Dialectica and AUEB study surveys AI adoption across 1,594 large enterprises

Expert network Dialectica has published a joint study with the E-Business Research Center (ELTRUN) at the Athens University of Economics and Business covering AI adoption across 1,594 large enterprises. The dataset spans companies with turnover from USD 100 million to multiple billions, across major sectors, and the headline finding is unsurprising but worth recording: organizational readiness, not model capability, is what separates the firms getting value from AI from the ones still running pilots.

The firm is positioning the study as a flagship piece of thought leadership. Dialectica notes the report coincides with its 10th anniversary, with operations across three continents and annual turnover above EUR 100 million. The work was guided by Professor George Doukidis of AUEB.

What the study covers

Dialectica frames the report, titled The Global AI Business Landscape, as an examination of AI's role across business functions with a particular focus on decision-making. The challenges section lists five adoption blockers: a shortage of specialized personnel, data protection concerns, regulatory requirements, high funding needs, and employee fear of AI as a rival rather than a tool. The authors argue that execution capability, organizational flexibility, and clarity of vision are the variables that distinguish effective adopters.

The public summary released so far does not break out sector-level adoption rates, geographic splits, or the specific decision-making use cases the 1,594 respondents reported. Those would be the most useful cuts for a buy-side analyst building a thesis on enterprise AI spend, and we would expect them in a fuller release or follow-on briefings.

Why an expert network is publishing primary survey research

The interesting move here is structural, not analytical. Expert networks compete on access to operators, and the category, Dialectica, GLG, Guidepoint, Third Bridge, AlphaSense/Tegus, has spent the past three years working out how to differentiate beyond white-labeled call sourcing. One answer is proprietary research products: surveys, primers, and panel-derived datasets that can be marketed to existing hedge fund and corporate clients as a value-add and to prospects as a credentialing exercise.

A 1,594-respondent enterprise survey is a credible asset for that purpose. It gives the sales team a reason to call, it gives the marketing team a reason to publish, and it gives Dialectica a way to associate its brand with AUEB and Professor Doukidis rather than only with the operators its moderators book. The 10th-anniversary timing is not subtle.

What to watch

The full report and any sector or geographic breakouts. Whether Dialectica publishes the survey instrument and methodology, which would let analysts assess sample bias. And whether the firm follows this with a recurring tracker, the AUEB partnership suggests it could, or treats it as a one-off anniversary asset. The cadence will tell you whether this is a research product or a marketing campaign.