96% of IT pros use AI now: Their top 7 agentic applications and biggest implementation roadblocks

A global survey of data analysts and IT leaders reports widespread AI use, with 96% using AI for work and 49% using AI always or most of the time. Many professionals expect to employ AI agents within 12 months, with 59% predicting active use. At least half are willing to grant AI agents unrestricted access to their data, while 44% say human oversight is critical. Common agentic AI uses in production include drafting standardized communications or summaries (59%), scheduling or routing workflow tasks such as alert triage (54%), generating standard reports or dashboards without manual intervention (48%), and monitoring KPIs to trigger alerts or actions (45%). Data preparation and validation take about 10 hours per week, and 51% report AI workflows lower productivity.

"Nearly all data and IT pros use AI, but few are heavy users. Many would give AI agents unrestricted data access. AI data prep and validation take about 10 hours a week."

"While 96% report using AI for their work, only half can be considered frequent users of AI tools -- 49% report they use AI always or most of the time. Also: 51% of professionals say AI workslop lowers their productivity - stop it in 2 steps Agentic AI is high on the agenda, with close to six in 10 respondents, or 59%, predicting they will be actively employing AI agents within the next 12 months."

"In addition, at least half say they are willing to grant AI agents "unrestricted access" to their data. The security implications of such access were not discussed in the survey report, but 44% did specify that it was critical to include human oversight as part of such access."

"The most common agentic AI applications now in production are drafting communications and scheduling workflows. Drafting standardized communications or summaries for stakeholders: 59% Scheduling or routing workflow tasks, such as alert triage and process automation: 54% Generating standard reports or dashboards without manual intervention: 48% Monitoring key performance indicators and triggering alerts or actions: 45% Cleaning, preprocessing, or validating routine data sets: 45%"

Read at ZDNET