Orlando, Fla.: Forty-four percent of CEOs struggle to demonstrate AI financial returns to stakeholders, even as technology becomes central to business growth and strategic decision-making, according to Gartner, Inc., a business and technology insights company.
Rather than scaling back technology investments, CEOs are increasingly looking to artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies to redesign how their organizations operate, compete and grow.
The 2027 Gartner CEO Survey, conducted in April and May 2026 among 203 global CEOs and senior business executives, found that 62% identified revenue and business growth as a top strategic priority, while 75% planned to increase technology investment.
“The AI value problem will not be solved by simply adding more AI to existing ways of working,” said David Furlonger, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner.
“CEOs increasingly need technology to create strategic freedom: the ability to enter markets, reshape offerings, reconfigure operations and respond to disruption faster than competitors.
For CIOs, that means shifting the conversation from deploying AI to redesigning how the enterprise creates value.”
Gartner analysts presented the survey findings during Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo, which is taking place in Orlando, Florida, through Thursday.
Technology Has Become the Strategy
Technology is increasingly shaping the strategic choices available to enterprises, with CEOs placing it at the center of decisions concerning growth, competitiveness and business direction.
According to the Gartner survey, 80% of CEOs said technology has become strategy, highlighting its growing role in determining how organizations pursue growth opportunities and maintain a competitive advantage.
At the same time, CEOs are navigating significant disruption and uncertainty.
Ninety-three percent of respondents said they expected economic volatility to have a high or medium impact on their strategic business objectives through 2027.
Meanwhile, 79% anticipated a similar level of impact from persistent conflict, while 77% expected disruption from AI industrialization.
However, business readiness for these challenges remains considerably lower. Only 24% of CEOs reported high readiness for economic volatility, compared with 11% for persistent conflict and 20% for AI industrialization.
These findings highlight the challenge facing business leaders as they seek to translate technology investments into measurable AI financial returns while preparing their organizations for changing economic and competitive conditions.
“The objective is not technology for technology’s sake; it is strategic freedom,” said Furlonger.
“Technology creates options for the enterprise: to change direction, pursue new sources of growth and respond when market conditions shift. CIOs who remain downstream implementers risk being excluded from the decisions that increasingly define competitive advantage.”
Business Redesign Seen as Key to AI Financial Returns
CEOs increasingly recognize that generating stronger AI financial returns will require more than individual productivity improvements or adding AI tools to existing business processes.
The Gartner survey found that 63% of CEOs identified radically redesigning their operating models as a top strategic move to accelerate tangible financial returns from AI through 2027.
Meanwhile, 52% cited aggressively deploying AI agents as employees, while 47% identified unlocking or reallocating capital through significant business restructuring as a priority for improving returns from AI investments.
The findings point to a broader shift in how business leaders are approaching AI adoption.
Rather than treating AI as an additional technology layer, organizations are considering how it can reshape operating models, workflows, decision-making and resource allocation.
“The lesson from earlier technology transformations is that value accelerates when organizations redesign around the new capability rather than simply bolt it onto existing processes,” said Furlonger.
“AI needs to be built into how workflows, how decisions get made and how the enterprise competes.”
For CEOs seeking stronger financial outcomes from AI investments, business transformation and operating model redesign are emerging as important priorities.
The survey findings also underscore the role of chief information officers (CIOs) in connecting technology strategy with enterprise-wide business objectives.
Gartner’s Recommendations for CIOs to Improve AI Returns
To help CEOs meet their strategic growth objectives and improve the business value generated by technology investments, Gartner outlined three priorities for CIOs.
- Redesign workflows around intelligence
CIOs should prioritize AI investments that transform workflows, decision-making and value delivery rather than simply accelerating existing tasks. The focus should be on changing how work gets done and how business outcomes are achieved.
- Build for strategic freedom
Organizations should develop modular technology architectures and reduce rigid dependencies. This approach can help enterprises pivot when necessary, switch providers and scale new capabilities as business conditions change.
- Measure outcomes, not AI activity
CIOs should establish clear financial and operational measures to assess the impact of AI investments. These should include unit economics, decision velocity, speed to market, customer outcomes and overall business impact.
Gartner also emphasized the importance of governing AI, digital labor and workforce redesign as an integrated transformation rather than treating them as separate initiatives.
As technology becomes increasingly central to enterprise strategy, CEOs and CIOs face growing pressure to demonstrate how AI investments contribute to measurable business outcomes.
According to Gartner, achieving stronger AI financial returns will require organizations to go beyond deploying new technologies and focus on redesigning how the enterprise creates value, operates and competes.
Also Read: Vultr to Deploy 20 MW AMD Instinct AI Supercluster in Chennai
