A global study commissioned by Miro has found that while optimism about artificial intelligence remains high, most business leaders believe today’s tools are designed for the wrong purpose — individual productivity over collective performance.
The Forrester Consulting study, Collaboration is AI’s Biggest Opportunity, surveyed more than 500 director-level and senior executives across North America, EMEA, and APAC. The research found that 89% of respondents view improving collaboration and teamwork as essential to achieving their organisational goals, with 42% calling it “critical”.
Yet, the findings reveal deep frustration with current tools. Three-quarters of respondents said most AI systems focus too heavily on supporting individual work rather than enabling team productivity, and 39% believe this imbalance negatively impacts returns on AI investment.
“There is tremendous potential for AI to support collaboration,” said Andrey Khusid, CEO and founder of Miro. “But in the AI revolution, teamwork has been left behind. To be truly effective, AI should operate where teams work — supporting collaboration in the flow of work, informing decisions with full team context, and driving towards results faster.”
The study highlights that collaboration technology is already central to innovation efforts. Seventy-nine per cent of respondents said visual collaboration tools have increased within their organisations, with 43% describing them as critical to daily workflows. However, 69% admitted that switching between core work systems and AI tools interrupts collaboration and adds friction to processes.
Leaders also cited capability challenges: 36% said their organisations struggle to keep pace with AI skills and deployment requirements.
Despite these constraints, confidence in AI’s potential remains strong. More than half of leaders expect AI to improve customer experience (52%) and increase revenue (49%), while 54% said it frees employees to focus on strategic work.
Forrester’s findings suggest a strategic gap between optimism and execution. Eighty-two per cent of respondents said they are actively seeking AI solutions that embed intelligence directly into shared, canvas-based workspaces — enabling teams to co-create, access contextual information, and make collective decisions in real time.
The study positions collaboration as AI’s next frontier: a shift from individual augmentation to organisational amplification. As Khusid put it, “Embedding AI where teamwork happens achieves more than just improving productivity — it enables team- and organisation-wide collaboration, innovation, and transformation.”
