Canadian and UAE firms grapple with AI adoption and ROI

A BDO Canada report based on a survey of 520 Canadian business leaders finds that 46% of firms are still stuck in isolated AI pilots that have not delivered meaningful return‑on‑investment, while only 18% have begun embedding AI into core workflows. BDO officials warn that the next competitive gap will be between companies that redesign work around AI and those that fund disconnected pilots, and they call for clear governance, workforce enablement and measurement frameworks.

In the United Arab Emirates, a ROSA eSolutions survey reports that 77% of senior leaders have seen significant productivity gains from AI, and 93% expect AI agents to deliver measurable ROI within two years. The study highlights a shift from experimental tools to custom AI agents that support sales, marketing, customer service and internal operations, with Gartner projecting that up to 40% of enterprise applications will include task‑specific AI agents by the end of 2026.