{"id":52442,"date":"2026-03-07T11:48:53","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T06:18:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/livemumbai.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/07\/lenovo-cio-playbook-2026-99-percent-of-indian-enterprises-plan-to-increase-ai-investments-budgets-expected-to-grow-19-percent-year-over-year\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T11:48:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T06:18:53","slug":"lenovo-cio-playbook-2026-99-percent-of-indian-enterprises-plan-to-increase-ai-investments-budgets-expected-to-grow-19-percent-year-over-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/livemumbai.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/07\/lenovo-cio-playbook-2026-99-percent-of-indian-enterprises-plan-to-increase-ai-investments-budgets-expected-to-grow-19-percent-year-over-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Lenovo CIO Playbook 2026: 99 Percent of Indian Enterprises Plan to Increase AI Investments; Budgets Expected to Grow 19 Percent Year-Over-Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], March 07:<\/strong>\u00a0 Enterprises across Asia Pacific are accelerating their shift from AI experimentation to execution, with 96% of organizations planning to increase AI investments over the next 12 months<\/strong>, according to the\u00a04th<\/sup>\u00a0edition of the Lenovo CIO Playbook 2026 – The Race for Enterprise AI<\/strong>, commissioned by Lenovo with insights from IDC. On average, organizations expect\u00a0AI spending to grow by 15%<\/strong>, spanning\u00a0GenAI and Agentic AI, public cloud AI services, on-prem AI infrastructure, and AI security tools<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Lenovo<\/p>\n

India<\/strong>\u00a0stands out in AP,\u00a0with 99% of organizations planning to increase AI investments<\/strong>\u00a0over the next 12 months and the\u00a0highest<\/strong>\u00a0average\u00a0year-on-year budget growth<\/strong>\u00a0in the region at\u00a019%<\/strong>. These investments prioritize deploying and supporting AI infrastructure, internal AI training including non-IT staff, and generative AI development and applications, followed by AI devices and AI security, trust and transparency tools – underscoring AI as a core enabler of enterprise efficiency, resilience, and growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen 96% of organizations across AP are planning a 15% on average increase in AI investment, it tells us that AI decisions are now being made at the core of enterprise strategy,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0said\u00a0Sumir Bhatia, President, Asia Pacific, ISG, Lenovo.\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cThe differentiator will be how effectively organizations integrate AI, embedding it into infrastructure, operations, and security so value compounds over time.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

As AI becomes increasingly embedded into enterprise strategy,\u00a0driving revenue growth, improving profitability, and enhancing business & customer experience<\/strong>\u00a0have emerged as the\u00a0top three business priorities for CIOs in Asia Pacific<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Lenovo<\/p>\n

From ROI Validation to Outcomes-Led AI<\/strong><\/p>\n

Building on last year\u2019s AI-nomics focus on validating returns and business cases, the 2026 Playbook highlights a decisive shift toward\u00a0outcomes-led AI adoption<\/strong>. CIOs remain confident in AI\u2019s value, but are applying greater rigor to ensure investments translate into sustained impact.<\/p>\n

88%\u00a0<\/strong>of AP organizations\u00a0expect a positive ROI from AI in 2026<\/strong>, with an average anticipated\u00a0return of 2.8x (US$2.85 for every US$1 invested)<\/strong>. Yet, scaling AI beyond pilots remains a key challenge, reinforcing the importance of governance, operating models, and lifecycle management.<\/p>\n

AI Adoption Expands Beyond IT<\/strong><\/p>\n

AI adoption across Asia Pacific continues to accelerate and is no longer confined to IT.\u00a066% of organizations are already piloting or systematically adopting AI<\/strong>, while\u00a015% remain in early stages and 19% are considering adoption<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In India,\u00a059%\u00a0<\/strong>are\u00a0already piloting or systematically adopting AI,\u00a0<\/strong>with\u00a019%\u00a0<\/strong>in\u00a0early stages\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a023% considering adoption<\/strong>, highlighting sustained interest and a strong pipeline for broader deployment.<\/p>\n

AI is increasingly being deployed across\u00a0customer service, marketing, operations, finance, and industry-specific lines of business<\/strong>, reshaping how enterprises operate and compete. Notably,\u00a0half of surveyed organizations report that non-IT departments are now funding AI initiatives<\/strong>, elevating the CIO\u2019s role as an enterprise-wide orchestrator.<\/p>\n

Agentic AI Emerges as the Next Enterprise Opportunity<\/strong><\/p>\n

Interest in\u00a0Agentic AI<\/strong>\u00a0is expected to\u00a0double over the next 12 months<\/strong>. Today,\u00a021% of Asia Pacific organizations report significant usage<\/strong>,\u00a059% are exploring or planning limited deployments<\/strong>, particularly across\u00a0telecommunications, healthcare, and government<\/strong>, where operational complexity and scale are highest.<\/p>\n

Despite growing interest, readiness remains uneven.\u00a0Only 10% of organizations consider themselves ready for scaled Agentic AI implementation<\/strong>, with\u00a041% requiring more than 12 months to meaningfully scale<\/strong>. Security, governance, data quality, and integration complexity remain key barriers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgentic AI represents a fundamental shift in how intelligence is embedded into the enterprise,\u201d said\u00a0<\/em>Fan Ho, ED & GM, Asia Pacific, Solutions & Services Group, Lenovo.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>\u201cWith nearly 60% of organizations already exploring Agentic AI and the majority are choosing a measured path to scale, it reflects that enterprises want AI that operates within core workflows, meets security and governance expectations, and delivers consistent outcomes.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Hybrid AI Becomes the Default Enterprise Architecture<\/strong><\/p>\n

As AI workloads scale, infrastructure strategy is emerging as a defining CIO decision. The Playbook finds that\u00a086% of organizations across Asia Pacific now incorporate on-premises or edge environments as part of hybrid AI architectures<\/strong>, effectively making\u00a0hybrid AI the default model<\/strong>\u00a0for enterprise AI deployments.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0India<\/strong>,\u00a090% of organizations prefer hybrid AI architectures<\/strong>, combining on-prem and edge environments to balance\u00a0performance, security, and regulatory requirements<\/strong>. Key drivers include data privacy and compliance requirements, high cloud costs, and the need to support distributed operations and data.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndia\u2019s AI journey reflects a builder mindset. As 59% of organizations move into active adoption and budgets grow at the fastest pace in the region, enterprises are prioritizing infrastructure and workforce readiness to industrialize AI responsibly and at scale. With nearly $3 in expected return for every dollar invested, AI is evolving from pilot programs to core business infrastructure.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>said\u00a0Shailendra Katyal, Vice President and Managing Director, Lenovo India.<\/strong><\/p>\n

CIO Imperatives for 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Lenovo CIO Playbook 2026 highlights three priorities shaping the year ahead:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. AI inferencing becomes the value engine<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Over a model\u2019s lifecycle,\u00a0inferencing costs\u00a0<\/strong>can be up to\u00a015 times higher than training<\/strong>. By 2030,\u00a075% of AI compute will be dedicated to inferencing<\/strong>, with\u00a080%\u00a0<\/strong>of enterprises relying on\u00a0distributed edge infrastructure<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
  2. Employee productivity\u00a0<\/strong>rises as a\u00a0strategic priority<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Deploying AI devices to enhance productivity & local inferencing has climbed to the\u00a0#2 IT Investment priority<\/strong>, alongside growing adoption of\u00a0AI PCs<\/strong>, with\u00a050% of enterprise PC purchases\u00a0<\/strong>expected to shift to\u00a0models with on-device AI agents<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
  3. Scaling AI\u00a0<\/strong>remains the\u00a0defining challenge<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 While\u00a088% of organizations expect positive ROI<\/strong>, only\u00a0around half of AI proof-of-concepts reach production<\/strong>, making scale – not ambition – the critical gap.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    For more information: Download the\u00a0Lenovo AP CIO Playbook 2026<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

    If you object to the content of this press release, please notify us at pr.error.rectification@gmail.com. We will respond and rectify the situation within 24 hours.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], March 07:\u00a0 Enterprises across Asia Pacific are accelerating their shift from AI experimentation to execution, with 96% of organizations planning to increase […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52441,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1621,5],"tags":[2636],"class_list":["post-52442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-news","category-press-release","tag-lenovo-cio-playbook"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/livemumbai.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/livemumbai.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/livemumbai.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livemumbai.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livemumbai.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/livemumbai.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livemumbai.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/livemumbai.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livemumbai.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livemumbai.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}