The Riverbed Global Survey ‘The Future of IT Operations in the AI Era’ examines AI readiness in manufacturing, with 62% of AI projects in pilot or development stages, and 90% of respondents agree that improving data quality is critical to AI success

Dubai, United Arab Emirates – March 4, 2026 – Riverbed, the leader in AIOps for observability, today announced the manufacturing industry results from its Global Survey on ‘The Future of IT Operations in the AI Era’, revealing both strong momentum and significant readiness gaps in AI adoption. While 87% of manufacturing leaders and technical specialists report that ROI from their AIOps initiatives has met or exceeded expectations, only 37% say they are fully prepared to operationalize AI at scale.

With 62% of AI projects still in pilot or development stages, and 90% of respondents agreeing that improving data quality is critical to AI success, the findings highlight a sector eager to leverage AI to streamline operations, reduce costs, and navigate increasingly complex global supply chains, yet still working to close the gap between ambition and enterprise-wide AI execution at scale.