Lenovo Infrastructure Solutions Group has released the fourth edition of its CIO Playbook, titled The Race for Enterprise AI, reporting that organisations across Australia and New Zealand are increasing AI investment as the focus shifts from experimentation to scaled deployment.
The report, produced with insights from IDC, examines how CIOs across ANZ are approaching AI adoption, infrastructure strategy, governance and return on investment as AI becomes more embedded in enterprise operations.
In ANZ, the Playbook found 95% of CIOs plan to increase AI investments over the next 12 months. Lenovo said these investments are focused on deploying and supporting AI infrastructure and AI-enabled devices, alongside strengthening data, security and governance foundations.
Across Asia Pacific, the report found 96% of organisations plan to increase AI investments over the next 12 months, with organisations expecting AI spending to grow by 15% on average, spanning generative AI and agentic AI, public cloud AI services, on-prem AI infrastructure and AI security tools.
“With 95% of ANZ enterprises planning to increase AI investments at an average of 10% year-on-year, the conversation has clearly moved beyond experimentation toward scaled business impact,” said Charles Ferland, VP & GM, ESMB, Infrastructure Solutions Group, Lenovo. “CIOs are increasingly focused on turning AI into a long-term competitive advantage, prioritizing initiatives that drive growth, improve customer experience, and deliver measurable business outcomes. As adoption matures, the ability to operationalize AI efficiently and at scale will become a key differentiator for organizations.”
The Playbook reported that 88% of CIOs expect AI initiatives to deliver a positive return in 2026, with an average anticipated return of 2.8x (US$2.85 for every US$1 invested). It also noted ongoing challenges in moving beyond pilots, pointing to governance, operating models and lifecycle management as factors affecting scale.
On adoption levels, the report found 64% of ANZ organisations are already piloting or systematically adopting AI, with a further 23% in planning and consideration. It also reported that AI use is expanding beyond IT into functions including customer service, marketing, operations and finance, and that half of surveyed enterprises said non-IT departments are funding AI initiatives.
The report highlighted rising interest in agentic AI, with ANZ interest increasing 67% year-on-year and 22% reporting significant usage. It also found readiness to scale remains uneven, with 41% of organisations requiring more than 12 months to scale meaningfully, citing security, governance, data quality and integration complexity as barriers.
“Agentic AI represents one of the most significant transformation opportunities across ANZ enterprises today,” said Debdut Maiti, Director, Greater Asia Pacific, Solutions & Services Group,, Lenovo. “Strong governance is essential to scaling AI responsibly and delivering measurable outcomes. With 52% enterprises actively developing governance frameworks, CIOs are investing in data quality, integration, and controls to ensure agentic AI drives reliable, enterprise-wide impact.”
On infrastructure, the Playbook reported that hybrid AI is becoming a standard approach as AI workloads scale. In ANZ, 85% of organisations said they prefer hybrid AI architectures combining on-premises, edge and cloud environments, driven by factors including security strategies, the complexity of managing cloud environments and greater control over operations and data.
The Playbook also identified three priorities for 2026: rising inferencing costs compared to training over an AI model’s lifecycle; employee productivity as an IT investment priority, including increased use of AI devices and AI PCs; and ongoing difficulties scaling proof-of-concepts into production.
“From what we are seeing across ANZ, enterprises are entering a critical phase where scaling AI is no longer optional, it is a business priority.” Said Silke Barlow, General Manager, Infrastructure Solutions, ANZ, Lenovo. “Organizations are aligning investments toward infrastructure, governance, and data readiness to ensure AI delivers measurable outcomes. This creates a strong opportunity for enterprises to differentiate, as those that operationalize AI effectively will be better positioned to drive growth, resilience, and long-term value.”
You can read the full report here.
