Frends launches State of Integration & AI 2026, a new European benchmark report revealing that knowledge workers lose the equivalent of one workday each week to manual tasks—costing a typical company with 1,000 employees roughly €10.7 million per year. The report, based on research conducted by Sapio Research across six European countries, also finds that only 26 percent of AI projects deliver measurable business value, highlighting a widening gap between AI ambitions and the operational conditions needed to generate real results.
Drawing on a survey of 611 IT and business decision-makers in Germany, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands, the State of Integration & AI 2026 report shows that a typical European company with 1,000 employees loses €10.7 million annually due to manual work. On average, knowledge workers spend 7.6 hours per week on manual tasks that could be automated—equivalent to 44 full working days per year.
At the same time, the report reveals that only 26 percent of AI initiatives produce measurable, positive effects on revenue and profitability. Despite rapid increases in AI investment, most organizations still struggle to translate ambition into large-scale practical outcomes. Sixty-three percent of organizations remain in exploratory or pilot phases, while only 7 percent have broadly implemented AI across the business.
“AI will not lead to mass layoffs in the dramatic way many expect. The change is more subtle. Instead of outright cuts, one person can now do work that used to require several people, meaning companies may simply not hire roles they once would have filled. The effect appears as fewer new hires rather than large-scale redundancies,” says Asmo Urpilainen, CTO at Frends.
Integration challenges are slowing AI progress
The report highlights that the primary obstacle for European companies is whether they have the right operational foundations in place to make AI work in practice. Among organizations already using AI, 36 percent cite integration challenges as one of the biggest barriers to further progress—on par with skills shortages and security concerns.
Governance and control are rising quickly on the agenda. Sixty-four percent of leaders consider centralized governance tools critical or very important, yet only 12 percent currently view integration as a central layer for governance and oversight. The report warns this creates clear compliance and operational risks as organizations prepare for the EU AI Act, GDPR and other regulatory requirements.
“European data sovereignty has become a strategic issue for companies. When organizations integrate sensitive data, decision logic or operational intelligence into AI-driven systems, they must know exactly where that data resides. Governance should enable progress, not create bureaucracy. Without strong governance you cannot scale—at least not while maintaining trust,” says Moritz E. Behm, professor at Fresenius University Munich.
Significant differences across Europe’s markets
Country-level findings show that Europe is not progressing uniformly.
Denmark stands out as the most advanced market in the study. It leads in integration-first maturity with 38 percent, records the highest rate of AI deployment with 44 percent in production or broadly rolled out, and reports the highest AI project success rate at 32.6 percent.
Finland shows the clearest “pilot trap”: 45 percent of organizations remain in pilot or proof-of-concept phases, while only 2 percent have implemented AI widely.
Germany reports the heaviest burden of manual work in the survey, with employees spending 8.5 hours per week on manual tasks. German organizations are also most likely to identify integration complexity as the primary AI barrier, at 40 percent.
Sweden has the highest proportion of organizations working on integration and AI simultaneously, at 43 percent, but its average AI project success rate remains below the European average of 21.2 percent.
The Netherlands reports the lowest amount of manual work—6.6 hours per employee per week—but also records the lowest AI project success rate in the study, at 21 percent.
Norway reports the largest time savings from AI and workflow automation, with employees saving an average of 22.3 hours per person per year through these technologies. At the same time, Norway has the most fragmented integration landscape: 21 percent of organizations use more than five integration platforms.
Clear industry differences
The survey also reveals major differences across industries.
Energy sector respondents show the strongest awareness of governance: 77 percent say centralized governance is critical or very important. Yet the sector contains no organizations that report broad AI implementation.
In manufacturing, manual work continues to slow progress—workers spend an average of 7.3 hours per week on manual tasks. Data entry and data transfer are cited as major bottlenecks.
In the public sector, time spent on manual work is below the average at 6.5 hours per week, but 93 percent indicate that manual processes increase the risk of human error—underscoring the immediate impact on citizens and public services.
From AI ambition to real AI value
The report concludes that success is no longer just about AI ambition; it depends on whether organizations have the operational foundations required to make AI work in practice. Organizations that have adopted an integration-first strategy report faster project delivery, better returns on AI and automation investments, and an easier path to broad adoption.
State of Integration & AI 2026 was commissioned by Frends and was conducted independently by Sapio Research in April 2026.
About Frends
Frends is a European iPaaS company offering low-code and AI-augmented solutions built for mission-critical automation, connecting cloud, hybrid and on-premises systems with full transparency and visibility. Founded in Finland in 1988, the company serves over 6,000 customers including industry leaders, municipalities and public organizations such as Fazer, Mehiläinen, Haypp Group, Onemed, the City of Helsinki and Eltel. Frends’ ease of use and its integration and API management capabilities have repeatedly been recognized by G2 and the Gartner Magic Quadrant for iPaaS.