Dive Brief:
- Enterprises are failing to reap the full rewards of AI as readiness lags behind adoption efforts, according to a survey of 1,550 enterprise technology decision-makers published last week by AI platform Publicis Sapient.
- More than 7 in 10 U.S. respondents said they expect significant scaling in AI over the next year or two, but only 20% said their organizations were equipped to meet expectations.
- Nearly one-quarter of respondents said that the way their organization is run represents the main hurdle to AI success. Although AI is being used across most teams within enterprises, the report found most organizations haven’t overhauled the systems, workflows and operating models to get the full benefit from the technology.
Dive Insight:
Enterprise spending on AI is set to soar in the next year, and while large companies are not facing as many AI adoption challenges, they continue to struggle to find measurable positive impact and business value with the tools they are using.
Three-fourths of enterprises surveyed said they use AI across most of their business processes, but only 10% said the technology is core to how their business operates. Just over one-third said AI is fundamentally changing how their business operates.
Enterprises traditionally operate more slowly than the breakneck speed at which most AI providers do. Large companies need to figure out adequate governance, functional boundaries and how to break down data silos to prepare for AI use, Shubhradeep Guha, global chief delivery officer at Publicis Sapient, told CIO Dive in an email.
“The barriers are rarely the models themselves,” Guha said. “They're legacy systems that weren't built for AI, fragmented data, siloed teams, and governance structures that slow decision-making.”
Many enterprises will also have to do a reorganization of their people and skills to find AI value, Guha said. Some companies are investing in AI platforms more than they invest in workforce training to implement the technology, a recent study from Randstad Digital found.
Companies can benefit from deploying human-to-agent teams, restructuring roles, modernizing their data foundations and implementing different incentive structures for how employees and teams work together.
AI spending needs to be paired with systems modernization efforts, people-focused reorganizations and operational adoption, the report found.
“AI can accelerate individual tasks, but if the surrounding system remains slow and fragmented, the business won't see enterprise-scale impact,” Guha said.
