A new RapidScale report reveals a significant disconnect between how executive leaders perceive AI and operational reality.
While 93 percent of senior leaders report confidence in AI readiness, only about half of those responsible for implementation agree. That gap is contributing to stalled execution, with 32 percent of IT projects delayed due to talent and skills shortages.
According to the report, leaders are layering AI into long-term plans, roadmaps and budgets but failing to allot time for training and upskilling on new platforms, tools, and features as they enter the tech stack.
As IT complexity increases, the development of specialized skills across industries is failing to keep pace with business needs.
“Organizations are moving quickly on cloud and AI strategies, but many are overestimating how ready their teams are to deliver on them. When leadership and operational teams are not aligned, projects slow down and expected value does not materialize,” said Duane Barnes, president of RapidScale. “Leaders must consider operational realities and determine the underlying business pressures in their environments before addressing talent gaps. Investing in coaching, creating space for teams to build skills and outsourcing support to partners are all mutually viable paths to keep critical initiatives moving.”
Key findings from the report:
- 93 percent of senior leaders report confidence in AI readiness, versus roughly half of those responsible for implementation.
- Executives are confident in their approach to addressing skills shortages, with 90 percent saying their efforts are effective. However, only 39 percent of technical teams report seeing meaningful impact.
- 32 percent of IT projects are delayed by skills gaps, and 22 percent of organizations say more than half of projects are impacted.
- 62 percent cite increasingly complex IT environments as the primary cause of skills gaps, marginally ahead of 56 percent who report limited time for training and upskilling.
- Nearly 75 percent of respondents report applicants lack the critical skills needed to fill open roles, creating a bottleneck that extends hiring for highly skilled roles to take four to six months or longer.
- 70 percent say AI and automation will significantly reshape required skills, even as more than a quarter of organizations continue to resist adoption, creating culturally detrimental pressure.
Executives are confident in their approach to addressing skills shortages, with 90 percent saying their efforts are effective. However, that confidence is not shared by technical teams, where only 39 percent report seeing meaningful impact.
In addition, investments in training, hiring, and tools are not translating into the day-to-day support teams need, underscoring a broader disconnect between strategy and execution.
According to RapidScale, closing this gap will require more than continued investment. Leaders must work more closely with frontline teams to align priorities, understand operational realities and apply skills in real-world environments. Without that alignment, organizations risk falling behind as demand for advanced capabilities rises and AI investments fail to deliver expected value.
“The teams making the most progress are the ones treating skills development as part of the work,” said Jason McKay, chief solutions officer at RapidScale. “Too often, leaders underestimate the time it takes to embed learning into delivery cycles. The ones getting it right are simplifying where they can and leaning on partners for specialized expertise to keep projects moving. If you don’t, you’re just compounding today’s skills gaps and slowing your ability to scale AI.”
