Industry voice: How Leaders Can Turn AI Ambition into Digital Workplace Action
Lenovo research shows that 89% of IT leaders agree digital workplace transformation is key to enabling Gen AI — but over 60% have yet to take action.
Generative AI is no longer on the horizon. It’s already reshaping how work gets done. Its potential to automate routine tasks, personalise employee experiences, and drive productivity is widely recognised. Gartner projects global generative AI (GenAI) spending to reach $644 billion in 2025 - a 76.4% increase from last year. Yet despite rising investment, most organisations are still struggling to move from promise to progress.
Lenovo’s latest global study, Igniting Real Workplace Transformation – part of the 2025 Work Reborn Research Series – reveals a significant gap between vision and execution. Based on insights from 600 IT leaders, including 150 in Europe, the research shows that while 97% recognise the need for digital workplace transformation, more than 60% have yet to take action.
This puts their ability to keep pace with AI innovation at risk. Our report reveals what’s blocking digital workplace transformation and how organisations can overcome these barriers to unleash the full potential of Gen AI.
Overcoming the roadblocks to real transformation
The first barrier, and arguably most critical, is a lack of clear vision. More than half (55%) of IT leaders say a vision for digital workplace transformation is one of their top challenges.
Organisations often fail to consider what makes them unique, from their working culture to the specific needs of their employees. Many simply imitate what other organisations are doing, wasting an opportunity for competitive advantage.
For organisations struggling to define a clear vision for workplace transformation, three strategic shifts can help bring things in focus:
- Define your objectives – Organisations need to agree what success looks like by thinking about what they want to achieve and their ideal future state. They should set realistic short-, mid-, and long-term objectives, while ensuring cross-functional alignment, and link the plan to real results.
- Understand your employees and culture – Connect digital workplace transformation with strategic objectives by starting with employees: what do they need to thrive and what are their different requirements? It’s important to see the workforce as a platform for differentiation.
- Lean on external support – By partnering with digital workplace specialists, organisations benefit from proven experience and a fresh perspective to help refine their vision and avoid common pitfalls. Tailored guidance can save time and resources.
The second most common barrier is competing IT priorities: 44% of IT leaders rank this among their top three challenges.
From cybersecurity and sustainability to infrastructure upgrades and Gen AI itself, digital workplace transformation is often viewed as just one more item on an already crowded agenda. But this line of thought misses the mark. Digital workplace transformation isn’t separate from other urgent IT objectives. It’s the foundation that enables Gen AI, strengthens cybersecurity, and advances sustainability goals.
In fact, 89% of IT leaders agree that digital workplace transformation is key to enabling Gen AI. It can also strengthen security, especially against AI cyberattacks, by letting businesses rethink how devices are configured, managed and authenticated. It supports sustainability too by helping businesses evaluate more responsible ways to manage IT.
Tackling scale and complexity to unlock AI
The third major barrier is that 44% of IT leaders don’t know how to transform their digital workplace.
Early-stage transformation often requires a transition from legacy systems to more agile, hybrid cloud-based platforms, which can create complexity, risk and disruption. Also, getting buy-in across the organisation is a challenge because architecting the digital employee experience is a cross-functional effort.
As a result, many IT leaders are overwhelmed by the scale, commitment and potential risks involved in digital transformation.
The key is to break the transformation journey into manageable, coordinated phases—and treat it as an enterprise-wide initiative, not a standalone IT upgrade. Success requires alignment across IT, HR, operations, and leadership, along with targeted strategies to close skills gaps, modernise infrastructure, and unify stakeholder priorities.
Success depends on more than technology. Training, communication, and adoption support turn ambition into impact.
The organisations that pair a people-centered vision with decisive action will be the ones to unlock the full value of generative AI—driving productivity, accelerating innovation, and capturing new efficiencies. Transformation is no longer a future ambition; it’s today’s imperative. Those who lead now will define not only how work happens, but what’s possible for their people and their business.
Learn how to turn strategy into measurable outcomes in the full report.
This article is sponsored by Lenovo.