SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 03, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zapier, the most connected AI orchestration platform, today released findings from its AI Tool Sprawl survey of more than 500 U.S. enterprise leaders. The research reveals a troubling disconnect: While AI adoption continues to accelerate, most enterprises struggle to properly integrate and govern their expanding AI tool stacks.
The survey shows that 28% of enterprises now use more than 10 different AI applications. But despite rising tool counts, 70% have not moved beyond basic integration for their AI tools. This creates problems such as siloed data, manual transfers eating up employee time, and shadow AI that bypasses security protocols.
"Tool sprawl is the natural outcome of rapid AI adoption," said Emily Mabie, AI Automation Engineer at Zapier. "Every team wants the latest AI capabilities, but without proper integration and governance, you end up with disconnected systems that create more problems than they solve. Our research shows enterprises need to shift from simply adding AI tools to orchestrating them as unified business processes."
Key Survey Findings
- Only 35% of enterprise leaders say the AI tools used in their organization go through proper approval channels.
- Most enterprises (66%) plan to raise their AI tool count over the next 12 months.
- Three in four enterprises (76%) have experienced at least one negative outcome because of disconnected AI.
- Nine in 10 enterprise leaders say having a central AI orchestration platform is critical or important.
The Shadow AI Problem
The survey uncovered widespread use of unapproved AI tools across enterprises. Only a third of leaders say AI tools go through proper approval channels, and 31% of enterprises discover "rogue" AI tools in their organizations every month.
Operations and IT teams are most likely to use unapproved AI (23%), followed by customer service (21%) and HR (20%). Even more concerning, 14% of enterprises have no visibility into what AI tools employees are using.
The Real Costs of Disconnected AI
Tool sprawl is not just an organizational headache. It has measurable impacts on security, productivity, and budgets. The most common problems include increased security and privacy risks (36%), difficulty training employees on AI (34%), wasted money on redundant software (30%), and time lost to manual data transfers (29%).
"We're seeing AI add to workload problems instead of solving them," Mabie added. "When tools don't talk to each other, employees spend time copying data between systems. That's the opposite of what AI is supposed to do."
The Integration Gap
Despite the growing number of AI tools, most enterprises remain stuck at basic integration levels. Of the 70% who have not achieved meaningful integration, 43% have developed basic connections between some tools, 22% say most apps operate independently, and 6% are still in the planning stage with no connections deployed.
Without proper integration, nearly a quarter of enterprises (22%) manually transfer data between siloed AI systems. And while 36% of executives say they have built or plan to build custom integrations, this approach becomes increasingly difficult and costly as tech stacks expand.
Looking Ahead
The majority of enterprises (66%) plan to increase their AI tool count over the next year, suggesting the integration challenges will only intensify. However, many leaders are taking steps to address tool sprawl: 39% have tried or plan to standardize with fewer tools, 38% conduct regular audits to catch shadow AI, and 44% are creating detailed AI usage policies.
But policies alone will not solve the core problem. Ninety percent of enterprise leaders say having a central AI orchestration platform is critical (45%) or important (45%) for their business. Yet only 35% have actually invested or considered investing in AI orchestration software.
Recommendations
Zapier recommends enterprises take four key steps to manage AI tool sprawl:
- Establish governance for AI adoption. Require approval processes and maintain visibility into what tools teams are using.
- Connect AI tools through orchestration. Move beyond basic integrations to unified workflows that span multiple tools and departments.
- Audit regularly. Conduct ongoing reviews to identify redundant tools, shadow AI, and security gaps.
- Invest in platforms that scale. Choose solutions that can grow with your AI needs without adding complexity or cost.
About the Survey
The survey was conducted by Centiment for Zapier between October 7 and October 12, 2025. The results are based on 550 completed surveys. To qualify, respondents were screened as U.S. C-Suite Executives, Presidents, Owners, or Partners at companies with 1,000+ employees. Data is unweighted, and the margin of error is approximately +/-4% for the overall sample with a 95% confidence level.
Full survey results see: https://zapier.com/blog/ai-sprawl-survey/
About Zapier
Zapier is an AI orchestration platform that connects 8,000+ apps to help companies automate workflows and improve productivity. Since 2012, millions of users have trusted Zapier to automate everything from lead routing and data synchronization to customer conversations—all without writing code. By turning complex integrations into simple, point-and-click workflows, Zapier empowers teams of all sizes to focus on strategic work. From startups to Fortune 500 companies, organizations worldwide trust Zapier to streamline operations, reduce errors, and accelerate growth through intelligent automation.
Learn more at www.zapier.com.
Media Contact
Sherri Walkenhorst
sherriw@connectmarketing.com
(801) 373-7888
