Dive Brief:
- The C-suite is experiencing differing levels of confidence in AI. While 61% of CIOs and other tech leaders reported confidence that AI is driving revenue growth, fewer than one-third of CEOs and board members said the same, according to a Thursday report from consulting firm Protiviti. The company surveyed more than 850 global C-suite executives in partnership with the University of Oxford.
- Leaders whose organizations had more AI maturity and were further along in their AI transformation reported higher levels of performance outcomes, but the ultimate factor for most confidence in AI was how aligned the C-suite was on outcomes, the survey found.
- "Even the most purpose-driven technology transformation strategies can struggle to produce results if leadership teams aren't aligned on what success looks like," said Kim Bozzella, global CIO solutions leader at Protiviti, said in a press release.
Dive Insight:
Successful AI adoption and value remain elusive for some businesses, as maturity in AI projects lags.
Many enterprises face issues with data, costs and workforce skills gaps on top of aligning the business needs and objectives of AI projects, the survey found. Companies early on in their tech transformation can struggle to see ROI — it’s usually not immediate or easily measurable, Bozzella told CIO Dive in an email.
ROI becomes harder to define when members of a company’s C-suite come from “fundamentally different vantage points,” Bozzella said. Technical leaders are often closer to the deployment and management of AI projects, but they might be struggling to demonstrate value, which can be hard to quantify.
Though CEOs and board members reported less confidence in AI’s value, 40% of chief operating officers reported that they feel AI has the potential to be a value creator.
To close the gap between technical leaders and other executives, organizations need universal understanding of what success looks like, Bozzella said. They should also be wary that productivity gains don’t automatically equal business value.
Shared metrics, clearer communication about technical progress and business value, consistent governance, shared timelines and alignment to the overall business strategy can help bring the gap in confidence together, Bozzella said. Ideally these processes are done before launching a transformation, she said.
“From a CIO perspective, this means anchoring AI programs to enterprise strategy, defining measurable KPIs, and regularly communicating progress in business — not technical — terms to build trust in ROI realization,” Bozzella said.
