AI maturity vs. AI readiness: The invisible (and costly) gap

TOGETHER WITH

Start operationalizing AI: Replacing infrastructure of the past is an important but formidable undertaking. So make sure you do it with a modern, intelligent platform that can scale as quickly as today’s technology. Explore JumpCloud.

Amid all the hype over productivity gains from AI, it’s worth taking a moment to consider the implications of rapid AI adoption.

Oftentimes, there’s an invisible disconnect between “AI maturity” (how much you use AI) and “AI readiness” (how well your IT foundation can support AI). And this disconnect can pose a whole host of risks to IT teams and companies at large.

That’s why we teamed up with JumpCloud—to reveal what these risks are and how you can set your organization up for safe, secure AI adoption.

The numbers are in

According to JumpCloud’s research, 40% of organizations self-assess as AI mature. However, objective analysis reveals that only 22% are truly “leading” in their practical readiness to scale AI securely.

This misalignment is dangerous, causing many organizations to operate with a false sense of security. Case in point: Nearly 70% of organizations believe they are AI mature, but they actually fall into lower, more vulnerable tiers of readiness.

The pace of AI is only exacerbating this. Despite high levels of investment, 60% of IT professionals admit that AI adoption is moving faster than their ability to protect their organization against new threats.

While AI maturity on IT teams is crucial, it’s not the be-all and end-all solution. Even among “mature” companies, 61% of organizations report unsanctioned use of AI tools by employees, creating massive blind spots for data leakage.

On top of that, fragmented IT poses a direct barrier to AI success. A whopping 86% of organizations juggle 4–10 different tools for core functions. That kind of tool sprawl is an open invite for inconsistent policy enforcement and high administrative overhead.

Laying the new foundation

The challenges IT teams face are pretty clear and formidable. Trying to secure a dynamic, fast-moving AI layer on top of a rigid, siloed base is quite a quandary—like trying to run a 5-minute mile on a turf made of molasses.

So what can leaders do about it? It comes down to two words: IT unification. Unification encapsulates the main essentials required to operationalize AI safely:

• Visibility: You can’t secure what you can’t see. Unification eliminates the “corners” where shadow AI typically hides.

• Identity management: In an AI-driven world, managing human and nonhuman identities (i.e., bots and agents) under one unified policy is the only way to prevent unauthorized data access.

• Reduced complexity: IT teams use an average of 6.7 tools. Reducing tool sprawl helps these teams avoid getting bogged down by manual work so they can focus on innovation.

IT leaders are in agreement on this: Nearly 90% now recognize that consolidating access and device management is the essential foundation for scaling AI without breaking the business.

JumpCloud recognized the philosophical need for IT unification. That’s why their platform focuses on simplifying how IT teams manage and secure identities, devices, and access. It consolidates fragmented IT tools into a single pane of glass, giving administrators total control over their entire fleet of devices: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android.

Crucially, JumpCloud provides IT teams with comprehensive visibility and control. They eliminate shadow AI by instantly discovering, tracking, and reporting on unapproved AI tools across your organization. And it applies zero-trust principles, treating every AI bot and agent as a unique identity. Strict role-based access controls and the principle of least privilege are applied, ensuring AI interacts only with the data it’s authorized to touch.

One of JumpCloud’s core philosophies is that AI adoption shouldn’t be a choice between speed and security. You can see this manifest in their approach: They focus on operationalizing AI in a way that makes it a managed advantage, not a security liability. They maintain that a unified foundation doesn’t just protect organizations against threats but also allows the AI engine to run at full speed without breaking the car.

As leaders consider foundational infrastructure changes, it’s important to look further down the road. Make sure your organization is prepared for AI and whatever else the next wave of innovation brings.