As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to move from experimentation to enterprise-wide execution, business leaders are weighing how quickly their organizations can become AI-fluent, while using the technology responsibly, strategically, and at scale.
During our May 2026 webinar, “AI Transformation: A Look Into an AI-Forward Future,” panelists discussed how AI is becoming a defining force in the way enterprises operate, compete, and grow. In addition, they explored how agentic AI can reshape operating models, decision making, data strategy, governance, and the role of human judgment.
While this session surfaced several practical considerations for leaders, attendee poll responses offered insights into how organizations are thinking about preparedness, investment, adoption, and where AI agents may create the most value. Overall, it’s clear that decision makers are convinced it matters to their success but unsure how to act—and closing the gap between conviction and confidence is a new strategic imperative.
This article will unpack the results from four polling questions, as well as applicable insights to consider for the future.
How prepared do you feel for the future of AI?
Almost two-thirds of respondents are either a little prepared (about 48%) or not prepared at all (18%) for the future of AI. This is a significant portion of the group and reflects leadership perspectives across a diverse range of industries.
Market uncertainty is prevalent, as several factors affect the current environment: rising costs, labor shortages, administrative and regulatory changes, and supply chain disruptions all contribute to an ambiguous future.
Moreover, many sectors represented by attendees are used to adversity (e.g., COVID-19, economic recession, geopolitical conflicts, regulatory compliance, etc.), and typically follow measured, cautious approaches to combat market disruptors. AI seems to fall into this category, as these results reiterate that it is difficult to feel prepared with the rapid evolution of AI and its varying impacts.
That said, leaders may conduct discussions with trusted third-party partners to provide additional scenario planning and develop road maps during these periods.
Which facet of an agentic enterprise will be the hardest for your organization to get right today or in the near future?
Nearly 25% of respondents named trust as the most frequently cited challenge for their organization. This could relate to trust in agentic AI outputs or responses, the underlying technology itself, or the value delivered by the AI product. It could also point to risk or cybersecurity concerns.
Data and adoption were close behind trust, signifying two common hurdles for organizations: cleaning and preparing data for AI initiatives, and training people to use AI tools and sustain their utilization.
In theory, an agentic enterprise consists of agents that execute workflows across the full spectrum of business activity, from rules-based operations to more nuanced decisions that depend on institutional knowledge and context. In a fast-changing AI environment, enterprises will need to test, deploy, measure, and iterate continuously.
At any rate, these responses highlight the importance of governance for implementing agentic AI. Strong governance can help teams move quickly while maintaining appropriate controls around access, safety, bias, and acceptable use.
How much of your annual revenue does your organization plan to invest in AI development and implementation in the next year?
The single largest response to the poll question above was “don’t know.” Even senior-level decision makers don’t yet know how much to invest in AI, and those who do have committed a low percentage of annual revenue.
The main takeaway here is that leaders are convinced that AI matters but likely still need to consider their specific goals and align with those goals: What level of commitment is your organization willing to put into positioning AI?
What are the roles and responsibilities you want to offload to an AI agent in the next three years?
More than half of those polled want to offload data entry to AI agents over the next three years, pointing to increased interest in utilizing AI for manual, monotonous tasks.
As with any innovative tool or implementation, a resource that reduces time spent on routine operational work can help employees redirect efforts to other business functions. Organizational teams can explore how to optimize AI strategies in these ways to help their business thrive, not just survive, technological changes and unlock real value from agentic AI.
How Forvis Mazars Can Help
As evidenced by our poll responses, AI has reached the boardroom agenda, but not yet the operating plan. Leaders are facing pressure to urgently close this gap in a responsible, timely manner. Urgency can feel reckless—especially as the flurry of AI agents, adoption, and implementation seems constant—but execution is a mandate from the board and the market.
Despite industry buzz, leaders do not need to chase headlines or adopt the first AI product they find. Rather, a strategic approach can help you accelerate AI transformation and drill down to where it can add value.
Still, it can be difficult to know where to start. If you, like many of our respondents, are unsure of where to begin, a trusted third-party advisor like Forvis Mazars can help you create different strategies and prepare you for what’s next.
Our team follows a flexible approach to help clients identify practical business problems and determine where AI can make a real impact. Those interested in a self-evaluation can work through our health check assessment to identify business pain points or challenges. For a more hands-on experience, we invite you to schedule a discovery session with our team.
- *Data was collected from 1600+ non-Forvis Mazars individuals who attended the Forvis Mazars AI Transformation: A Look Into an AI-Forward Future webinar on 5/6/2026 and answered several poll questions. The majority of attendees represent decision-makers at middle market and large enterprise organizations across a range of sectors, from Financial Services; to TMT, Life Sciences, and Services; to Manufacturing; to Nonprofit, Education, and Public Sector. The bulk of participants listed themselves as C-suite, VP/executive director, director, controller/assistant controller, or manager/supervisor. Only people who responded were included in the results shown.