Retail outpacing finance and healthcare sectors in AI success – report
Research from Lenovo and IDC has found that 96% of retail sector AI deployments are meeting or exceeding expectations – outpacing other industries. While finance and healthcare are investing heavily, their results show mixed returns, highlighting sharp differences in how AI is being applied across sectors.
The CIO Playbook 2025 uncovered sharply different attitudes, investment strategies, and outcomes across the healthcare, retail, and, banking, financial services & insurance (BFSI) industries.
Of all the sectors analysed, BFSI stood out for its caution. Potentially reflecting the highly regulated nature of the industry, only 7% of organisations had adopted AI, and just 38% of AI budgets was allocated to generative AI (GenAI) in 2025 – the lowest across all sectors surveyed. While the industry is taking a measured approach to innovation, the strategy appears to be paying dividends: BFSI companies reported the highest rate of AI projects exceeding expectations (33%), suggesting that when AI is deployed, it’s well-aligned with specific needs and workloads.
A similar pattern was visible in retail, where 61% of organisations were still in the pilot phase. Despite below-average projected spending growth (97%), the sector reported that 96% of AI deployments to date either meeting or exceeding expectations, the highest combined satisfaction score among all industries surveyed.
In contrast, the healthcare sector had a 169% increase in AI spending over 2025, the largest increase of any industry. However, the spend hasn’t directly translated to success with healthcare having the lowest AI adoption rate and the highest proportion of organisations reporting that its fell short of expectations. This disconnect suggests that, while the industry is investing heavily, a lack of the internal expertise or strategy is hampering progress.
These findings confirm that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to AI,” said Simone Larsson, head of enterprise AI, Lenovo. “Whether businesses are looking to take a bold leap with AI, or a more measured step-by-step approach, every industry faces unique challenges and opportunities. Regardless of these factors, identification of business challenges and opportunity areas followed by the development of a robust plan provides a foundation on which to build a successful AI deployment.”
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