Overview

• Cisco’s 2025 AI Readiness Index identifies a small cohort of “Pacesetters” — about 13% globally and 17% in India — that consistently realize AI value.
• Pacesetters are up to four times more likely to move pilots into production and are more likely to report measurable returns than peers.
• Most organizations plan to deploy agentic AI soon, yet only about 31% say they can control and secure agents and only 32% have defined which human tasks agents should handle.
• Infrastructure shortfalls are widespread, with 54% saying systems cannot scale for AI workloads and just 15% describing their networks as flexible or adaptable.
• Leaders counter the risk by treating AI as a core operating model: 99% have roadmaps, 95% track impact, 98% are designing networks for AI growth and 77% plan new data-center capacity within a year.