Key insights from Gartner IT Symposium Barcelona
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Key insights from Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo – Barcelona
Jarin McClinton
Published on 23 December 2025
8 min read
Jarin McClinton
Published on 23 December 2025
8 min read
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The AI readiness gap: where organisations stand today
Technology trends shaping the next five years
ServiceNow's autonomous IT vision
Building AI literacy: beyond the myths
What this means for your organisation
Ready to unlock AI's potential?
Key takeaways from Gartner IT Symposium Barcelona: AI readiness gaps, technology trends, autonomous IT, and building genuine AI literacy.
The Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo in Barcelona brought together thousands of IT leaders from across EMEA to explore the most pressing challenges facing organisations today. The conversation was dominated by one topic: artificial intelligence and its real-world impact on businesses. Our team attended to network with business leaders, understand their current challenges and opportunities, and gather insights from the event's key sessions on AI readiness, emerging technology trends, and building genuine AI literacy across organisations.
The AI readiness gap: where organisations stand today
One of the most striking revelations from Gartner's AI keynote was the disconnect between AI ambition and AI capability. Whilst people want AI, only 30% of technology leaders have confidence in their organisation's AI readiness. Even more concerning, 71% of CIOs report their workforce isn't ready for AI adoption.
The challenge isn't just technological; it's deeply human. Gartner highlighted that only 15% of EMEA organisations currently have AI agents deployed, and whilst conversational AI is gaining traction, the accuracy rates remain at around 75%. This leaves significant room for error, particularly in mission-critical applications.
The hidden costs of AI implementation are catching organisations off guard. Beyond the initial investment in technology, companies are discovering unanticipated expenses around training (averaging 25 days per employee), infrastructure, and ongoing maintenance. Gartner introduced the concept of an "AI cost survival kit" to help organisations better plan for the true total cost of ownership.
Perhaps most importantly, the human element can't be ignored. Job redesign is 20 times more effort than simply laying off and hiring new staff, yet organisations that invest in upskilling and reskilling their existing workforce are seeing better outcomes. The demographic decline across Europe makes this investment even more critical—we can't simply hire our way out of the skills gap.
The challenge isn't just technological; it's deeply human. Gartner highlighted that only 15% of EMEA organisations currently have AI agents deployed, and whilst conversational AI is gaining traction, the accuracy rates remain at around 75%. This leaves significant room for error, particularly in mission-critical applications.
The hidden costs of AI implementation are catching organisations off guard. Beyond the initial investment in technology, companies are discovering unanticipated expenses around training (averaging 25 days per employee), infrastructure, and ongoing maintenance. Gartner introduced the concept of an "AI cost survival kit" to help organisations better plan for the true total cost of ownership.
Perhaps most importantly, the human element can't be ignored. Job redesign is 20 times more effort than simply laying off and hiring new staff, yet organisations that invest in upskilling and reskilling their existing workforce are seeing better outcomes. The demographic decline across Europe makes this investment even more critical—we can't simply hire our way out of the skills gap.
Technology trends shaping the next five years
Gartner outlined several technology trends that will define the competitive landscape over the coming years. AI-native development platforms are breaking down traditional barriers to AI adoption, making it easier for organisations to build and deploy intelligent applications. The shift from generalist to domain-specific large language models is particularly notable, requiring data science and machine learning specialists to keep models architecturally sound and up-to-date.
Physical AI is emerging as a new frontier, with AI systems that interact with and understand the physical world. This convergence of digital intelligence and physical operations opens new possibilities in manufacturing, logistics, and facilities management.
On the security front, preemptive cybersecurity has become the most critical capability for organisations going forward. Traditional detection-based approaches are no longer sufficient when threats evolve faster than defences can respond. The rise of deepfakes and AI-powered fraud (which has increased by 2,000%) demands new approaches to digital provenance and verification.
Geopatriation is also reshaping technology strategies, with organisations and nations prioritising data sovereignty and resilience to geopolitical disruption. Gartner predicts that 35% of countries will have region-specific AI modelling sovereignty requirements in the near future, forcing organisations to rethink their global technology architectures.
ServiceNow's autonomous IT vision
ServiceNow presented their ambitious roadmap for agentic AI and autonomous operations during their session. Their goals are bold: resolve more than 80% of incidents autonomously, achieve resolution times measured in minutes rather than hours, and deliver a 98% automated change success rate.
The company shared their own transformation journey, scaling from 13,000 to 27,000 employees whilst keeping IT support flat year-over-year. They've achieved a ratio of one support agent per 1,000 employees through aggressive automation and AI adoption. Their GenAI adoption for support tasks jumped from 28% to 60% with the deployment of agentic AI, with projections to reach 90%.
The ServiceNow team offered a helpful analogy for managing AI agents: treat them like pets. You can't expect them to do certain things immediately, you can't leave them completely alone, and they need guardrails, regular feeding, and walking. This framing helps organisations set realistic expectations for AI deployment whilst recognising the ongoing care and attention required.
Building AI literacy: beyond the myths
Gartner dedicated significant attention to debunking common myths around AI literacy and adoption. The first myth (that AI adoption is automatic) was firmly dispelled. 87% of CIOs report that users require frequent engagement, training, and education to effectively use AI tools.
Several innovative approaches to AI literacy emerged from the sessions. MinterEllison, a law firm, designated GenAI time as fee credit, giving consultants protected time to experiment and learn. Other organisations are borrowing social media techniques to drive adoption: building influencer networks of AI champions, providing incentives through learning credits and rewards, and fostering visibility through digital badges and leaderboards.
The key is matching training to employee AI maturity, recognising that people fall along a spectrum from "avoid AI" to "champion AI". One-size-fits-all training programmes fail to meet people where they are.
Another critical myth challenged was that CIOs should own everything AI-related. The reality is that AI strategy, responsible AI governance, adoption programmes, talent development, and technical infrastructure all require cross-functional leadership. Many successful organisations have established AI councils that span the entire business, not just IT.
Finally, Gartner urged organisations to measure AI success beyond individual use cases. True AI maturity requires tracking organisational readiness, employee AI experience, and your enterprise AI brand (how AI is perceived by employees across the company).
What this means for your organisation
The message is clear: AI readiness requires equal investment in technology and people. The organisations that will succeed aren't necessarily those with the most advanced algorithms, but those that create "AI shockwaves" (moments where high AI readiness combines with high human readiness to deliver transformative results).
As you consider your AI strategy, ask yourself: Are you investing enough in your people's AI literacy? Are you tracking the right metrics beyond simple use case success? Have you accounted for the hidden costs of AI implementation?
The AI revolution is here, but it's not automatic. It requires deliberate strategy, sustained investment, and a commitment to bringing your entire organisation along for the journey.
Ready to unlock AI's potential across your entire technology ecosystem?
Discover how Adaptavist can help you bridge the gap between AI ambition and capability. Explore AI potential across all your tools and start building your organisation's AI readiness today.
Written by
Global Head of Professional Services
With over 10 year's experience as a scrum master, solutions architect, and technical consultant, Jarin has intimate knowledge of how to solve complex business problems with technology. He oversees our global consultancy, delivering strategies that enhance customer satisfaction and drive growth.
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