The implementation of artificial intelligence is delivering measurable benefits: 74% of companies report a positive impact of AI on their business, yet only 24% achieve a return on investment across multiple use cases simultaneously, according to the KPMG Global Tech Report. In response to the growing importance of technology, 90% of organizations plan to expand technology partnerships and ecosystems over the next year. However, more than half (53%) still struggle with a shortage of talent needed to execute their digital transformation strategies. One of the main areas of investment is becoming Agentic AI, and nearly all organizations expect AI management capabilities to be critical within the next five years. The study also shows that only 11% of organizations have reached the highest level of technological maturity, although half expect to do so by the end of 2026.
Artificial intelligence is now viewed as a strategic necessity rather than merely an industry trend. Sixty-eight percent of respondents aim to achieve the highest level of AI maturity within their organizations. As many as 88% are already investing in Agentic AI—autonomous digital agents that transform operations and decision-making processes—while 92% anticipate that managing AI agents will become a core competency within five years.
Companies invest in people and build flexible teams
Despite the growing role of AI, organizations expect that in 2027, 42% of their technology workforce will still consist of full-time employees—a decline of only five percentage points compared to 2025. Top-performing companies plan to retain an even larger share of permanent staff—up to 50%—demonstrating that human capabilities remain essential alongside AI. At the same time, 53% of companies admit they lack the appropriate talent to implement their digital strategies effectively. By 2027, digital assistants and AI agents are expected to account for 36% of total operational capacity within IT teams, up from 28% today—an increase of eight percentage points.
Ninety-two percent of organizations believe that managing AI agents will become a key skill within the next five years. The most successful companies invest simultaneously in technology and people, equipping employees with tools for innovation and rapid adaptation to change. Despite the rapid adoption of AI, human competencies—decision-making, oversight, accountability, and the ability to align technology with business objectives—will remain critical.
Digital transformation in Poland is entering a new phase of maturity. Organizations are increasingly feeling the consequences of growing technological debt, which limits their ability to scale innovation further. Experience shows that top-performing companies do not accelerate at the expense of fundamentals; instead, they invest in stable architecture, team capabilities, and long-term planning. Solid foundations and high-quality data now form the basis for effectively leveraging further innovations—automation, AI agent development, advanced analytics, and predictive capabilities. This enables organizations to respond more effectively to market volatility and rising competitive pressure,” says Dorota Zaremba, Partner and Head of SAP at KPMG in Poland.
A new approach to measuring AI value
As AI deployments scale, companies are increasingly reassessing how they evaluate effectiveness. Traditional ROI metrics fail to fully capture the real value of AI initiatives, according to 58% of KPMG survey respondents. Although 74% of organizations report measurable business benefits, only 24% achieve positive returns across multiple use cases simultaneously. The issue is not the absence of results but the difficulty of documenting them, as confirmed by 55% of executives. The data also indicate that ROI in AI does not grow linearly—sustainable value increases only emerge from a mature and coherent transformation approach.
The KPMG study shows that organizational success depends not merely on implementing new tools, but on having a well-thought-out action plan and consistent execution. Companies in Poland are increasingly asking not whether to adopt AI, but how to do so safely and in a way that allows solutions to scale across the organization. However, embedding AI into daily operations remains a challenge. Frequently, there is a lack of structured data and coherent governance and accountability frameworks. Companies that are already organizing their key applications and databases, and establishing clear rules for AI deployment and usage, will be significantly better prepared to leverage the technology at scale in the coming years,” says Andrzej Gałkowski, Partner and Head of AI at KPMG in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe.
Strategic partnerships drive growth
In a rapidly changing technological environment, risk is becoming a deliberate element of strategy. Eighty-seven percent of top-performing companies declare readiness to take greater risks in new technologies to maintain competitiveness (compared with 78% of other organizations). At the same time, 90% of organizations plan to expand technology partnerships and ecosystems within the next year to acquire missing competencies. However, increasing interdependence also adds management complexity—security, data protection, and intellectual property issues are now among the main barriers to collaboration.
In the Polish market, there is a clear gap between how highly organizations value AI and their ability to demonstrate its impact in hard numbers. Companies recognize improvements in productivity and decision quality but still too rarely translate these gains into concrete, measurable indicators. The best results are achieved by organizations that define, at the planning stage, how an AI initiative will affect costs, revenues, or risk levels—rather than trying to prove its profitability only after implementation,” comments Leszek Ortyński, Director and Head of AI and Data Science at KPMG in Poland.
About the report
The KPMG Global Tech Report is based on a survey of 2,500 technology leaders from companies in 27 countries, representing eight key sectors of the economy. All participating organizations generate annual revenues exceeding USD 100 million. The report is complemented by interviews with leaders of global technology companies, combining quantitative data with practical market insights.
