Act Now: WEF 2025 Report Calls for Immediate AI Action in Corporate Operations

Read the Report

The World Economic Forum’s 2025 briefing, Act Now: The Rise of AI in Corporate Operations, presents a direct and urgent message to global business leaders: wait too long on AI, and risk falling behind permanently. The report moves past theoretical AI debates and focuses squarely on implementation, execution, and impact. WEF’s analysis pinpoints how companies across sectors are integrating AI into critical operational functions such as supply chain, finance, HR, and manufacturing, and why hesitating now may lead to long-term structural disadvantages.

Key Findings from the Report

• 81% of operations leaders say AI is now a core pillar of their transformation strategy

• Companies that implemented AI in operations saw a 23% increase in operational efficiency within one year

• Only 38% of surveyed firms have a clearly defined roadmap for AI deployment across business functions

• Over 70% of companies adopting AI in supply chain and finance reported measurable ROI within 12 months

• Top-performing companies are 2.8x more likely to use AI for real-time decision-making

• 55% of executives admit to lacking the talent required for effective AI implementation

• Ethical, regulatory, and interoperability concerns continue to hinder enterprise-scale rollouts

• Small and mid-sized enterprises trail behind, citing unclear value propositions and high initial costs

From Experimentation to Execution

WEF emphasizes that organizations must move from pilot projects and isolated AI use cases to full-fledged integration. The report categorizes AI maturity across three levels: exploratory, tactical, and operationalized. The latter, where AI is embedded into daily decision-making and process optimization, is where leading companies are pulling ahead.

In sectors like logistics and financial services, AI is already making real-time recommendations, optimizing workflows, and flagging anomalies before they escalate. Meanwhile, lagging companies still view AI as a distant innovation, missing the compounding value of early adoption.

Crucially, the report flags people and process readiness as make-or-break factors. Companies that succeed are investing in AI governance, cross-functional AI fluency, and flexible infrastructure that supports modular AI systems.

The CXF Take

This report isn’t subtle—and it shouldn’t be. “Act Now” is not just a title. It’s a directive. The organizations winning with AI today are those that built internal alignment yesterday. If AI is not already influencing how you plan, allocate, execute, and evaluate in operations, you’re behind.

What stands out most is WEF’s framing of AI readiness as a maturity continuum. While many companies pride themselves on experimentation, that phase is no longer enough. Execution is the new currency—and operational AI is the trade route.

The companies that operationalize AI will enjoy not just marginal gains but system-wide adaptability and speed. CX leaders should take this to heart: AI isn’t a channel or a tool—it’s becoming the operating system. The window to lead is still open—but it’s closing fast.