Survey: Only 11% of Finnish companies are using AI strategically – however, investments are growing

Finnish organisations are increasing AI investment, with almost 40% expecting spending to rise by at least 25% over the next two years and only 20% expecting it to plateau or decline. The survey suggests most firms still view AI primarily as a cost-cutting tool, though 11% are using it with a clear customer-focused strategic agenda. The tone is constructive for AI adoption, but the article is largely survey-based and unlikely to move markets materially.

Analysis

The key second-order signal is not that AI spending is rising, but that the spending is still mostly defensive. When budgets are justified primarily through cost removal rather than revenue creation, vendors tied to workflow automation and back-office productivity should see faster near-term monetization than pure-play “AI transformation” consultancies. That favors the infrastructure-and-implementation layer over aspirational strategy work, because buyers can approve those projects inside existing efficiency budgets even in a slower macro backdrop.

For ACN, the market may be underestimating the mix shift embedded in this theme: if clients start with productivity pilots and then fail to convert them into customer-facing programs, the outcome is decent billings growth but weaker pricing power over time. The more interesting bull case is that AI adoption becomes a forcing function for broader IT replatforming, which typically expands wallet share for the largest integrators after an initial lag of one to two quarters. The risk is that clients treat AI as a discretionary add-on, causing a burst of experimentation now and a disappointment cycle in 6-12 months when ROI scrutiny tightens.

The contrarian view is that optimism around AI investment can be overread if the willingness to spend is not matched by governance, data readiness, and operating model change. That creates a barbell outcome: a small cohort of leaders captures outsized value, while most companies experience only incremental margin relief. In that setup, the best trade is to own the enablers of disciplined adoption rather than the broad “AI hype” basket.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Long ACN on 3-6 month horizon: use pullbacks to build exposure for a re-rating if AI budgets translate into larger transformation projects; target 10-15% upside, with downside limited to low-single-digit de-rating if spending merely normalizes.
• Pair trade: long ACN / short a basket of lower-quality IT services names that depend on discretionary digital-transformation spend; thesis is that buyers will consolidate spend with the largest trusted integrators as AI governance complexity rises.
• Express the view with a staged entry in two tranches over 4-8 weeks, because early AI pilots often inflate near-term sentiment before procurement cycles convert into revenue.
• For more convex exposure, buy 6-9 month ACN call spreads rather than outright calls; the payoff improves if budget approvals accelerate in the next earnings season while limiting damage if ROI delays push out spend.