Dell Technologies' Modern Enterprise Readiness Study 2026 finds Indian organizations moving AI into production, even as security concerns and infrastructure shortfalls stall adoption and push companies towards strategic technology partners.
Dell Technologies has released the India findings of its Modern Enterprise Readiness Study 2026, which shows Indian businesses moving rapidly from AI experimentation to real-world deployment, while grappling with security worries and gaps in infrastructure.
The survey covered 2,950 business and IT decision-makers across 35 countries. It included 150 respondents from India and 950 from the Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China (APJC) region.
AI adoption reaches an inflection point
According to the study, the debate among Indian organizations has shifted from whether to adopt AI to how to deploy it at scale, securely and with results that justify the spending. Over the past twelve months, the share of Indian organizations running AI or GenAI solutions in production has risen by a third.
Across APJC, nearly three in four organizations now want proven business outcomes and a clear risk management plan before committing to new initiatives, a sign that enthusiasm for AI is giving way to accountability.
Commenting on the findings, Venkat Sitaram, Senior Director and Country Head, Infrastructure Solutions Group, India, Dell Technologies, said: "Indian organizations are moving toward a more integrated approach to enterprise transformation, where AI, infrastructure, workplace modernization and security need to work together. Organizations are looking beyond individual technologies and seeking partners that can help them navigate complexity, strengthen resilience and translate technology investments into measurable business outcomes. As AI adoption scales, the ability to build secure, modern and adaptable foundations will be critical to sustaining that momentum."
Security and infrastructure emerge as key hurdles
The study identifies two main tests of enterprise readiness. The first is security. A majority of Indian organizations report that AI adoption has slowed or paused because of security and compliance worries. The report describes this as more than a technology issue, noting that embedding AI into systems that handle sensitive data and serve regulated industries brings greater scrutiny. Data governance and regulatory compliance, it says, are now conditions that determine whether AI earns or loses trust.
The second is infrastructure. The report points to a significant gap between where most Indian enterprises stand today and what is needed to run AI at production scale. This requires compute, storage and network architectures that many companies are still working towards. Those that close the gap fastest, it argues, will gain a lasting structural advantage.
Companies turn to strategic partners
One of the study's key findings concerns technology partnerships. Nearly nine in ten Indian organizations are redirecting spending to partners with the scale, ecosystem and capabilities to take AI and modernization projects from pilot to production.
The traditional transactional model built around individual products and point solutions is losing ground. Companies increasingly want partners that take accountability for outcomes rather than just delivery. A similar pattern is visible across APJC, where enterprises recognize that the links between AI, infrastructure, data and security are hard to manage through a fragmented vendor landscape.
What lies ahead
The report concludes that India's AI momentum is genuine, citing faster adoption, more organizations moving from experimentation to production and a more sophisticated approach to readiness. However, it cautions that the next phase will not be won by those with the most ambitious roadmaps. Success, it says, will favour organizations that invest in secure, modern and adaptable foundations, keep business outcomes at the centre of technology decisions, and build partnerships that carry transformation from strategy through to impact.
