Atomicwork releases its State of AI in IT Report for 2025: North American IT Leaders see high ROI with AI adoption

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Atomicwork, the leading agentic service management platform, today released the second edition of its annual State of AI in IT report, an in-depth analysis of how organizations are leveraging AI in IT service management (ITSM) and beyond.

The research was conducted by Atomicwork in collaboration with ITSM.tools and PeopleCert, the organization behind ITIL. The report was the result of a study involving over 300 IT professionals and 700 end-users of IT services from North American and European organizations. It also includes the views of CIOs and other IT leaders from around the globe.

The major objective is to help the IT community understand the applications of AI in IT and the return on investment (ROI) they can expect.

AI in ITSM: A Snapshot of 2024 vs. 2025

Compared to last year, AI's presence in ITSM has grown significantly, with the top areas of impact being data analysis, end-user assistants, and knowledge management.

In 2025, the most anticipated benefits from AI adoption are:

• optimizing operations and reducing costs
• increasing employee productivity
• improving user experience

While 2024 saw enterprises start to invest in AI, the biggest learning seems to be that more time and strategic implementation are needed to realize the anticipated cost benefits.

These findings are also in line with the outlook of CIOs that Atomicwork interviewed for this report.

"Generative AI is increasingly establishing itself as a transformative technology." said Gopalratnam VC, Executive Vice President and Global CIO, Philips. "We maintain a cautiously optimistic outlook on GenAI, considering the ongoing assessment of its 'value vs cost' balance. In 2024, we have observed encouraging signs in areas such as knowledge management, customer support, and developer productivity. In 2025, we aim to scale our solutions, which is an essential step in building confidence in this technology.  Organizationally, it will be necessary to implement people-process changes to achieve AI-enabled business transformation."

"Enterprise IT teams have always been capacity-constrained to meet business demands. AI can now unlock new capacity by automating routine tasks, allowing IT to focus on higher-value work. However, IT leaders must guide their organizations through the critical phase of education to realize AI's full potential. It's no longer about prototypes—it's time to drive real productivity," commented Vijay Rayapati, CEO of Atomicwork.

End-User Perspectives: What's Missing in IT Support?

Despite advances of AI in IT implementation and prioritization, only 32% of end-user respondents expressed satisfaction with their IT support experience.

Top areas for improvement included:

• Confirming issue resolution before ticket closure
• Providing progress updates
• Offering 24/7 support

IT organizations need to take these expectations into account while formulating their 2025 technology strategy.

Interestingly, AI assistants now surpass non-AI assistants in usage but email and phone have remained the most popular channels for contacting IT support.

Key Findings Highlight AI's Varied ROI by Leadership and Region

ROI has emerged as the hottest buzzword of the year in the AI landscape, and for good reason—business leaders are under increasing pressure to justify their investments in transformative technologies.

One of the most striking findings from the 'State of AI in IT' report is the stark contrast in ROI outcomes based on where AI investments originate within an organization. While IT-led initiatives consistently deliver value, investments driven by the C-suite are far more likely to fall short, highlighting the critical role of IT teams in successfully implementing AI solutions.

Other key findings include:

• A healthy level of trust in AI leads to a positive cycle of more investment, usage, and subsequently better ROI, leading to more trust. AI-aversion, in contrast, leads to a negative cycle, resulting in low ROI.
• North American organizations led the charge with positive AI ROI, while their European counterparts lagged behind.
• Industry leaders in Energy, Utilities, and Logistics stood out, with zero respondents reporting negative ROI from AI investments, compared to bullish but mixed results from IT firms.

Discover how IT leaders can use AI in IT

The State of AI in IT report underscores a crucial truth: AI's potential is immense, but realizing its benefits requires strategic alignment, robust implementation, and continuous adaptation.

To unpack these findings, get the full report here.

Go into 2025 with a deliberate technology strategy for your IT operations. Book a briefing with the Atomicwork team here.

About Atomicwork

Atomicwork is the leading agentic service management solution, empowering IT teams to automate employee support and IT service management. The AI-powered platform seamlessly integrates with existing enterprise applications, internal processes, and business operations to deliver modern ITSM and ESM, helping businesses operate faster and scale better.

Headquartered in San Francisco, Atomicwork also has offices in India and Singapore.