AI maturity in organisations in France

Whitepaper

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing how organisations approach and use data. While organisations in France actively leverage unstructured data in AI applications, its broader value to organisational success is underestimated, presenting both challenges and opportunities for growth.

Jill Shoup

Innovation Research Director

27 August 202512 min read

Introduction

Artificial intelligence (AI) and unstructured data are enabling organisations to unlock new opportunities for operational efficiencies and reduced costs. France is using AI in more organisational areas than the global average, with an increased focus on AI in finance or legal areas.

Additionally, unstructured data is deemed critical for many French organisations’ AI strategy. Leveraging unstructured data can drive more informed decision-making, improved compliance and enhanced adaptability across the business, positioning organisations for sustained growth and success in a competitive landscape.

Findings are based on research conducted by Iron Mountain alongside independent market research specialist Vanson Bourne. Data in this report is based on 200 IT and data decision-makers in France, who have knowledge or involvement in their AI strategy. You can read the global report here.

France AI maturity in organizations diagram

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Current AI adoption

France has the highest proportion of organisations in the middle of their AI journey when compared to other global countries (see Figure 1).

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They also have substantially fewer in the early stages of maturity when compared to both the global average and other European countries. Similarly, France has a higher proportion of more AI mature organisations (43%) than the UK (25%), Germany (38%) or the global average (40%).

This likely comes down to France’s proactive approach to fostering AI due to their cultural mindset towards innovative new technologies. In fact, they have initiatives such as the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy to enable research and development investment, skills and training, as well as industry collaboration. This initiative specifically was launched in 2018, much earlier than similar initiatives in Germany or the UK which emerged around 2020-2021 (2021 for the UK, and 2020 updates in Germany). This means France has the competitive edge. They’ve been at the forefront of AI adoption for longer than other countries, encouraged by regulations that have made them more adaptable and willing. Therefore, French organisations have had more time to integrate AI into their operations, refine their strategies, and build the necessary infrastructure to support AI capabilities. As a result, French organisations are better positioned to leverage AI for competitive advantage, driving innovation, efficiency and leadership.

According to our research, organisations in France are most likely to be using AI to automate processes and reduce costs, both of which are reported more often than the global average (66% and 65% in France vs 57% and 60% globally). What’s more, French organisations are leveraging AI across more areas than the average (six vs five globally).

Most French organisations use AI within IT and security (81%), finance (64%), marketing (63%), and customer service (62%). What’s particularly interesting is the increased use of AI for finance when compared to the global trend (51% global average). In a typically admin-heavy area, the use of AI can be revolutionary as it can help automate compliance checks, financial reporting, or fraud detection – amongst other examples.

Another key difference for France is its increased use of AI in legal areas. Again, the use of AI can help reduce some of these traditional time-consuming tasks by helping automate tasks like intricate labor laws, tax regulations or legal research at a reduced risk of non-compliance.

The breadth of use cases highlight how French organisations are leveraging AI not just for traditional areas like IT and security but also to transform finance, marketing, and customer service functions. By streamlining administrative tasks and automating complex processes, French businesses are unlocking efficiency gains, reducing costs and freeing up resources to focus on strategic priorities, setting themselves apart in their approach to AI adoption.

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Given the diverse ways AI is currently being used in France, it makes sense why all organisations agree (100% agree, 53% strongly agree) that a unified strategy for operationalising, optimising, and activating physical and digital data is critical to being AI- ready. This highlights the importance of having a cohesive data strategy to unlock the full potential of AI across various operational areas. Without a unified approach, organisations may struggle to manage and leverage the vast amounts of data needed to support advanced AI tools like retrieval augmented generation (RAG) effectively.

As organisations increasingly recognise the value of tools like RAG in driving success, it’s clear that aligning data strategies with AI initiatives is becoming a priority, particularly in markets like France where RAG’s importance is notably higher than the global average (21% and 14% respectively). Additionally, RAG’s importance continues to grow over the next two years with 26% rating it as the most important technology to their organisation’s success.

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