Original Research — 1H 2025
Our qualitative study across Italian companies of every sector and size. What has been done, what is planned for the next 18 months, and why most projects still fail to scale.
Get the Full Report55%
of Italian companies have a very low or non-existent AI maturity level
74%
use AI only at an individual level, with no structured department or company-wide approach
73%
report data availability as a significant barrier to AI adoption
24%
higher AI maturity in companies with a clear C-level AI strategy vs. those without
55% of Italian companies are still in the early stages of AI adoption. But the digital divide is already visible: IT, Financial Services and Telecoms are accelerating, while Manufacturing, Defence and Public Administration are falling behind.
The most requested AI decision clusters are Operations Efficiency, Customer Service and Supply Chain — all with direct impact on the bottom line.
The full report includes sector-by-sector data and adoption patterns by cluster.
62% of companies still rely on a bottom-up, experimental approach. Only a minority have a C-suite-defined AI strategy — and that difference is worth 24% more in AI maturity.
Without a dedicated AI owner per department, maturity scores plateau at 2.1 out of 5. With dedicated owners, the score rises to 4.5.
The full report analyses the most effective governance models.
The three main obstacles to AI adoption in Italy are Data, Change Management and Skills — in that order. But they shift significantly depending on maturity level.
The most advanced companies (score 4–5) no longer struggle with data. Their primary obstacle is the same as the least mature companies: cultural change.
The full report maps barriers by maturity level and sector.
What Actually Works
The three most impactful measured benefits:
+83% customer acquisition
(client chatbot — Education sector)
-30% human-in-the-loop
(self-service automation — Analytics)
-20% onboarding time
(knowledge agent — Operations)
The common pattern: the highest benefits always come from use cases that eliminate human bottlenecks.
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The full report includes: sector and company-size breakdowns, analysis of the most effective governance models, an AI maturity benchmark to position your company, and our operational recommendations to accelerate adoption.
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