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A new report jointly released by Tata Communications and Bloomberg Media Studios reveals that the challenge for enterprises is not adopting AI—but scaling it due to underlying technical debt.
MUMBAI, IndiaJune 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — AI has become a universal business imperative, but a new global study conducted by Tata Communications and Bloomberg Media Studios reveals a more acute issue emerging within enterprises: investment in AI is no longer in question, but the underlying systems may not be capable of supporting AI at scale.
The report, Building Durable AI Advantage, sponsored by Tata Communications and produced in collaboration with Bloomberg Media Studios, shows that three-quarters of business leaders (77%) have made AI a board-level priority. However, 65% of enterprises are still running on legacy or under-development infrastructure that cannot meet the data density and integration demands of enterprise AI. Only 29% of enterprises say their infrastructure can scale with changing business needs—a significant gap given that AI workloads do not grow in a steady, linear fashion. Workloads surge, migrate across environments, and stress the weakest links in the system.
The study surveyed 501 executives from companies with revenues exceeding $500 million in North America, Europe, and Asia, identifying five mutually reinforcing systems—or “cycles”—that determine whether AI investments generate sustained value or stall over time. These five cycles include Foundation (infrastructure modernization), Integration (interoperability between systems), Skills (capability distribution), Governance (decision-making speed), and ROI (value visibility). A deficiency in even one of these cycles can still yield localized gains. However, lasting performance depends on the synergy of all five cycles: when they reinforce each other, progress accelerates and advantages accumulate; when any cycle stalls, bottlenecks spread and momentum weakens.
Where Bottlenecks Are Building
The study found pressure points across all five cycles:
- Foundation: Modernization is uneven. Less than half of enterprises report having fully modernized network connectivity, hybrid deployment flexibility, or data architecture. Enterprises with advanced infrastructure are nearly twice as likely to achieve high business value from AI compared to those relying on legacy systems.
- Integration: 28% of leaders cite difficulty integrating AI with legacy systems as a major barrier to value, while 38% of respondents say integration issues cause delays in approvals and procurement cycles. Two-thirds (67%) of respondents believe seamless integration of digital automation and human interaction across channels is critical for AI execution.
- Skills: 30% of enterprises identify skills gaps and talent shortages as a major barrier to AI value. Pressure intensifies with scale—45% of enterprises with revenues over $5 billion cite skills gaps, well above the study average.
- Governance: 42% of enterprises cite security and compliance reviews as the biggest source of approval delays, followed by integration issues (38%) and procurement complexity (38%). As stakeholder committees expand for high-value investments, governance risks becoming a mechanism that hinders scaling rather than supporting it.
- ROI: Nine out of ten enterprises derive some value from modernization initiatives, but over 60% say they have not yet achieved optimal results. Part of the challenge lies in visibility—when AI, infrastructure, and security are tracked separately, the broader enterprise-wide impact remains invisible. Value is only reflected in individual projects, and subsequent reinvestment relies solely on these fragmented feedback loops.
Sumeet Walia, President and Chief Revenue Officer, Tata Communications, said: “AI has become one of the defining business priorities of our time, but the true differentiator is no longer AI itself—it is the infrastructure and integration that enable AI to generate value at scale. Our research shows that while the willingness to advance is growing, readiness remains uneven across the board. The organizations that will lead in the coming years are those that build a strong foundation, tightly connecting people, systems, data, and intelligence within the enterprise.”
“AI is a tightly coupled ecosystem of computing, power, connectivity, and platforms—they are no longer separate systems but will converge into a unified infrastructure. AI is accelerating this convergence, and Tata Communications addresses this trend through digital architecture solutions—uniquely positioning us to help customers achieve their business goals.”
To access the full findings of the Building Durable AI Advantage report, click here.
About Tata Communications
Tata Communications (NSE: TATACOMM) (BSE: 500483) is part of the Tata Group and a global digital ecosystem enabler, powering the burgeoning digital economy in over 190 countries and territories. Guided by trust, it helps global enterprises accelerate their digital transformation through collaboration and connectivity solutions, core and next-generation connectivity, cloud hosting and security solutions, and media services. 300 of the Fortune 500 companies are its clients, and it provides connectivity to 80% of the world’s top cloud service providers. For more information, visit www.tatacommunications.com
About the Report
The Building Durable AI Advantage enterprise report is based on a survey of 501 executives and leaders directly involved in or influencing decisions on telecom infrastructure and procurement. Fieldwork was conducted from December 2025 to January 2026 across markets including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Singapore, Hong Kong SAR, Mainland China, India, and the Benelux/Nordic region. 65% of respondents are C-suite executives, and 35% are Vice Presidents or above.
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