TCS reveals that 69% of companies see AI as a tool to stimulate innovation and increase revenue rather than using it to reduce costs and optimize processes, and that eight in ten senior business leaders have already used AI to improve or create new sources of income.
The study, one of the largest of its kind, asked 1,300 senior leaders from 24 countries about how companies plan to prepare for AI, including strategy, operations and implementation plans. It revealed that although the focus is on innovation rather than optimization, the only real consensus is that companies need better metrics to measure the success of using AI.
Speaking about the study, Dr. Harrick Vin, Chief Technology Officer, TCS, said, “2023 was a year of exuberance, with every company experimenting with AI/GenAI use cases. We are now entering an era of broad and deep adoption of enterprise AI. However, companies are realizing that the path to producing AI solutions is not easy and that building a mature AI company is a marathon, not a sprint. Our AI study has confirmed this sentiment; It has also highlighted that companies feel ill-prepared to implement AI solutions at scale, as well as to manage the profound changes in people's roles and ways of working that result from such implementations.
According to the study, 77% of leaders do not want to wait and see how AI is implemented in their industry, but only 23% want to experiment and take risks with AI. Additionally, 72% of executives are currently reworking their business strategy, but only 28% want to establish an enterprise-wide AI strategy. This, despite the fact that 45% of respondents believe that half of their employees will need to use AI in their work within three years.
While business leaders may be unsure how to implement AI (only 20% of corporate leaders say they are well positioned to leverage AI for their strategic advantage), 59% of corporate functions already have AI implementations in process or have completed AI projects.
There are more contradictions when it comes to regulation. Most senior executives believe that leaving it to them to make ethical decisions about AI may not benefit the majority and that global standards are required; However, fewer think that both government and industry should have an equal say in how to regulate AI.
Although the direction of AI use in business is unclear, the forecast is positive as executives are generally excited about the impact of AI, and 57% are optimistic about AI and believe it will enable People focus on higher-value activities that need creativity and strategic thinking. .
