Study: Companies may be doubling down on AI, but they remain wary
While a staggering 80% of enterprises are investing in artificial intelligence (AI), many anticipate significant barriers to arise.
This was according to new research from Teradata, which is based on responses from 260 large global organizations.
According to the data, one in three business leaders believe their company will need to invest more capital in their AI efforts over the next 36 months to keep pace with competitors. However, leaders are anticipating significant challenges when it comes to adoption. As a result, many are looking to strategize against those issues by creating a new C-suite position, the Chief AI Officer (CAIO), to streamline and coordinate AI adoption.
Once companies establish an AI roadmap and supporting team, the top three areas where businesses expect AI to drive revenue are product innovation/research and development (50%); customer service (46%); and supply chain and operations (42%). This mirrored some of the top areas of AI investment, which include customer experience (62%), product innovation (59%) and operational excellence (55%).
AI is already in production in 80% of organizations, although 42% said that there is lots of room for further implementation across the business. Meanwhile, 30% still believe that their organization isn’t investing enough and will need to invest more in AI technologies over the next 36 months to keep up with competitors in their industry.
Almost all respondents are anticipating barriers to adoption and ROI. Top concerns include barriers to AI realization (91%), such as a lack of IT infrastructure (40%) and lack of access to talent (34%). Other challenges include lack of budget for implementation (30%), complications around policies, regulations and rights (28%) and impact on customer expectations (23%). Only 19% view a weak business case for AI technologies as a concern, and only 20% are concerned about the impact of AI and automation on employee morale.
Despite these issues, companies are not slowing their pace of AI adoption. Why? Executives and IT decision-makers anticipate revenue increases (53%) and cost/efficiency savings (47%) from their AI investments. Only 28% of respondents said that their organization has enough trained people internally to buy, build and deploy AI.
While retailers anticipate needing a CAIO to coordinate and mandate implementation throughout the enterprise, the CIO (47%) and CTO (43%) are leading efforts today, but 62% of respondents plan to hire a dedicated a CAIO to lead the effort in the future.
Meanwhile, companies expect a 99% ROI in the next five years for every dollar invested today, and 187% in ROI over the next 10 years.
“There is an important trend emerging evident in this report — enterprises today see AI as a strategic priority that will help them outpace the competition in their respective industries,” says Atif Kureishy, VP, emerging practices at Think Big Analytics, a Teradata company. “But to leverage the full potential of this technology and gain maximum ROI, these businesses will need to revamp their core strategies so AI has an embedded role from the data center to the boardroom.”
This was according to new research from Teradata, which is based on responses from 260 large global organizations.
According to the data, one in three business leaders believe their company will need to invest more capital in their AI efforts over the next 36 months to keep pace with competitors. However, leaders are anticipating significant challenges when it comes to adoption. As a result, many are looking to strategize against those issues by creating a new C-suite position, the Chief AI Officer (CAIO), to streamline and coordinate AI adoption.
Once companies establish an AI roadmap and supporting team, the top three areas where businesses expect AI to drive revenue are product innovation/research and development (50%); customer service (46%); and supply chain and operations (42%). This mirrored some of the top areas of AI investment, which include customer experience (62%), product innovation (59%) and operational excellence (55%).
AI is already in production in 80% of organizations, although 42% said that there is lots of room for further implementation across the business. Meanwhile, 30% still believe that their organization isn’t investing enough and will need to invest more in AI technologies over the next 36 months to keep up with competitors in their industry.
Almost all respondents are anticipating barriers to adoption and ROI. Top concerns include barriers to AI realization (91%), such as a lack of IT infrastructure (40%) and lack of access to talent (34%). Other challenges include lack of budget for implementation (30%), complications around policies, regulations and rights (28%) and impact on customer expectations (23%). Only 19% view a weak business case for AI technologies as a concern, and only 20% are concerned about the impact of AI and automation on employee morale.
Despite these issues, companies are not slowing their pace of AI adoption. Why? Executives and IT decision-makers anticipate revenue increases (53%) and cost/efficiency savings (47%) from their AI investments. Only 28% of respondents said that their organization has enough trained people internally to buy, build and deploy AI.
While retailers anticipate needing a CAIO to coordinate and mandate implementation throughout the enterprise, the CIO (47%) and CTO (43%) are leading efforts today, but 62% of respondents plan to hire a dedicated a CAIO to lead the effort in the future.
Meanwhile, companies expect a 99% ROI in the next five years for every dollar invested today, and 187% in ROI over the next 10 years.
“There is an important trend emerging evident in this report — enterprises today see AI as a strategic priority that will help them outpace the competition in their respective industries,” says Atif Kureishy, VP, emerging practices at Think Big Analytics, a Teradata company. “But to leverage the full potential of this technology and gain maximum ROI, these businesses will need to revamp their core strategies so AI has an embedded role from the data center to the boardroom.”