As 2025 unfolds, the acceleration of AI adoption will continue, but it will be against a backdrop of increasing capital needs, heightened global regulatory oversight and shifting economic landscapes. In compiling our annual Top 10 Opportunities for Technology Companies in 2025, we’ve attempted to provide a balanced, future-oriented view of the potential actions for tech companies across various growth and operational levers to drive value creation in 2025. This year’s article is informed by original EY analysis, insights and perspectives from EY global technology partners and tech industry specialists. 1. Deliver on the promise of AI Transform potential into performance 2025 will be a pivotal year for the tech industry to demonstrate AI ROI to both customers and shareholders, requiring effective communication of value drivers and demonstrating the operational efficiencies achieved James W. Brundage EY Global and Americas Technology Sector Leader The evolution of AI usage in businesses is reaching a tipping point. Experimentation with use cases and copilots has given way to expectations of returns on investments. As we enter 2025, the honeymoon period is over. Companies across industries are looking for tangible, positive returns from their AI spending. The next step for tech companies is to prove the business value of AI by driving measurable return on investment (ROI) for customers. Tech companies should prioritize creating frameworks to measure the financial and operational impact of their AI solutions so customers can bridge the current gap between AI deployment and ROI realization. Those that succeed in demonstrating and delivering transparent, quantifiable value from their AI offerings will gain the trust of customers – and stand out in the competitive, AI-focused market of the future. 2. Drive growth and optimize customer experience through an agentic AI future Harness next-generation, semi-autonomous AI “agents” to create new customer offerings. Agentic AI will rapidly become commonplace as customers across industries race to deploy preconfigured process solutions. Geoff Vickrey EY Americas Consulting Technology Sector Leader Agentic AI represents a seismic shift for tech companies. Autonomous AI agents have the potential to execute complex tasks independently, revolutionizing how tech companies and their customers operate their businesses and make decisions. Unlike current forms of GenAI use cases, agentic AI doesn’t wait for prompts and instead presses forward with executing complex sequences of steps without human intervention, enabling the AI agent to complete tasks end-to-end. For example, agentic AI creates the potential to optimize customer service and marketing functions by analyzing vast amounts of data generated during customer interactions and then enabling personalized product and service offers. And when combined with additional data around market trends and competitor offerings, agentic AI can build the foundation for companies to adopt new dynamic pricing and outcome-based value models. The time is now for tech companies to seize the agentic AI opportunity and seize an early-mover advantage. 3. Adopt outcome-based pricing models to supplement subscription and consumption offerings Get ahead of customer expectations with pricing that corresponds to customer value realization.