DAVOS, Switzerland,
Jan. 23, 2018 /CNW/ -
Artificial Intelligence is in widespread use
across enterprises, driving tangible benefits while creating new
opportunities and challenges for business leaders and the
workforce
Infosys (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in consulting,
technology, and next-generation services, today released global
research on the impact artificial intelligence (AI) technology
implementations in the enterprise are having on
return-on-investment (ROI), the workforce and organizational
leadership. The research report, Leadership in the Age
of AI, surveyed more than 1,000 business and IT leaders with
decision-making power over AI solutions or purchases at large
organizations across seven countries.
(Logo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130122/589162 )
The research findings point to a fundamental shift in how
enterprises operate as AI takes hold. Enterprises are moving beyond
the experimentation phase with AI, deploying AI technologies more
broadly and realizing benefits across their business. According to
the survey, 73 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed
that their AI deployments have already transformed the way they do
business, and 90 percent of C-level executives reported measurable
benefits from AI within their organization. Additionally, the data
showed organizations are taking steps to prepare employees and
business leaders for the future of work, with 53 percent of
respondents indicating that their organization has increased
training in the job functions most affected by AI deployments.
Mohit Joshi,
President, Infosys: "While it's fair to say
that, like most promising new technologies, there has been a
tremendous amount of hype around AI, it turns out that the vast
majority of enterprises with AI deployments are realizing clear and
measureable results. AI, as the research shows, is becoming core to
business strategy, and is compelling business leaders to alter the
way they hire, train and inspire teams, and the way they compete
and foster innovation. Industry disruption from AI is no longer
imminent, it is here. The organizations that embrace AI with a
clearly defined strategy and use AI to amplify their workforce
rather than replace it, will take the lead, and those that don't
will fall behind or find themselves irrelevant."
Key findings:
- Enterprise AI moves beyond experimentation: AI
deployments are no longer imminent but are becoming pervasive as 86
percent of organizations surveyed have middle- or late-stage AI
deployments and view AI as a major facilitator of future business
operations. Eighty percent of respondents who said they've
seen at least some measurable benefits from AI agreed or strongly
agreed that their organization had a defined strategy for
deployment. Fifty-three percent of all respondents said that their
industry has already experienced disruption due to artificial
intelligence technologies.
- Beyond automation, the benefits of AI span the business
value chain: While a majority of organizations (66 percent)
start off using AI to automate routine or inefficient processes,
businesses in later stages of AI deployment are leveraging the
technology to innovate and differentiate. For example, 80 percent
of IT decision makers at organizations in later stages of AI
deployment reported that they are using AI to augment existing
solutions, or build new business-critical solutions and services to
optimize insights and the consumer experience. Forty-two percent of
these organizations also expect significant impact in research and
development in the next five years.
- ROI market and industry breakdown: India, the United
States and China led
geographies with the most respondents stating that their
organization has realized direct, tangible results from deploying
AI technologies with 75 percent, 71 percent and 61 percent
respectively. Australia trailed
behind the leading geographies with 57 percent followed by the
United Kingdom (42 percent),
Germany (40 percent) and
France (33 percent). The leading
industries currently using AI to automate business processes
include retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) at 85 percent,
followed by telecom and communication service providers (83
percent) and banking and insurance (80 percent).
- Investing in people is key to AI
success: Seventy-seven percent of respondents surveyed
were confident that employees in their organization can be trained
for the new job roles AI technologies will create. Respondents
showed commitment to this belief by ranking training and
recruitment as the top areas of investment (46 percent and 44
percent respectively) in order for AI technologies to make an
impact. C-level executives likewise called out training the
leadership team on AI as a top priority-47 percent of business
leaders put leadership training in their top three priorities
compared to 40 percent who put employee training in their top three
priorities.
- AI leadership essentials include strategy and
training: Four out of five C-level executives said that
their future business strategy will be informed through
opportunities made available with AI technology. Business leaders
were confident that their executive teams have the ability to adapt
their leadership skills as AI technologies are adopted, with 80
percent of C-level executives in agreement. However, training on
the executive level is still critical as three-fourths of IT
decision makers felt that their executives would benefit from
formal training on the implications of AI technologies.
Other important findings include:
- Data management is a persistent obstacle: Nearly half of
IT decision makers (49 percent) reported that their organization is
unable to deploy the AI technologies they want because their data
is not ready to support the requirements of AI technologies. As
such, approximately 77 percent of IT decision makers said that
their organization is investing in data management. Furthermore,
C-level executives reported that their leadership team is concerned
with the implications of industry regulations on their ability to
use AI technologies within their business (70 percent) and the
potential advantages AI technologies could lend to competition (66
percent).
- Weighing ethical concerns and benefits among the
workforce: Sixty-nine percent of C-level executives reported
that employees within their organization are concerned AI
technologies will replace them. However, ranked among the top two
ways their current AI deployments have impacted their business, 48
percent of respondents cited that AI has augmented human skills to
make their people better at their work, and 45 percent said AI is
making for better employees because it frees up their time for
higher value work.
- The rise of AI professionals throughout the ranks of
businesses: According to the data, IT (61 percent) will
continue to be the most affected job function over the next five
years. However, AI is beginning to have a growing impact on
marketing and communications (32 percent), human resources (29
percent) and legal departments (15 percent). AI leaders will become
fixtures in the C-suite and throughout the organization as an
overwhelming majority (95 percent) of IT decision makers from
organizations in the late stages of digital transformation said
that their organization plans to have a dedicated team of AI
professionals.
Business leaders are optimistic that AI technologies will
ultimately create more opportunity for employees than they will
eliminate, with C-level executives widely agreeing that AI
technologies will have a positive effect on their workforce (70%)
and equally benefit customers (45 percent) and employees (43
percent).
For a full copy of the report, please visit:
https://www.infosys.com/age-of-ai/
METHODOLOGY
This survey was commissioned by Infosys and conducted by
independent market research company Branded Research Inc. across
seven countries: The United
States, the United Kingdom,
France, Germany, India, China
and Australia. The total sample
size included 1,053 global C-level executives as well as IT
decision makers (ITDMs) and influencers of AI technology purchases
within their organizations. These companies ranged in size from 500
to more than 5,000 employees, and from $500,000 to more than $1
billion in revenues.
The Branded Research Inc. panel is comprised of more than 2
million survey participants across 40 different countries. The
panel is routinely checked against data verification measures that
include social vetting, digital fingerprinting and anti-fraud
solutions.
For the purposes of this report, artificial intelligence is
defined as "software technologies that make a computer or robot
perform equal to or better than normal human computational ability
in accuracy, capacity and speed. Examples can include Natural
Language Processing, Knowledge Representation, Automated Reasoning,
Machine Learning, Robotics, Rational Agent and Chatbots."
About Infosys
Infosys is a global leader in technology services and
consulting. We enable clients in 45 countries to create and execute
strategies for their digital transformation. From engineering to
application development, knowledge management and business process
management, we help our clients find the right problems to solve,
and to solve those effectively. Our team of 200,000+
innovators, across the globe is differentiated by the imagination,
knowledge and experience across industries and technologies that we
bring to every project we undertake.
Visit http://www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY) can
help your enterprise thrive in the digital age.
Safe Harbor
Certain statements in this press release concerning our future
growth prospects are forward-looking statements regarding our
future business expectations intended to qualify for the 'safe
harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995,
which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those in such
forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to
these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and
uncertainties regarding fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in
foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense
competition in IT services including those factors which may affect
our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain
highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on
fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration,
restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our
ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for
technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication
networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete
and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our
service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys
has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of
governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional
conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring
companies outside India, and
unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic
conditions affecting our industry. Additional risks that could
affect our future operating results are more fully described in our
United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including
our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2017. These filings are
available at http://www.sec.gov Infosys may, from time to
time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements,
including statements contained in the company's filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders.
In addition, please note that any forward-looking statements
contained herein are based on assumptions that we believe to be
reasonable as of the date of this press release. The company does
not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be
made from time to time by or on behalf of the company unless it is
required by law.
SOURCE Infosys