AI Governance: Balancing risk and innovation as AI adoption grows

Our webinar ‘AI Governance: Balancing risk and innovation as AI adoption grows’ is available on demand.

Watch back to hear our speakers, Markus Bause (PeopleCert) and Sidra Sammi (ILX Group), explore some of the challenges facing senior IT and project leaders in the ILX 2026 research report ‘Realising the value of AI in IT and project delivery*’, including:

• 65% are struggling to keep up with technology developments and change
•  47% report that transformation initiatives are misaligned with strategic priorities
• 55% cite unknown and unmanaged use of shadow IT and GenAI / AI tools
• 54% say duplicated, outdated or poorly structured data sets is an issue
• 76% of businesses need to accelerate their L&D programmes 

Also, they covered some of the top priority skills, including AI (77%), project, programme and portfolio management (75%) and service management (70%)

During the session, Markus and Sidra also discussed:

• the role of AI in IT Service Management (ITSM)
• how AI doesn’t replace processes, it changes how decisions are made
• the impact of poor data on AI projects
•  AI Governance is an operating model, not a policy document
• how the AI Governance ITIL® (Version 5) Governance certification supports not only IT teams, but the wider business
• The wider ITIL (Version 5) certifications
• And more…

Key takeaways 

• AI Adoption doesn’t automatically deliver value: Widespread adoption masks inconsistent results. Just 24% of respondents report a clearly positive ROI. The focus needs to shift from adoption rates to measurable business outcomes
• Value comes from integration, not isolated pilots: Embed AI into everyday workflows rather than running disconnected experiments. 94% of negative ROI results are associated with organisations stuck at the pilot stage.
• AI is fundamentally changing decision-making and accountability: The most significant shift is from process execution to decision support. AI is transforming how decisions are made, not just how tasks are completed.
• Data, trust and governance determine scalability: 55% of respondents don't trust AI to operate autonomously. Strong governance, high-quality data and transparency are what make AI scalable, not simply adding more features.
• Organisations need to adapt their operating models: With AI taking on more tasks and people providing oversight, organisations need new skills, performance measures and ways of thinking.

‘Start where you are → Establish the right governance → Integrate AI into your workflows → Measure and continually improve’

What next?

Get in touch with the team to learn more about how we can support you and your teams. You can also explore our ITIL (Version 5) training courses in more or book ITIL AI Governance (Version 5) training.

Also, you can download a copy of our 2026 research report to learn more about the insights we discussed, and more.

*Realising the value of AI in IT and project delivery, ILX Group 2026, 600 senior project and IT professionals