'Most enterprises are still unprepared to operationalize it': IT leaders are bullish on agents, but keeping falling at the final hurdle – here's why

Most companies are ramping up agentic AI adoption, but it largely remains in the pilot stage with no return on investment (ROI) on the horizon.

That's according to a new report from Forrester, which found that three quarters of enterprise leaders said they were adopting the technology, but only a small minority are using it operationally beyond "agentish" chatbots.

"Agentic AI is no longer theoretical – it’s technically real in 2026 – but most enterprises are still unprepared to operationalize it," said Brian Hopkins, VP and analyst at Forrester.

The research marks the latest in a string of studies highlighting an inability to move agentic AI projects past the pilot stage. A study from Dynatrace earlier this year found roughly half were stuck at this point within their adoption journey and unable to progress.

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Notably, the Dynatrace report found this wasn’t putting IT leaders off investing in the technology, with a significant portion planning to increase investment despite a lack of concrete returns.

Agents aren't chatbots

In a blog post detailing the Forrester research analysts noted that AI agents had arrived but enterprises simply weren't ready – which shouldn't surprise anyone, as "we've seen this story before".

Part of the problem, Forrester said, was treating agents like chatbots when they should instead be viewed as a distributed system that demands infrastructure and support.

Companies can't simply stitch together isolated agents without shared data, registries or routing, the consultancy noted.

"The gap we see isn’t about models or ambition; it’s about orchestration, control, and trust," Hopkins added. "Companies that treat agentic AI as a feature experiment will stay stuck in pilots, while those that invest in agent‑native design, executable governance, and nonhuman identity will be the ones that actually capture value at scale."

Expensive chase

The lack of ROI is one reason enterprises are slow to escape pilot mode and fail to scale, according to Forrester. Simply put, the technology isn’t quite living up to some expectations, and that’s spooking IT leaders.

"ROI uncertainty traps enterprise ambition in pilot mode because most companies can’t justify production beyond narrow efficiency gains," the blog post added. "And platform confusion freezes commitment while teams argue over whether to bet on a SaaS agent, [a system integrator]-built system, or a custom build."

Forrester argues that a major cost is the "trust tax", as auditing adds costs to agentic rollouts – of course, many companies, in particular in finance or healthcare, are heavily regulated and with good reason.

"Every autonomous action has to be logged and defensible to an auditor, and right now that cost is too high," Forrester claimed.

Another challenge is risk management, with Forrester admitting that AI security issues are a real threat that require new governance and identity policy that's "enforced as code rather than written down and hoped for."

What can IT leaders do?

Forrester said enterprises can stop chasing agentic AI and catch up with the technology by laying the right groundwork. Agentic AI needs a solid data foundation before IT leaders should even think about diving head-first.

"The companies pulling ahead aren’t the ones with the most agents," the company said in that blog post. "They’re the ones laying the track the train will run on."

Practically, that means investing in orchestration before adding agents, with Forrester noting that shared registries are necessary for agents to work inside conventional systems.

Plus, the analysts called for companies to redesign the work being done, not just the tooling.

"Agents bolted onto human-paced legacy workflows produce task savings, not step-change value," the post added. "Pick a few high-friction workflows and rebuild the roles and approvals around autonomy."

Notably, companies need to treat every agent as its own governed identity, with unique credentials, least privilege, full logging and a named owner to watch over it.

With those three key aspects in place, companies can begin to step away from pilots towards scaling, but even that should be done in stages with autonomy added only when appropriate controls are in place, Forrester added.

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