Google Cloud Study Suggests Early Agentic AI Adopters See Better ROI

Google Cloud has released its second annual ROI of AI study, finding that 52% of enterprise organizations now deploy AI agents in production environments. The comprehensive survey of 3,466 senior leaders across 24 countries highlights the emergence of a distinct group of “agentic AI early adopters” who are achieving measurably higher returns on their AI investments.

The study, conducted by Google Cloud and National Research Group between April and June 2025, surveyed executives from enterprises with over $10 million in annual revenue and existing generative AI deployments. Results indicate that AI agents — specialized large language models capable of independently planning, reasoning, and performing tasks — are rapidly becoming integral to business operations across industries.

Early Adopters See Significant ROI Advantage

The research identifies a cohort of “agentic AI early adopters” representing 13% of surveyed organizations. These companies allocate at least 50% of their future AI budgets to AI agents and have embedded multiple agents across their operations. The results show a clear performance advantage: 88% of early adopters report seeing ROI from generative AI on at least one use case, compared to 74% across all organizations surveyed.

“This year’s research shows we’re entering the next chapter of the AI wave. The conversation has moved from ‘if’ to ‘how fast,’ and the new differentiator is agentic AI,” said Oliver Parker, vice president of Global Generative AI Go-To-Market at Google Cloud. “Early adopters of agents are not just automating tasks; they are also redesigning core business processes.”

The performance gap extends across specific use cases:

Agent Deployment Scales Rapidly Across Industries

The study reveals widespread AI agent adoption, with 39% of organizations reporting more than 10 AI agents deployed in production. Cross-industry applications center on customer service and experience (49%), marketing (46%), security operations and cybersecurity (46%), and tech support (45%).

Industry-specific patterns emerge in the data:

• Financial services: Fraud management and detection (43% adoption rate)
• Retail and consumer packaged goods: Quality control applications (39%)
• Telecommunications: Network and equipment configuration automation (39%)

Regional variations also surface in deployment priorities. European organizations lead with AI-enhanced tech support, Japan-Asia Pacific executives focus primarily on customer service applications, and Latin American companies emphasize marketing use cases.

“We’re seeing organizations around the world use agentic AI to tackle complex industry-specific tasks — from fraud detection in financial services to quality control in retail,” said Carrie Tharp, vice president and head of Strategic Industries and Solutions at Google Cloud.