Question 1

What is a connected organisation?

Accepted Answer

A connected organisation runs on integrated systems with a single, trusted source of truth that product, customer and enterprise information can move through reliably. That is how 73% of the UK leaders in this study defined it in their own words. A smaller group (14%) defines connectedness through automated end-to-end workflows that enable AI and faster decisions, and 10% emphasise governed, secure and role-appropriate access.

Question 2

What is sovereign AI?

Accepted Answer

Sovereign AI is the ability of an organisation or nation to develop, run and govern AI using infrastructure, data, models and oversight that remain under its own jurisdiction and control, so no outside party can access, constrain or exert legal authority over the system or its data. It goes beyond hosting: a model running on-premises is not sovereign in the full sense if its training pipeline, updates or telemetry route through an external party, or if governance for its use is undefined.

Question 3

What percentage of business systems are actually connected at UK organisations?

Accepted Answer

60% or less, for most organisations. 77% of leaders work in environments where no more than 60% of daily software tools are connected. Fragmentation shows up in daily work too: 59% of respondents who discussed application use said routine workflows span five to nine applications, so teams repeatedly move work, data and context across specialised tools to complete end-to-end processes.

Question 4

Why should leaders treat fragmentation as a risk issue rather than only an efficiency problem?

Accepted Answer

Security and compliance exposure was flagged by 90% of respondents. The leading concerns were data exposure, access-control and identity-management risks, cited by 47% of those who discussed security risk, while 39% pointed to expanded attack surfaces, inconsistent controls and weak monitoring. Fragmentation also carries operational costs: 64% of those discussing costs identified staff time, lost productivity and rework.

Question 5

Is AI already delivering value?

Accepted Answer

Yes, but the value is primarily operational and not yet consistently quantified in financial terms. Among respondents discussing outcomes, 61% cited time savings, productivity or work-quality gains; only 7% reported quantified cost, revenue or profitability effects, and 30% described ROI as limited, absent or unmeasured.

Question 6

How ready are UK organisations to scale AI with confidence?

Accepted Answer

Not very — use is running ahead of readiness. In G2's 2026 study of 100 UK business decision-makers, 61% of leaders who discussed outcomes report time, productivity or quality gains from AI, but only 7% can quantify a financial return, and 45% of active AI users operate without a fully established governance framework — all on estates where, for 77% of leaders, 60% or less of software is connected.

Question 7

Why is becoming a connected organisation now a strategic priority?

Accepted Answer

Because leaders now tie integration directly to competitiveness and AI. 73% of UK leaders call becoming a connected organisation extremely important or business-critical, and 58% of those who assessed it say integration is essential or critical to competing over the next two to three years. AI raises the stakes: it is being layered onto fragmented estates, making data integration a practical precondition for AI value.

Question 8

Do UK business leaders understand what sovereign AI means?

Accepted Answer

Mostly not. 52% of UK leaders who tried to define sovereign AI in their own words showed limited awareness or misunderstanding of the term, even though three-quarters say sovereignty already factors into their AI investment decisions. That gap makes sovereignty the blind spot inside otherwise clear integration strategies — leaders are investing against a concept they cannot yet fully specify.

Question 9

What is the biggest barrier to becoming an AI-enabled organisation in the UK?

Accepted Answer

Fragmented, disconnected systems. 77% of UK leaders operate estates where 60% or less of their software is connected, and 90% identify security or compliance exposure in fragmented environments. Because data silos undermine the integrated data AI depends on, the report finds data integration is a practical precondition for effective AI adoption — making fragmentation the first problem UK organisations must solve.

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