The Kyndryl Readiness Report combines the insights from 3,700 leaders from 21 countries with data from Kyndryl Bridge, the company’s AI-powered business platform, to show the real-world IT and workforce strategies that get businesses ready for the future.
Business and technology leaders in the United States diverge from their global peers across a few key areas. They tend to be more confident about their cloud strategy and report being farther along their AI transformation journey. These organizations are well-poised to convert early momentum into sustained competitive advantage.
While U.S.-based companies report lower concern across many external risks, overall readiness remains challenged, especially in core infrastructure and resilience. At the same time, U.S. leaders report higher confidence in their innovation culture, greater AI usage and more deliberate cloud strategy than global peers – an important mix as organizations move from AI experimentation to scalable value.
40%
of U.S. leaders say their IT infrastructure is completely ready to manage future risks, despite active modernization efforts (on par with global average)
4 in 10
U.S. leaders say they reached their current cloud environment “by accident,” significantly below the global average of 56%, signaling a more coordinated cloud strategy
82%
of U.S. leaders are investing in AI-powered cybersecurity capabilities, making it the top AI investment priority (vs. 75% global average)
67%
of technical employees and 44% of non-technical employees use AI weekly – above the global averages of 61% and 43%.
52%
of U.S. organizations report positive ROI on their AI investments, up 12 points from the previous year
87%
of U.S. leaders say cloud investments have allowed their organization to use AI more easily than they otherwise could
U.S. strengths: cloud discipline and AI absorption
Compared to global peers, U.S. organizations are less likely to describe their cloud environments as accidental and more likely to report that cloud investments directly enable AI adoption. U.S. cloud spend growth is also lower than the global average, suggesting a shift from rapid expansion toward intentional optimization.
AI adoption is broadening across roles, and improving returns indicate that U.S. organizations are beginning to move from experimentation to execution. Strong technical-team adoption shortens feedback loops and accelerates the path to scale.
Where U.S. leaders see friction
Despite optimism, gaps remain. Significant cyber-related outages are common, and regulatory or compliance concerns are the number one barrier to scaling technology investments in the U.S. Innovation confidence is high, yet many organizations still struggle to move pilots beyond proof-of-concept.
What U.S. leaders can do next
Modernize core infrastructure to improve resilience and readiness
Treat cloud as a designed, governed capability—not just a destination
Scale AI where ROI is already provable, particularly in cybersecurity
Engineer for compliance and data sovereignty from the start
Together, these actions can help U.S. organizations convert early cloud and AI advantages into durable, long-term competitiveness.