Deloitte Private Survey: Private Companies Shift Digital and AI Investment from Exploration to Implementation

New York, April 28, 2026 — A new Deloitte Private survey found that revenue growth (71%) and productivity (62%) are the top business priorities for the next 12 months among private company leaders surveyed. More than half (52%) cited increasing AI use across the organization as a top-three priority -- up from 22% a year earlier.

In the study, “Private Company Outlook: Digital Investment,” nearly two-thirds of respondents (63%) said their organizations are actively investing in digital transformation initiatives, including AI, compared with a third (33%) investing in limited or pilot form.

Key findings from the survey:

• Larger private companies lead the way. While most respondents reported ROI from AI investments, companies with annual revenue of $500 million or more were significantly more likely to report moderate or significant ROI (64%) than companies with less than $500 million in annual revenue (11%). Nearly three-quarters (74%) of higher-revenue companies said they are scaling AI across select functions, compared with 38% of their lower-revenue counterparts.
• Budget reprioritization is funding investments. Among private company leaders surveyed, 50% say that internal budget reprioritization will be the primary source of funding for digital and AI investment over the next 12 months, followed by existing operating capital (43%), rather than external sources such as lending. Private company leaders surveyed expect the highest impact from these investments on workforce productivity and operational efficiency (93%).
• Barriers are operational, not just technical. The biggest obstacles to realizing the full value of digital investments and AI appear to be data quality or availability challenges (72%), gaps in AI fluency or technology talent/leadership (53%), integration with legacy systems or technical debt (48%), and difficulty scaling beyond the pilot stage (48%).
• Boards are engaged, but oversight gaps remain. Boards are viewed as most proactive in technology investment oversight (70%), cybersecurity (67%), and data governance, privacy, and regulatory compliance (64%). Far fewer respondents said boards are proactive in overseeing the ethical use of technology (25%) or leadership capability to execute AI and digital transformation (22%).

— Wolfe Tone, vice chair and US Deloitte Private leader

About the survey

Deloitte Private’s pulse survey, “Private Company Outlook,” gauges private company leaders’ perspectives on opportunities and risks to business now and in the future. The survey of 100 private company leaders was conducted online by an independent research company between March 18 and 24, 2026. Respondents included CEOs, CFOs, presidents, board members, and partners/owners of private companies in the U.S. with annual revenues of US$100 million to US$1 billion+.

Deloitte Private serves the unique needs of private companies and their stakeholders by leveraging the full depth of Deloitte's technical experience and industry capabilities to serve private enterprises, family-owned businesses, private equity portfolio companies and emerging growth companies. Visit us at https://www2.deloitte.com/us/private or follow us on LinkedIn.