*Global Study Reveals Barriers to AI Adoption for Business Leaders*
By Josh Krist,Staff Writer, Workday
Something that’s always been in the medium- to long‑term future has suddenly become very real, and very now. Our “AI IQ: Insights on Artificial Intelligence in the Enterprise” report on a survey of 1,000 business decision-makers from around the globe found that many business leaders, to varying degrees ranging from small pilots to full-blown functionality, are currently utilizing some form of AI and machine learning (ML) to further their business.
But, they need to ask themselves: Are they deploying AI and ML right? Or just right now?
With “AI IQ,” we wanted to cut through the hype and speculation and find out what people are really doing, thinking, and feeling when it comes to what might be the most transformative technology of our lifetime. If you believe the experts, the changes AI will bring are so profound that we can barely imagine them given our current frame of reference.
Overall, we found that business leaders are fairly certain that their AI investments will increase over time, and that AI will definitely bring tangible business benefits. But, they’re not sure they can trust the data they use to power AI and ML, or that they are deploying AI and ML in the right places, in the right way, and at speed. Lastly, they are unsure the people within their organizations have the necessary skills to get the most value out of these technologies.
We also found that, unlike previous transformative technologies, most people are in agreement that it will indeed be a game changer, or at least a game enhancer. A whopping 80% of respondents agree that AI and ML are required to keep their business competitive, and two-thirds say that AI and ML have already increased productivity and operational efficiencies.
Another thing we found is that 73% of the decision‑makers surveyed are under pressure to increase the adoption of investments in AI and ML. Although almost everyone feels pressure to move quickly with AI, and that pressure mostly comes from the top, the motivation for the pressure varies. Leaders in IT feel the pressure to be more competitive. In HR, the pressure is about improving the employee experience; finance decision-makers say they’re being asked to address a skills gap.
The bottom line is that leaders know they need to execute on AI and ML now, but quickly learn how to do so in a lasting way built on a solid foundation that will deliver value quickly in a fast-changing space. “Hopeful but a little fearful too,” might be a good summation of how business leaders are feeling about AI.
Other top findings from the report that reflect business decision-makers’ sentiments include:
Under Pressure
73% feel pressure to increase the adoption of investments in AI and ML
83% intend on either keeping investments in AI and ML the same or increasing it next year
88% say AI and ML are influencing technology purchasing decisions
Risks and Barriers
75% say many hindrances are preventing their organization from fully implementing AI and ML
Top risks to implementing include data and security (48%), concerns about accountability (47%), and decision-making errors (46%)
77% say uptake would increase within their organization if there were fewer risks involved
Data Difficulties
77% are concerned about the timeliness or reliability of data their organization will use for AI and ML
29% currently using AI believe insufficient data volume or quality is to blame for AI falling short of expectations
Rare Consensus
99% agree there are business benefits from investing in AI
Reasons range from improving decision-making (41%), automating business processes (35%), and improving employee retention/experience (32%)
80% agree that AI and ML are required to keep their business competitive
We conducted this survey because we know that the future of many companies and industries, and business itself, after all, is being made right now. As you read these lines, an even larger and more ambitious follow-up survey on AI and ML is being conducted in collaboration with Longitude Research, a Financial Times company. Although we look forward to sharing this roadmap to the future, we know that with such transformative and fast-moving technology, fresh insights at this very moment are extremely valuable.
Our Chief Technology Officer Jim Stratton, who along with other Workday leaders has been vocal and clear about the importance of AI within the enterprise, lent his executive perspective to this research, and his words are useful here.
“In my conversations with customer and partner CIOs and business and technology leaders,” Stratton writes in the foreword, “the biggest challenge I’m hearing with AI and ML is that people aren’t sure where to start, and they wish they had a better idea of where others are finding success, and encountering roadblocks, on their journey. That’s exactly what this report is for, and I hope that after reading it and absorbing the insights it offers, leaders will be able to tell a better story about AI and their own organization’s goals.”
Find out more about the “AI IQ: Insights on Artificial Intelligence in the Enterprise” report, talk with our AI chatbot about it, or download the report.
