Agentic AI Integration Set to Accelerate this Year Among Gen AI Early Adopters

A Capgemini Research Institute report published today, ‘AI in action: How Gen AI and agentic AI redefine business operations,’ finds that AI is now driving positive returns on investment (ROI), with the average being nearly a 1.7 times return. The report highlights that this has now laid the groundwork for widespread agentic AI implementation. Among those early adopter organizations that have implemented generative AI (Gen AI), around 30% have already integrated AI agents into their business operations. Agentic AI projects are expected to rise by 48% by the end of 2025. The research also finds that one in five organizations already use AI agents or multi-agent systems, with Gen AI and agentic AI already delivering significant cost savings and operational efficiencies in business functions.

With businesses planning investments in AI infrastructure, some organizations had expressed concerns about achieving ROI from their large-scale AI and Gen AI rollouts. However, the report finds that these initial concerns are fading fast, as enterprises are now seeing substantial returns, with those surveyed achieving a 1.7 times ROI from their Gen AI and AI investments. As a result, enterprises are increasing their Gen AI investments, with 62% of those surveyed growing their investment in Gen AI this year as compared to last year.

“Gen AI and agentic AI can truly transform business services – enabling the shift from traditional cost-focused models towards an AI-enabled, value and insight driven business. Those that adopt an integrated approach with data and AI at its core will be set to achieve a truly connected, frictionless enterprise,” said Oliver Pfeil, CEO of Business Services at Capgemini and Member of the Group Executive Committee. “While the research suggests increased adoption of AI agents, organizations still face numerous barriers to implementation at scale. Adopting a pragmatic approach, fostering trust in AI, and creating a strong data foundation will go a long way in transforming business services into a strategic powerhouse to fuel any enterprise.” 

Gen AI adoption has laid the groundwork for agentic AI implementation

Gen AI is expected to drive improvements in key metrics such as insight accuracy, productivity, time to market, and customer and employee experience over the next three years. As a result, more businesses are seeing the value of Gen AI, with 36% of organizations already implementing it, up from 20% last year. Among those that have adopted Gen AI at a limited or full scale, around 30% have integrated AI agents into their operations. 

The total number of AI agent projects in an average organization are expected to grow 48% in 2025.  

According to the report, AI agents are already delivering significant benefits across business functions, with agents and multi-agent systems reducing errors, improving customer satisfaction levels, increasing operational efficiency, and reducing operational costs. The top five industries adopting AI agents are high tech, industrial manufacturing, consumer products, energy & utilities, and pharma & healthcare. 

Strong leadership and workforce transformation are key to faster returns

To achieve strong ROI on Gen AI investments, organizations should focus on developing strong leadership, governance, and AI readiness. According to the report, organizations who establish this foundation achieve ROI 45% faster. However, most enterprises currently lack this strong leadership, with only one in three leaders being a strong advocate of Gen AI.

In addition, organizations must also transform their workforce to derive business value cites the report. In the past two years, enterprises that introduced automation and AI-based use cases have been able to automate 30% of operational tasks, and expect to automate further in the next two years. As responsibilities evolve, organizational upskilling, reskilling, training and job role transitions will feature highly, with almost two-thirds of employees expecting to see their job descriptions altered by 2028. According to the report, employee interaction with AI agents is expected to increase by 2028, so training and upskilling will be needed to prepare workforces for effective human-AI collaboration. 

India Insights:

Around 62% of organizations surveyed globally have increased investment in Gen AI

• 79% of surveyed Indian executives revealed that their investment in GenAI has increased compared to last year, as compared to 62% global executives surveyed
• 49% of surveyed India executives informed that the increase in Gen AI investment is from both reallocation of budgets from other existing budgets and additional budgets, as compared to 32% global executives surveyed
• 27% of surveyed India executives informed that the increase in Gen AI investment is from reallocation of budgets from other existing budgets
• 24% of surveyed India executives informed that the increase in Gen AI investment is from additional budgets

Three in four executives surveyed globally prefer proprietary models for AI implementation

• 36% of surveyed Indian executives informed that they are planning to implement AI and Gen AI model, primarily through proprietary models from hyperscalers (e.g., Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini)
• 33% of surveyed Indian executives informed that they are planning to implement AI and Gen AI models, primarily through proprietary models from niche model developers (e.g., OpenAI GPT-4, Anthropic Claude etc.)
  
  

Top factors driving preference for proprietary models

 What factors make you select proprietary models?

• 77% of surveyed Indian executives cited performance as a factor (high performance and accuracy due to optimized infrastructure for proprietary models)
• 74% of surveyed Indian executives cited security and compliance as a factor (advanced security features and compliance with industry standards for proprietary models), as compared to 66% global executives surveyed
• 69% of surveyed Indian executives cited integration (seamless integration with existing enterprise systems and tools for proprietary models)
• 61% of surveyed Indian executives cited support and maintenance as a factor (access to dedicated support and regular updates for proprietary models)

Gen AI maturity increased globally by 1.8x, year-on-year, in 2025

• 37% of surveyed Indian executives revealed that their organization is currently building a strategy for Gen AI with no projects implemented
• 29% of surveyed Indian executives revealed that their organization has enabled Gen AI capabilities in some of the functions/locations
• 20% of surveyed Indian executives revealed that their organization has started exploring the potential of Gen AI
  
  

 One in five organizations globally already utilize AI agents or multi-agent systems

• 25% of surveyed Indian executives revealed that their organization is planning to use AI agents/agentic AI systems in 2-3 years
• 23% of surveyed Indian executives revealed that their organization is already using AI agents

AI leaders globally take 45% less time to achieve ROI

• 39% of surveyed Indian executives revealed that their leadership is a strong advocate of generative AI
• 19% of surveyed Indian executives revealed that their leadership is taking a “wait-and-watch” approach to generative AI

AI and Gen AI’s impact on the workforce is expected to increase globally

What percentage of your overall workforce will work with AI agents/Agentic AI systems (providing input, monitoring outputs etc)

• 58%% of the overall workforce will work with AI agents/Agentic AI systems (providing input, monitoring outputs etc) by 2027-2028, as revealed by surveyed Indian respondents
• 43% of the overall workforce will work with AI agents/Agentic AI systems (providing input, monitoring outputs etc) by 2026, as revealed by surveyed Indian respondents
• 25% of the overall workforce is already working on AI agents/Agentic AI systems (providing input, monitoring outputs etc), as revealed by surveyed Indian respondents
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  What percentage of your overall workforce will have access to your organization's approved AI and Gen AI tools and applications

• 68% of the overall workforce will have access to their organization’s approved AI and Gen AI tools and applications by 2027-2028, as revealed by the surveyed Indian executives, as compared to 64% global respondents surveyed
• 55% of the overall workforce will have access to their organization’s approved AI and Gen AI tools and applications by 2026, as revealed by the surveyed Indian respondents
• 45% of the overall workforce already have access to their organization’s approved AI and Gen AI tools and applications, as revealed by the surveyed Indian respondents

What percentage of your overall workforce will get trained on AI and Gen AI technologies

• 68% of the overall workforce will get trained on AI and Gen AI technologies by 2027-2028, as revealed by the surveyed Indian respondents, as compared to 65% global respondents surveyed
• 56% of the overall workforce will get trained on AI and Gen AI technologies by 2026, as revealed by the surveyed Indian respondents
• 43% of the overall workforce are already trained on AI and Gen AI technologies, as revealed by the surveyed Indian respondents