration Gap, Harvard Business Review Analytic Services / Nexthink - 75 % share of companies planning to strengthen AI training over 12 months 259 decision-makers, February-March 2026 > « 75 % des entreprises prévoient de renforcer la formation à l'IA » Source: Bridging the AI Acceleration Gap, Harvard Business Review Analytic Services / Nexthink - 67 % share of companies planning to strengthen their governance policies 259 decision-makers, February-March 2026 > « 67 % leurs politiques de gouvernance » Source: Bridging the AI Acceleration Gap, Harvard Business Review Analytic Services / Nexthink - 19 % share of companies planning to invest in visibility tools 259 decision-makers, February-March 2026 > « seules 19 % envisagent d'investir dans des outils de visibilité » Source: Bridging the AI Acceleration Gap, Harvard Business Review Analytic Services / Nexthink - 17 % share of companies planning a digital employee experience strategy 259 decision-makers, February-March 2026 > « 17 % dans une véritable stratégie d'expérience numérique des collaborateurs (DEX, Digital Employee Experience) » Source: Bridging the AI Acceleration Gap, Harvard Business Review Analytic Services / Nexthink - 42 % share of respondents citing inadequate technology infrastructure as the main obstacle 259 decision-makers, February-March 2026 > « 42 % des répondants pointent précisément l'inadéquation de leur infrastructure technologique comme premier obstacle au suivi de l'IA. » Source: Bridging the AI Acceleration Gap, Harvard Business Review Analytic Services / Nexthink - 72 % share of respondents confirming that AI is already changing their CIO's priorities 259 decision-makers, February-March 2026 > « 72 % des répondants confirment que l'IA change déjà les priorités de leur DSI. » Source: Bridging the AI Acceleration Gap, Harvard Business Review Analytic Services / Nexthink - 48 % share of respondents unsure about IT's future role in AI-driven transformation 259 decision-makers, February-March 2026 > « près d'un sur deux (48 %) admet une forme d'incertitude quant au rôle que jouera l'IT à long terme dans la transformation par l'IA. » Source: Bridging the AI Acceleration Gap, Harvard Business Review Analytic Services / Nexthink ## Classification **Country** Worldwide scope **Company size** All sizes **Industries** All industries, or industry not specified **Companies** Harvard Business Review Analytic Services (study author), Nexthink (study author) **Keywords** AI governance, shadow IT, CIO, data security, digital employee experience Entry written by Marsanne Studio from the cited article, with the help of an AI model (claude-sonnet-5). The rights to the article and its illustrations belong to Alliancy and its authors. Entry translated from French by Claude Sonnet 5.5.