The one decision that sets agentic AI leaders apart

In nearly every sport, just a few numbers define success. Football, tennis, cycling, golf, running, Formula 1—it’s all the same. Score more goals, break serve, win the sprint, hit fewer shots, run faster, dominate the laps. When we talked with more than 2,000 executives from the world’s largest companies—representing over $48 trillion in combined GDP—we discovered a single defining metric that separates winners in agentic AI from the rest. 

Enterprises that prioritize sovereignty over their AI and data—treating it as mission-critical—are over 70% more likely to see exceptional ROI from agentic AI investments.

That number isn’t theoretical. It shows up consistently across regions as diverse as the U.S., Japan, the UAE, and Europe. And it’s a daily occurrence, because agentic AI now touches every part of a company’s interactions, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. 

Think about that impact. A 70% advantage at that scale is like driving three seconds faster than every car, every lap, on a 60-lap race. The compounding effect is impossible to ignore.

The most successful organizations in our 2025 study have already made the pivot. They’ve prioritized a sovereign AI and data platform approach to ensure compliance, maximize data utility, and scale GenAI across the enterprise. The surveyed group of C-suite and senior leaders (whose enterprises comprise 500+ employees) considered 400 variables, including beliefs, investments, ROI, agentic AI areas of investment, and more.

And they’re not dabbling. They’re going deep with their commitments. Consider these four distinctions: 

1. Breadth: The leaders have scaled agentic AI across an average of 11 business functions. The laggards? Just four. 
2. Depth: Leaders embed AI into their operations 2.5x more deeply than others, moving faster from pilots to production. 
3. Belief + urgency: These leaders don’t just experiment; they act on the belief that sovereignty, data ownership, and open infrastructure are essential for AI success.
4. Returns: For every dollar invested, top performers see a 5:1 return, compared to 2:1 in the next tier. 

Sounds obvious, but when we correlate the performance of every one of these organizations’ agentic AI activities (across 15 agentic business functions) with their economic performance and the nature of their strategy and vision, we get this simple answer. Believe in the mission criticality of sovereign AI and data, believe and execute on the plan to be your own AI and data platform, then go mainstream in as many agentic AI areas as possible. 

In fewer than 1,000 days, 90% of enterprises will face the real impact of data and AI gravity. The question is whether they’ll have made the structural decisions to handle it or be overwhelmed by it. These early leaders show us that succeeding with agentic AI doesn’t start at the code level. It starts with three core commitments: 

• Breaking data silos
• Securing model access without compromise
• Commitment to building a platform strategy that makes AI work for you, not the other way around

If you want to be in the leader “power zone” for GenAI, believe and deliver on the necessary sovereignty of your AI and data, wherever, whenever, and however you need it. 

EnterpriseDB

The marriage of AI and data will be a $17 trillion economy by 2028. If that were a nation, it would rival the world’s third-largest economy. Your enterprise will almost certainly participate through the development and deployment of intelligent, AI-infused applications.

We’re already seeing this in motion. From autonomous systems in logistics to OSS/BSS platforms in telecoms and copilots in customer service, the next wave of enterprise investment is heading toward agentic, embedded AI. Just look at NVIDIA, Salesforce, and others who are reporting extraordinary economic returns from real-world, intelligent applications. 

Here’s what unites leaders: 

• Build for sovereignty, speed, and compliance: The most successful enterprises aren’t experimenting at the edges—they’re embedding AI into the core of their business, fast. They’re treating sovereignty as non-negotiable, building their own AI and data platforms to ensure security, compliance, and control from day one. Those deeply committed to sovereignty as mission-critical are realizing 12.5x greater ROI than those still in pilot mode.
• Empower teams through accessible AI development: Leading organizations are investing in AI factories with low-code and no-code environments, enabling subject matter experts across functions to build, test, and deploy use cases securely and efficiently.
• Standardize on proven, open technology: 81% of these enterprise leaders told us that an open-source strategic data infrastructure is their future. Focus on solutions that offer enterprise-grade performance, governance, and cross-environment deployment capabilities on top of open architecture.
• Make AI and data factories sustainable: What once required hundreds of millions in investments is now achievable at a fraction of the cost. With $4,000 NVIDIA deskside production units, organizations can stand up sovereign AI and data factories across departments.

Success starts with a simple, nontechnical decision: Create a mission-critical focus to become your own sovereign AI and data platform. Then, put agentic AI directly in the hands of those who need it most in your organization. It’s the exact strategy that 70% of leading enterprises follow to win day in, day out, across the globe.

To learn more about EnterpriseDB’s sovereign AI and data platform, visit here.