{"id":123222,"date":"2025-07-21T08:26:06","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T07:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/?p=123222"},"modified":"2025-07-21T08:26:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T07:26:08","slug":"ai-at-scale-only-2-of-enterprises-are-truly-ready-says-f5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/2025\/07\/21\/ai-at-scale-only-2-of-enterprises-are-truly-ready-says-f5\/","title":{"rendered":"AI at Scale? Only 2% of enterprises are truly ready, says F5"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While AI has swiftly become a pillar of business strategy across the globe, a new report from F5 reveals that the overwhelming majority of enterprises remain unprepared to scale its use securely and sustainably. The 2025 State of AI Application Strategy Report<\/em>, based on a survey of 650 global IT leaders and 150 AI strategists from companies with revenues above $200 million, finds that only 2%<\/strong> of organisations are truly ready to scale AI across operations with the right security and governance in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report identifies a gaping readiness gap between AI experimentation and operational maturity\u2014exposing how most enterprises, though eager adopters of generative AI, have yet to confront the governance, security, and infrastructural demands of enterprise-scale deployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cAs AI becomes core to business strategy, readiness requires more than experimentation\u2014it demands security, scalability, and alignment,\u201d said John Maddison, Chief Product and Corporate Marketing Officer at F5. \u201cThis report highlights actionable steps for organisations to operationalise AI with confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Moderate adoption, major gaps<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the study, 77% of companies fall into the \u2018moderate readiness\u2019 category, actively deploying AI\u2014including generative AI\u2014across roughly one-third of their applications. Yet, despite this adoption, most lack dedicated AI protections, clear data governance processes, and the infrastructure to manage AI workloads securely across hybrid environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only 21% of companies are classified as having low readiness\u2014often limiting AI use to pilot programmes or isolated experiments. These organisations tend to embed AI into less than a quarter of their applications, typically in disconnected or siloed environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, the top-performing 2%\u2014those with \u2018high readiness\u2019\u2014are characterised by mature frameworks, AI security protocols, and near-saturation of AI usage across their application portfolios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AI\u2019s expanding footprint without guardrails<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

F5\u2019s findings suggest a rapid expansion in the use of AI across application stacks. Today, on average, 25% of enterprise applications utilise AI, and most companies are leveraging a mix of paid and open-source models. Popular open-source tools include Meta\u2019s Llama variants, Mistral AI, and Google\u2019s Gemma, alongside widely adopted paid models like OpenAI\u2019s GPT-4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most organisations use at least three models across multiple environments, indicating an increasingly complex AI ecosystem that raises significant integration and governance challenges. This diversity of models, while promising for innovation, also widens the attack surface, particularly for enterprises lacking AI-specific security measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Security falling behind AI ambitions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the enthusiasm for AI, the report sounds a clear alarm about cybersecurity maturity. While 71%<\/strong> of respondents already use AI to enhance their security operations, only 18%<\/strong> of moderately ready companies have deployed an AI firewall<\/strong>\u2014a critical layer of protection against threats targeting AI workflows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other red flags include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Data governance gaps<\/strong>: Just 24%<\/strong> of companies practise continuous data labelling, raising concerns about transparency, accuracy, and vulnerability to adversarial attacks.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Hybrid-cloud inconsistencies<\/strong>: As businesses spread AI workloads across multiple clouds and on-premise environments, governance becomes fractured\u2014leaving workflows and sensitive data exposed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Lack of control over open-source tools<\/strong>: Without rigorous security frameworks, the increasing use of open-source models introduces further risk.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    \n

    \u201cWithout mature governance and purpose-built protections, enterprises risk amplifying threats,\u201d warned Maddison.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    AI in the Middle East: Growing use, growing risk<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mohammed Abukhater, Regional Vice President for the Middle East, T\u00fcrkiye, and Africa at F5, noted that these findings echo what the company is seeing in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n

    \u201cMany organisations across the Middle East are integrating AI into their operations, often without all the necessary governance or safeguards,\u201d said Abukhater. \u201cWhile most demonstrate moderate AI readiness, they must enhance their cross-cloud security strategies and internal governance to avoid significant risk exposure.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    He added that F5 is actively supporting regional clients in implementing the report\u2019s AI Readiness Index to assess their maturity and build secure, scalable AI operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Charting the road to readiness<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To help organisations close the gap, F5\u2019s AI Readiness Index outlines six key pillars of operational maturity\u2014ranging from infrastructure alignment to security integration and cross-functional governance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The report recommends three immediate actions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. Diversify AI models intelligently<\/strong>: Use both paid and open-source tools, but establish strong governance and control protocols.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Embed AI across the enterprise<\/strong>: Shift from pilot programmes to integrating AI within operations, analytics, and cybersecurity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. Deploy AI-specific security solutions<\/strong>: Use AI firewalls and standardised data labelling to guard against emerging threats.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      F5\u2019s call to action is clear: Enterprises must move beyond the hype and experiment phase and build the operational spine to support AI securely and strategically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      AI is no longer a future vision\u2014it\u2019s an operational reality. But as F5\u2019s 2025 report shows, the gap between adoption and readiness remains stark. Enterprises are embracing AI\u2019s promise but falling short on the foundations needed to deliver it safely and at scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Those that act now\u2014prioritising secure, cross-cloud infrastructure and mature governance\u2014will be best positioned to harness AI for innovation, resilience, and growth. Those that don\u2019t risk not only operational inefficiencies but also the amplification of cyber threats in an increasingly automated world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      While AI has swiftly become a pillar of business strategy across the globe, a new report from F5 reveals that the overwhelming majority of enterprises remain unprepared to scale its use securely and sustainably. The 2025 State of AI Application Strategy Report, based on a survey of 650 global IT leaders and 150 AI strategists […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4338,"featured_media":121535,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18762,19391,13],"tags":[3211,20011],"class_list":["post-123222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai","category-hot-topic","category-top-stories","tag-ai","tag-ai-ready"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4338"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123222"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123223,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123222\/revisions\/123223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}