AI Gaining Rapid Momentum Across Enterprises: Report

IT leaders seem to be embracing the technology.

Ninety-seven percent of respondents in a new survey of operations and IT leaders said artificial intelligence is "critical to driving operational improvements in the coming year."

Moreover, 82 percent said, "their organization is already following an AI strategy or roadmap for implementation."

That insight comes from a survey conducted by Celigo – an integration platform as a service (iPaaS) company.

The survey results indicate that IT leaders are embracing AI in their organizations, and at a rapid pace.

More than 1,200 international operations and IT leaders across a variety of industries including manufacturing, retail, professional services, finance, health care, government and others, were asked questions about their organization's AI roadmap, strategies and concerns over its adoption.

Some Key Takeaways:

Seventy-six percent said they already have dedicated resources and a budget to put AI in place
Most said they plan on spending 25 percent to 50 percent of their budgets on AI in 2025

Here are the departments most said they are already using AI within their organizations:

IT
Operations
Customer Service/Support
Research and Development
Marketing

The respondents also reported the benefits of AI in their organizations:

Forty-nine percent reported improvements in productivity and efficiency
Forty-five percent saw optimized operations
Thirty-eight percent reported enhanced customer experiences
Thirty-seven percent reported reduced costs

The survey also asked respondents how AI is being used in their organizations:

Fifty-three percent said for data analysis and insights
Forty-two percent said for customer support
Thirty-nine percent said for training and simulation
Thirty-eight percent said for streamlining operations

Respondents also weighed in on concerns about AI:

Fifty-six percent cited security concerns
Forty-seven percent said there was a lack of understanding as to how AI would benefit their organization
Forty-six percent said their employees and teams are concerned about being replaced with AI
Thiry-three percent said they had other IT priorities over AI

Celigo also offered some strategies for IT leaders to create AI roadmaps:

Ensure your AIU strategy aligns with business goals. Create a roadmap, timeline; identify key performance indicators (KPIs); include technical and non-technical team employees in different departments on the strategy; and document the AI policy and train all staff.
Integrate AI into existing business operations by figuring out which processes should be automated first. Focus on AI tools that boost productivity.

Celigo also predicted which business operations are likely to be most transformed by AI sooner rather than later. One is front office operations. Chatbots and virtual assistants will handle "routine inquiries," providing instant answers. AI is also bound to integrate the customer experience across social media, email, text, etc.

Marketing and Sales will also be areas ripe for transformation. AI will help with targeted marketing campaigns and will be used to automate time-consuming sales tasks such as data entry, lead scoring and more.

AI is also likely to be used for back-office operations including automating workflows and performing predictive maintenance like alerting before a piece of equipment fails.