ZEDEDA Survey: 97% of CIOs Have Edge AI on Their Roadmap as Enterprise Investments Soar

• Customer Experience and Risk Management Lead Current Edge AI Use Cases: 80% of CIOs with deployed edge AI solutions leverage them for customer experience improvements, while nearly as many (77%) focus on risk management applications, including predictive maintenance.
• Edge AI Budgets Increasing Pervasively: 90% of organizations are increasing edge AI budgets for 2025, with 30% reporting significant increases of 25% or more.
• Security Remains Both a Key Driver and Top Challenge: While improving security and data privacy is the No. 1 reason (53%) for edge AI investments, security risks and data protection concerns (42%) represent the most significant challenge for implementations.

ZEDEDA, the leader in edge management and orchestration, today announced findings from its inaugural Edge AI Survey, revealing that edge artificial intelligence adoption is rapidly expanding across industries. The research, conducted by Censuswide, shows that 97% of CIOs have edge AI either already deployed or on their roadmap, with only 3% reporting no current plans to implement these technologies.

“The findings confirm what we're seeing across industries—edge AI is no longer just a future consideration but an essential component of digital transformation strategies today,” said Said Ouissal, CEO and founder of ZEDEDA. “As a natural evolution of edge computing, edge AI enhances the data processing capabilities already made possible at the edge, enabling organizations to significantly improve customer experience, operational efficiency and security in ways that cloud-only approaches cannot match.”

The survey of 301 U.S. CIOs found that 30% of organizations have fully deployed AI at the edge, 22% are actively in production with limited deployment and 34% are testing with plans to deploy within the next 24 months. This widespread adoption spans industries, with retail (50%) and manufacturing (40%) leading in full deployments.

Current and Future Edge AI Applications

Customer experience applications currently dominate edge AI implementations, with 80% of CIOs deploying edge AI for use cases that enhance the customer experience, like retail store operations, display personalization and quality control. Risk management applications follow closely at 77%, including predictive maintenance, safety compliance, anomaly detection and physical security.

Planned deployments for 2025-2026 show a shift in priorities, with cost reduction (74%) and risk management (73%) leading future implementations. This indicates that organizations increasingly focus on operational efficiencies and risk mitigation after initial customer-facing deployments.

Industry differences are notable, with 93% of retail CIOs implementing edge AI for customer experience, compared to 80% across all industries. Manufacturing strongly focuses on process acceleration for future deployments (82% vs. 68% overall), highlighting industry-specific optimization needs.

Multimodal AI Leading at the Edge

The survey reveals that multimodal AI—which combines speech, text and vision capabilities—is the most commonly deployed AI model at the edge (60%) and in the cloud (59%). This indicates that organizations are seeking comprehensive AI solutions that can process and analyze data across multiple formats simultaneously.

While Large Language Models (LLMs) are equally popular in the cloud (59%), they see somewhat less adoption at the edge (47%), which could reflect computational requirements or use case needs. In retail, CIOs reported lower interest in edge-deployed LLMs (32%) but higher adoption of multimodal AI (68%).

Security: Both Driver and Challenge

Security considerations play a dual role in edge AI adoption. Improving security and data privacy is the primary motivation for edge AI investments (53%), followed by improving customer experience (42%) and optimizing operational efficiency (39%).

However, security risks and data protection concerns also represent the biggest implementation challenge (42%), followed by high operational and maintenance costs (40%). Other significant challenges include finding the right technology vendors and partners (37%) and a shortage of talent with edge AI expertise (37%).

Hybrid Approach Dominates Strategy

Most organizations (54%) report that edge AI complements their cloud AI strategy for a hybrid approach. Nearly half (48%) are exploring edge AI specifically to reduce cloud computing costs, while 44% consider edge AI critical for real-time processing and low-latency requirements.

“Rather than viewing edge and cloud AI as competing approaches, organizations increasingly recognize them as complementary parts of a unified strategy. Edge AI spans a continuum—from embedded systems within factories and other locations to edge data centers that are closer to users and devices—enabling real-time, localized intelligence,” Ouissal added. “By combining this with the cloud’s strength in large-scale analytics and model training, businesses can unlock faster, more efficient and context-aware AI capabilities.”

Budget Increases Reflect Strategic Importance

Edge AI's strategic importance is reflected in rising budgets, with 90% of CIOs reporting increases for 2025. Three in ten (30%) organizations are significantly increasing edge AI budgets by 25% or more, while 60% report moderate increases of up to 25%.

Larger businesses (500+ employees) are more aggressive in their investments, with 39% reporting significant budget increases compared to 23% of mid-sized organizations (250-500 employees).

To download the complete Edge AI Survey report with detailed insights and methodology, visit ZEDEDA.com/edge-ai-survey/.

About the Survey

This survey was conducted by Censuswide between February 26, 2025 and March 4, 2025. The survey interviewed 301 CIOs in the United States aged 25 years and older and excluded sole traders.

About ZEDEDA

ZEDEDA makes edge computing effortless, open and intrinsically secure—extending the cloud experience to the edge. ZEDEDA reduces the cost of managing and orchestrating distributed edge infrastructure and applications while increasing visibility, security and control. ZEDEDA delivers instant time to value, has tens of thousands of nodes under management and is backed by world-class investors with teams in the United States, Germany, India and Abu Dhabi, UAE. For more information, visit www.ZEDEDA.com.

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