Issue Four inherited enterprise designs no longer fit what AI demands

Summary

Deloitte frames this year's report around five interconnected forces that share one root: enterprise designs inherited from an earlier era no longer match what AI requires. Infrastructure planned for cloud-first strategies cannot absorb the economics of AI workloads. Processes built around human workers do not suit software agents, and security models centred on defending a perimeter fail against threats moving at machine speed. IT operating models designed to deliver services also fall short of driving business transformation. The report argues that the response is not incremental enhancement but rebuilding, since what brought organisations to this point will not carry them further. Its evidence base combines trend sensing with Deloitte experts, conversations with outside technology leaders and proprietary research on emerging technologies.