A quarter of Canadian leaders don’t see AI coming for them

A quarter of Canadian business leaders believe AI will have minimal impact on their organization over the next four years, according to BDO Canada’s AI Vision Report, released last week. That finding might be the most telling number in the report.

Anyone managing an enterprise technology stack has watched AI arrive through vendor updates they didn’t initiate. 

Gartner projects that by 2028, a third of enterprise software applications will include agentic AI capabilities, up from less than 1% in 2024. These are features being built into the platforms Canadian businesses already run, whether they asked for them or not. The leaders who think AI won’t touch them may already be running it.

The report, based on a BDO Canada survey of 520 Canadian business leaders who are members of the Angus Reid Forum, also found that 46% are experimenting with AI without achieving measurable ROI and only 18% have embedded AI into workflows and operations. 

Digital Journal has reported the same pattern over the past two weeks. AI projects are clearing launch and missing ROI, and in some cases organizations are pulling live agents back into the sandbox after deployment.

“The next gap will not be between organizations using AI and not using AI. It will be between those redesigning work around AI and those funding disconnected pilots,” says Bill Syrros, national AI leader at BDO Canada.

The harder question is how many organizations know which side of that line they’re on. The report found only 18% have embedded AI into workflows and operations. The rest are either experimenting, holding back, or facing AI through the software they already use.

The BDO data found 46% of respondents can’t prove value from the AI they chose to adopt. Another 27% expect minimal impact, even as BDO says AI is becoming harder to separate from the enterprise software companies already use.

You can’t measure what you chose to buy if you can’t see what you’re already running.

Final shots

• BDO Canada surveyed 520 business leaders and found 27% expect AI will have minimal impact on their organization over the next four years. Gartner projects a third of enterprise software will include agentic AI capabilities by 2028.
• The survey found 46% of respondents experimenting with AI without measurable ROI, and only 18% have embedded AI into workflows and operations.
• Every AI board update should include what is running, who owns it, and what changed because of it.