Gartner predicted in 2024 that 30% of generative AI projects would be abandoned after proof of concept by the end of 2025. Deloitte's research found the abandonment rate reached 42% of companies by 2025, up from 17% the year before. The pattern is consistent: pilots succeed technically and fail institutionally. The technology works. The organisation is not ready to operate it. The transition from pilot to production requires operating model decisions that were deferred to the post-pilot phase, and the post-pilot phase never arrives.
Pilots that survive into production share a common characteristic: the production environment was designed before the pilot, not after. Governance coverage for the workflow existed before deployment. A measurement baseline was captured before the pilot ran. A named owner was committed before the technology was switched on. These are operating model decisions that take days when made at the outset. When deferred to the post-pilot phase, they encounter the resistance of an organisation that has moved on to other priorities and take months, or never happen at all. Organisations that build these conditions in parallel with the pilot find the transition to production straightforward. Organisations that treat them as post-pilot decisions find the transition never happens.
Organisations whose pilots move successfully into production have established three conditions before the pilot starts. First: production ownership is named, and that owner has confirmed their commitment. Second: the governance framework that will govern the deployment is in place. Third: a measurement baseline has been captured. These conditions take days to establish at the outset. When they are deferred to the post-pilot phase, they encounter the resistance of a leadership team that has moved on to other priorities and now needs to be convinced again from the beginning. The organisations at 42% abandonment are repeatedly deferring these decisions. The remedy is not a better pilot. It is a different sequencing of decisions.