NTT Data: strategy alignment boosts AI profits

NTT Data says companies that fully align artificial intelligence with business strategy are more likely to report profit from it than companies that do not. (nttdata.com) The company’s 2026 Global AI Report is based on a survey of 2,567 senior decision-makers across 35 countries and 15 industries, with 79% of respondents in C-suite roles. NTT Data released the report on December 9, 2025. (nttdata.com) In the report, NTT Data defines “AI leaders” as organizations with a well-defined or in-progress artificial intelligence strategy, “mature” or “evolved” AI adoption, and higher profits from AI than peers. The company said only 15% of surveyed organizations met that standard. (nttdata.com) (nttdata-solutions.com) The report frames the split as a strategy problem before it is a tooling problem. NTT Data wrote that “AI strategy and business strategy are becoming one” as companies move from treating AI as a complement to treating it as part of the business plan itself. (nttdata-solutions.com) NTT Data also says the strongest performers are not just adding chatbots or isolated pilots. Its report says they focus on a small number of high-value domains, redesign workflows end to end, and rebuild core applications with AI embedded inside them. (nttdata.com) The company ties that approach to broader financial separation. In its press release, NTT Data said the top 15% of organizations were 2.5 times more likely to post revenue growth above 10% and more than three times more likely to achieve profit margins of at least 15% from AI deployments. (nttdata.com) NTT Data’s report also says leaders centralize AI governance, give enterprise-wide oversight to dedicated executives such as Chief Artificial Intelligence Officers, and invest in secure infrastructure for private or sovereign AI. Those are operational choices, not model choices. (nttdata.com) Because the findings come from a vendor-backed survey, they show how executives describe their results rather than audited company accounts. NTT Data presents the report as benchmark research and a playbook for executives deciding how to organize AI programs in 2026. (nttdata.com 1) (nttdata.com 2) The thread running through the report is simple: the companies NTT Data labels as leaders treat artificial intelligence less like a software experiment and more like a management system. That is where the company says the profit gap opens up. (nttdata.com)