A report from Deskpro, a provider of secure AI-powered help desk platforms, indicates a significant disparity in AI adoption rates for support operations between technology companies and regulated industries. The “State of AI in Support Operations: Balancing Innovation and Compliance” report highlights that 92% of technology companies are adopting AI for support, while companies in regulated sectors show a 58% adoption rate, a 34-point difference attributed to security and compliance requirements.
The report identifies security as a critical factor in technology procurement, moving from a feature to a decision-making influence. Eighty-one percent of organizations consider security “critical” or “very important” when evaluating support technology, and 78% mandate IT or security team involvement in final purchasing decisions. The timing of security validation varies between sectors, explaining the adoption gap.
Technology companies often exhibit a more reactive security posture, with 41% of respondents citing a security incident as a potential trigger for prioritizing AI security and 45% mentioning industry regulations. This flexibility allows for faster AI adoption, as security and compliance validation often occur after deployment. In contrast, regulated industries face stringent compliance mandates such as HIPAA, PCI DSS, and FedRAMP, which necessitate pre-deployment security and compliance validation. Security awareness is high in these sectors, with 64% in financial services and 61% in healthcare citing compliance requirements as important security drivers, yet adoption lags significantly across regulated industries, including 39% in healthcare and 50% in government.
Brad Murdoch, CEO of Deskpro, commented on this trend, stating, “The AI adoption gap isn’t a technology problem, it’s an architecture problem. Technology companies can adopt cloud-based AI because they’re willing to move fast and validate security reactively. Financial services, healthcare, aerospace, and governments can’t do that. They need solutions that meet compliance requirements before deployment, not after. That architectural difference is precisely why current solutions are inadequate in regulated markets. The solutions winning in tech are structurally incompatible with regulated industries’ needs.”
The market is currently in a transitional phase, with 53% of organizations reportedly in the pilot, planning, or active evaluation stages of AI implementation in their support operations. These organizations are focusing on defining requirements before committing to long-term vendor partnerships. Furthermore, 74% of organizations anticipate an increased focus on AI security over the next two years, signaling a growing demand for solutions that address both innovation and compliance simultaneously.
Murdoch added, “Organizations are asking themselves a fundamental question: do I have to choose between AI capabilities and data sovereignty? The answer should be no. The market is demanding solutions that deliver production-grade AI while keeping data within their own infrastructure and giving them freedom to choose their own AI providers. That combination is what will define the next generation of enterprise software.”
The analysis is based on a 2025 survey of over 220 professionals in IT, customer support, and HR functions across various organization sizes and sectors, including technology, healthcare, financial services, and government. The survey investigated AI adoption patterns, security decision-making, compliance requirements, and organizational constraints.
Deskpro develops AI-driven help desk software designed to enhance customer and employee experiences. The platform offers enterprise-grade security, compliance, and data privacy, enabling AI adoption in regulated industries and sovereign environments. Deskpro is available as a cloud service and can be deployed in VPCs, on-premise, private clouds, and sovereign clouds. The company serves leading enterprises in banking, technology, financial services, healthcare systems, aerospace and defense, and government agencies.
