Most Businesses See AI As Opportunity Despite IT Deficiencies Needed For Adoption
- Kyle Chua
- Mar 6, 2024
- 3 min read
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) continues to be a hot topic for discussion among executives in the business world.
Telco giant Telstra International recently shared its joint report with MIT Technology Review Insights (MITTR) titled “Generative AI: Differentiating Disruptors from the Disrupted”, which gathers the perspectives of senior executives on the use of generative AI in business. The report polled over 300 business leaders across Asia-Pacific, the Americas, and Europe on how their organisations are implementing or planning to implement the emerging technology, as well as barriers to effective deployment.
One of the key findings is that, while most businesses are in favour of the use of generative AI, only a small proportion believe they have the right level of technology and other attributes such as funding, culture and skills to support its adoption.
For example, 78% of respondents aren't concerned with the disruptive nature of generative AI and instead see it as a competitive opportunity. 65% even hope to use it and become disruptors, saying their businesses are actively considering new and innovative ways to use the technology to unlock hidden opportunities from data.
Majority of businesses (76%) additionally said they worked with generative AI in some way in 2023, though only a few (9%) had adopted the technology widely. The rest had only deployed it in one or a few limited areas. In line with this, the most common use case for the technology was reportedly for automating non-essential tasks, resulting in brought low-to-modest gains but minimised risks.
The respondents do, however, expect the number of functions or general purposes where they plan to deploy generative AI to more than double in 2024. They seek to frequently apply the technology in customer experience, strategic analysis, and product innovation areas. They also look to increase its use in specific industry fields, such as supply change management in logistics and compliance in financial services, among others.
Despite the desire for wider adoption of the technology, only 30% of respondents said their IT attributes at their companies are conducive to rapid adoption of generative AI. This suggests the majority of respondents aren't confident in their companies' IT capabilities. Other factors that are barriers to adoption, according to respondents, are the regulatory, compliance, and data privacy risks, IT investment budgets and the shortage of talent with necessary skills.
Singapore, in particular, is in the early stages of adopting generative AI, so right now, a lot of the issues concerning adoption of the technology has to do with accessing the necessary hardware for it, noted Laurence Liew, Director of AI Innovation at AI Singapore.
"Choices include outright purchase and pay-as-you-go outsourcing, both of which carry their own risks," he said. "Additionally, data quality, storage and talent remain bottlenecks for effective deployment."
Telstra International recently shared its joint report with MIT Technology Review Insights (MITTR) titled “Generative AI: Differentiating Disruptors from the Disrupted”, which gathers the perspectives of senior executives on the use of generative AI in business.
While most businesses are in favour of the use of generative AI, only a small proportion believe they have the right level of technology and other attributes such as funding, culture and skills to support its adoption.
IT deficiencies, regulatory, compliance, and data privacy risks, budget concerns and the shortage of talent with necessary skills are barriers to wider adoption.
