The workplace is poised for a seismic shift in the coming years. Agentic AI, intelligent systems that act and reason more independently to assist humans in being more productive and making better decisions, is moving beyond pilot projects to reshape how work is done. As companies cross that threshold, they are thinking big, aiming to redefine the very concept of a “workforce” to include not only humans but also digital workers in hybrid organizations.
However, the challenges, barriers, and risks are real: fragmented strategies, weak governance, and shaky trust can hinder progress and limit ROI to isolated pockets of automation.
The Digital Labor Transformation Index is one of five indices from a new research survey conducted by theCUBE Research, which measures this shift with hard data, not hype. Drawing from 625 pre-qualified AI business and technology leaders across 13 industries and 61 questions, the index scores organizations on a 0–5 maturity scale. The 2025 average is 3.1 out of 5, indicating steady progress beyond experimentation but highlighting a gap to achieving trusted digital labor programs. Holistically, we found:
- The Rise of Digital labor is inevitable: 90% of leaders see AI agents as core to the future workforce, with conviction growing among experienced adopters.
- Knowledge co-workers are the next frontier: 65% of organizations involve HR in planning, indicating that this is as much about people as it is about technology.
- Organizations are siloed by design: Only a shocking 16% view cross-organizational teams as being responsible for implementing digital labor. A massive red flag.
- Trust is the bottleneck: While confidence in automation is high, only 50% strongly trust AI agents to act autonomously. Translation: no trust, no ROI.
External trends back this up. McKinsey projects that generative AI alone can boost productivity up to 3.4% annually if trust and cultural transitions are managed well. The World Economic Forum predicts 39% of core skills will shift by 2030, underscoring the need for reskilling humans alongside digital labor. And budget allocations are rising as 88% of executives plan to boost AI investments in 2026, according to PwC.
“These are all the signs of an early market… the complexity of implementation is why you’re seeing execution lag.” — Christophe Bertrand, Principal Analyst, theCUBE Research
Collectively, these signals paint a picture of both momentum and fragility. The opportunity is undeniable, but so is the execution gap, and understanding where aspiration, strategy, and reality diverge is essential. The following sections unpack what the Index reveals about the scope and limits of the digital labor transformation journey.
WATCH THE PODCAST
Join Scott Hebner and Christophe Bertrand, both Principal Analysts at theCUBE Research, as they unpack fresh primary research data on the state of digital labor transformation. We reveal a striking workforce evolution underway where business leaders are no longer viewing agentic AI as simply a software automation or analytics paradigm shift, but as a genuine labor market phenomenon that promises to fundamentally change how work gets done.
TOP-LINE FINDINGS
One of the most striking findings of the Digital Labor Transformation Index is the sharp decline in maturity as organizations shift from aspiration to execution. The data also confirms that an agentic AI strategy is not viewed as the same as a digital labor transformation strategy.
- Aspirations are high (4.1 score): On paper, leaders are enthusiastic in aggregate, with those with the most experience in AI and greatest familiarity with agentic AI leading the way.
- Strategy maturity is lower (3.1 score): This suggests that concrete plans are in place backed by real investment, but these efforts remain fragmented and uneven.
- Execution barriers are real (1.8 score): The notable decline emphasizes the implementation challenges related to cultural, technological, and trustworthiness factors.
This highlights a clear Vision-to-Value gap. As Scott Hebner, principal analyst for AI at theCUBE Research, stated:
“A strategy without execution is hallucination.”
From which Christophe Bertrand, also a principal analyst at theCUBE Research, concluded:
“These are the signs of initiatives in their infancy. We’re still putting the foundations in place, and we’re years from where we want to be.”
The second top-line finding is that an agentic AI strategy is NOT viewed as being the same thing as a digital workforce transformation strategy. The data separates technology roadmaps (agents, orchestration, models, guardrails) from workforce roadmaps (roles, headcount models, new operating constructs with HR).
Ownership of execution must include cross-functional stewardship, yet only a small number report true cross-organizational structures (e.g., centers of excellence with HR, business, data, and compliance involved). This is why a strong Agentic AI plan does not automatically become a digital labor plan; they are related but distinct strategies serving different goals and owners.
Furthermore, the research indicates that digital labor is not about replacing human workers, but about augmenting them with new “superpowers“, helping people become more productive, make better decisions, and improve organizational collaboration in ways that were not possible before. In this model, humans and digital coworkers complement each other, creating a workforce that is greater than the sum of its parts.
Outside-in, this divergence shows up organizationally in the rise of the Chief AI Officer (CAIO), a role that, when done right, coordinates AI adoption and guardrails across business, technology, and risk, presenting a single plan to the CEO and the board. They are essentially becoming Digital HR leaders. Concurrently, 64% of organizations say their CHROplays a strategic or significant role in fusing workforce strategies with Agentic AI. They oversee the aspect of the strategy centered on workforce productivity, emphasizing the people-systems side of transformation. Per Christophe Bertrand:
“ [Agentic AI Strategy] is very different from the business strategy around your workforce. That’s where the real impact will be, bringing technology, business, and HR together.”
THE RISE OF DIGITAL LABOR
When it comes to aspirations, enterprise leaders are clear: digital labor is no longer a fringe idea; it is seen as inevitable. The survey data reveal that 71% of business leaders believe this generation will be the last to manage a human-only workforce. That is a striking statement, one that highlights how deeply the concept of hybrid organizations, where humans and AI agents work side by side, has taken hold in the executive mindset. In fact, only 10% show any level of disagreement.
This conviction explains why the Digital Labor Transformation Index scores aspirations at 4.1 out of 5. Leaders are not simply curious about digital coworkers; they expect them to be central to how work is defined in the years to come.
Part of this belief is rooted in competitive reality. Business leaders understand that organizations that can combine human and digital capabilities will gain structural advantages, including shorter cycle times, lower error rates, greater adaptability, and the ability to scale expertise more quickly than those relying solely on human workers.
Importantly, the data also shows that familiarity leads to conviction. Those with the most direct experience implementing AI and agentic workflows are the most likely to believe in the inevitability of digital labor. Larger enterprises also tend to be more confident, reflecting the scale-driven pressures they face to find new ways to boost labor productivity.
The aspiration data makes clear that enterprises are leaning in and that the conversation has shifted decisively from “if” digital labor will happen to “how fast” it will become mainstream. And, perhaps, even more importantly, the agentic AI technology strategy is giving way to a digital labor transformation strategy.
KNOWLEDGE CO-WORKERS
If aspiration is about inevitability, strategy is about what organizations expect digital labor to actually do and how to make it happen. The survey reveals a decisive shift: digital coworkers are no longer viewed solely as tools for simple automation. Instead, enterprises increasingly envision them as knowledge workers, capable of solving problems, supporting decisions, and even pursuing goals with limited guidance.
The most common strategic use case remains automating routine or repetitive tasks (67%), showing continuity with earlier waves of robotic process automation (RPA) and enterprise workflow software. However, the true story lies just beneath the surface. Nearly as many leaders expect digital coworkers to help make better decisions (62%) and assist in diagnosing and solving business problems (60%). More than half (58%) believe agents will pursue goals with minimal human guidance, and 53% foresee them eventually acting autonomously on behalf of workers.
This vision signals a move away from thinking of AI purely as a back-office productivity booster and toward a more profound redefinition of knowledge work itself. Rather than simply processing transactions or crunching datasets, digital labor is being positioned to analyze, recommend, and act within the core workflows that drive competitiveness.
As Scott Hebner emphasized on the podcast,
“We’re moving from automation and analytics into knowledge work, where digital coworkers can reason, pursue goals, and collaborate alongside humans. This is becoming more real by the month”
Strategically, this reimagining of digital labor aligns with broader workforce and business priorities. Leaders recognize that while automation reduces cost, it is augmented decision-making and problem-solving that generate competitive advantage.
Christophe Bertrand, appropriatrely, added a note of caution:
“Yes, the expectations are high, but can you trust them? Can you trust that an agent making a decision is doing it correctly, securely, and in compliance with policies?”
Ultimately, the Index shows that organizations are not content with digital coworkers as simple automators. The strategy is to empower them as knowledge partners, a shift that, if executed well, will redefine not just productivity metrics but the very nature of enterprise value creation.
SILOED BY DESIGN
The Digital Labor Transformation Index reveals a sobering truth: most enterprises are falling short in their execution. With an average maturity score of just 1.8, it is clear that the collaborative strength needed to turn strategy into a scalable reality has not yet been developed.
The primary issue is ownership, specifically the lack of shared ownership. The survey indicates that 65% of organizations assign responsibility for digital labor implementation primarily to IT or application development teams, with an additional 20% pointing to data science or AI functions. While these groups offer vital technical expertise, implementation is mainly viewed as an engineering task rather than an organization-wide transformation.
By contrast, only 16% of respondents cite cross-functional teams, centers of excellence, or shared boards as the primary owners of digital labor execution. Even fewer report leadership by CxO-level executives (5%) or line-of-business units such as HR and operations (3%). A small minority (2%) admits ownership remains undefined. This lack of collaboration across business, HR, technology, and governance explains why execution maturity lags so far behind aspiration and strategy.
It’s the result of a “siloed by design” approach.
As Christophe Bertrand noted during the podcast discussion,
“Right now it’s still considered a technical implementation, but this is really a business play. Without cross-organization collaboration, things can head to the wall very quickly because there’s only so much you can ask IT to do for you.”
His point highlights the collaborative gap: while digital labor requires coordinated input from across the enterprise, most organizations are leaving execution in silos.
Bridging the collaboration gap requires more than just investing in technology. Companies need cross-functional centers of excellence that bring together IT, HR, business leaders, and compliance officers. Support from top executives, including the emerging Chief AI Officer role, must raise a technical project to a board-level workforce transformation strategy. Only then can organizations create the collaboration needed to turn today’s goals into future benefits.
The message is clear: execution is not just about technology, it’s about teamwork. Without it, digital labor stays isolated; with it, the true potential of a hybrid workforce can finally be achieved.
WHAT TO DO NEXT
The Digital Labor Transformation Index clearly shows that although vision is high and strategic intent is strong, execution is falling behind. To close this gap, leaders need to shift their focus from isolated pilots to organization-wide collaboration. The next two years will be crucial. Some will lead successfully, some will fall behind, and others will fail as the shift to hybrid human-digital workforces becomes unavoidable.
Our conclusions from the research lead us to recommend the following:
- Separate but connect strategies: A technology roadmap for agents and automation isn’t the same as a workforce plan for roles, HR policy, and reskilling. Both are essential and must be managed as two sides of the same coin.
- Build a collaborative organizational engine: Execution cannot be left to IT alone. Councils or centers of excellence, co-led by HR, business leaders, and a CAIO, are the structures that turn intent into scaled outcomes anchored in ROI.
- Climb the value curve quickly: Automation is the starting point, but the real payoff comes when digital coworkers support knowledge work: making better, explainable decisions grounded in sound judgment and domain expertise.
- Double down on TRUST: Confidence in automation is high, but not in knowledge work. Focus on building cultural trust based on user involvement, true explainability, strong governance, and policy safeguards. No trust, no ROI.
- Endlessly communicate: Aspirations are surpassing execution, and that gap can harm confidence. Leaders should establish clear expectations, communicate progress transparently and honestly, and involve employees in the process.
Beyond that, looking toward 2025–2027, expect budgets to continue increasing, especially in large enterprises. Strategy efforts will shift toward standardizing roles and platforms, while execution maturity will depend on cross-functional governance and explainable workflows. And watch the talent market: CAIOs, AI risk managers, and HR transformation leaders are set to become some of the most sought-after roles in enterprise leadership.
Those who act quickly will seize the resilience, agility, and competitive advantage of a hybrid workforce; those who delay risk seeing ROI stagnate in silos.
Note that the Digital Labor Transformation index is part of the broader 2025 Agentic AI Futures Index, a five-part benchmark that measures key facets of enterprise readiness across:
- Digital Labor Transformation
- Agentic AI Technology
- Trust & Governance
- Reasoning & Decision Intelligence
- Causal AI Innovation
Together, these indices offer one of the first comprehensive roadmaps for leaders navigating the shift to agentic AI and digital labor. To explore industry-specific insights or co-develop a customized roadmap, contact me directly here or on LinkedIn. We’ll turn vision into action and digital labor into real business value.
In the weeks ahead, we’ll be previewing additional insights here on theCUBE Research portal and across LinkedIn, x, Substack, and Medium. Also, stay tuned for new episodes of The Next Frontiers of AI Podcast, where we will be unpacking the findings in partnership with industry pioneers and experts. Track or follow me on these properties to get the stream of data-driven insights to come.
Download a PDF overview of the Digital Labor Transformation Index here.
If you’d like to explore the complete data and analysis in more depth, or leverage the survey to sharpen your solution strategy or market positioning, or any of the use cases outlined in this post, please reach out here or connect with me on LinkedIn.
