Firms are optimistic about AI, but most have little idea what to do with it

Despite high levels of optimism about their adoption of artificial intelligence, two thirds of firms say they are not ready to implement AI in projects yet, according to a new poll. The Riverbed Global AI & Digital Experience Survey suggests that while 94 percent of those surveyed say AI is a top C-Suite priority and 91 percent agree it provides a competitive advantage, only 37 percent are fully prepared to implement projects now,  However, 86 percent of leaders say they expect their organisation to be fully prepared to implement a strategy and projects by 2027. 

Around half (54 percent) of business leaders say their primary reason for using AI now is to drive ‘operational efficiencies’ over growth (46 percent), they expect those numbers to flip in 2027, with 58 percent of organisations saying the tech will primarily be a growth driver versus driving efficiencies (42 percent). Trust in the technology is also growing— leaders say they would rather use AI to automate a major IT upgrade (61 percent), than sit in the back seat of a driverless car in the city (39 percent).

The global survey polled 1,200 IT, business, and public sector decision-makers across seven countries and seven industries, providing a comprehensive overview of how organisations are navigating the adoption and implementation of AI. The study explores: global sentiment around AI and generational attitudes; the adoption curve; benefits, gaps and strategies for success; and its role in IT operations and the digital experience.

The survey found enthusiasm is high among the C-Suite, younger generation employees and organisations as a whole.

• Today, 66 percent of leaders say AI is a key strategic priority for their organisation, and another 33 percent say it’s at least moderately important.
• 94 percent think AI will help them deliver a better digital experience for end users.
• 59 percent say sentiment in their organisation is positive, 37 percent neutral and only 4 percent sceptical.
• When asked which generation is most comfortable with AI in the workplace, leaders said Gen Z (52 percent), followed by Millennials (39 percent), Gen X (8 percent) and Baby Boomers (1 percent).

The research also suggests that most organisations have moved past the stages of assessing and experimenting with AI— and today, 65 percent are accelerating their strategies with growing investment in infrastructure and talent; and another 23 percent are in the final transformative stage where the tech is fully integrated into their business processes.

All about the experience

Riverbed’s previous Global Digital Employee Experience (DEX) survey from 2023 claimed that DEX is a critical focus for organisations, especially with heightened digital expectations of Gen Z and Millennial employees, accounting for about half of the global workforce. In this year’s survey, enterprises recognized the role AI plays in DEX, as 86 percent of leaders agreed automation is important to improve IT efficiency and deliver an improved digital experience for end users.

Survey respondents ranked the top five ways they expect to use AI within IT to improve DEX within 3 years’ time, which included: workflow automation (72 percent), automated remediation (69 percent), 24/7 support availability such as chatbots (63 percent), data-driven insights (59 percent) and feedback analysis (57 percent). Leaders surveyed also said they expect to see many benefits through the use of AI in IT operations, including improved operational efficiencies and productivity, faster IT service desk response times, increased revenue, and a better employee digital experience.

All leaders surveyed expect to use, test or begin ideation for GenerativeAI (the most hyped type) for IT operations within 12-18 months. Currently, only 34 percent of organisations have put GenAI use cases for IT operations in production or completed prototypes they plan on taking to production. Within 12-18 months, this will nearly double to 67 percent, with the remainder of organisations in the ideation phases.

Mind the gaps

Despite wide enthusiasm, the research identified three major gaps that organisations must overcome to ensure their adoption results in benefits and enterprise success.

• Reality Gap. The vast majority of respondents (82 percent) believe they are ahead of their competitors (including 30 percent significantly) when it comes to AI adoption for IT services and digital experience, and only 5 percent say they are slightly behind. This gap between perception and reality indicates many leaders are overconfident about where their IT function is on their AI journey relative to their industry peers.
• Readiness Gap. As stated earlier, there’s a readiness gap as only 37 percent of leaders say their organisation is fully prepared to implement AI projects now. Additionally, 72 percent say with AI still maturing, it’s challenging to implement AI that works and scales.
• Data Gap. Nearly all leaders (85 percent) acknowledge that great data is critical for great AI. However, of those surveyed, 69 percent are concerned about the effectiveness of their organisation’s data for AI usage, and only about four in 10 rated their data as excellent for completeness (43 percent) and accuracy (40 percent), with 42 percent saying their data quality is a barrier to further AI investment. Furthermore, many surveyed had data security concerns about AI, including 76 percent of leaders who are worried about their proprietary data being accessible in the public domain.

Make it so

Enterprises are taking several steps to overcome challenges and drive successful AI strategies that deliver tangible results, according to the report. To address AI preparedness, 57 percent of organisations have formed dedicated AI teams, and 45 percent observability and/or user experience teams.

When it comes to data, the vast majority of leaders (86 percent) say using real data, rather than synthetic data, is crucial in AI efforts to improve the digital experience. Additionally, 84 percent of respondents agree that observability across all elements of IT is important in an AIOps strategy, and at least 82 percent say observability to overcome network blind spots – including public cloud, remote work environments, Zero Trust architectures, and enterprise-owned mobile devices— is either extremely or moderately important.

The research also found several correlations between high-performing organisations’ (with 10.5 percent or higher revenue growth) successful adoption of AI, versus low-performing organisations (flat to declining revenue).

• High performers are prioritising AI, with 74 percent reporting AI as a key strategic priority (and 26 percent as moderately important) compared to 56 percent of low performers.
• 67 percent of high performers are leveraging AI to its full potential today to improve the digital employee experience (DEX) vs 45 percent of low performers.
• 63 percent of high performers provide extensive AI training versus 41 percent of low performers.

The Riverbed Global AI & Digital Experience Survey polled 1,200 IT, business, and public sector decision-makers across seven countries, all with over $250 million in annual revenue (over $500 million in the US, UK, and France). Industries included manufacturing, financial services, retail, government/public sector, healthcare providers, energy and utilities, and transport and airlines. The survey was conducted by Coleman Parkes Research in June 2024.