- 9 in 10 companies have already deployed or are piloting
generative AI technology
- Businesses are prioritizing AI deployments with
multi-million-dollar budgets and people commitments
- Generative AI is meeting or exceeding expectations in ~75%
or more of cases
BOSTON, June 20,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Generative AI is now virtually
ubiquitous in global businesses, with major companies having
strongly prioritized commitments to it and AI deployments having
spread at a near unprecedented pace for adoption of a new
technology that is still accelerating, new research from Bain &
Company reveals.
Bain's latest proprietary cross-industry Generative AI
Survey1 indicates that almost 9 in 10
companies (87%, up from 83% in October last year) have already
deployed or are now piloting the technology, with adoption
continuing to climb rapidly across all use cases.
Bain's analysis shows very rapid ramping up of businesses'
spending and other commitments to generative AI use. More than 60%
of businesses surveyed put it among their top three priorities for
this year and next, with 87% ranking it among their top five
priorities for the next three to four years.
On average, Bain's research shows companies are already
budgeting some $5 million per year
for generative AI activities and technology infrastructure – with
that average number rising to $50
million per year for 20% of the largest companies,
indicating businesses' increasingly large-scale commitments to
generative AI implementation.
Bain's analysis of the firm's, regular Generative AI
Survey1 of senior executives in 200 businesses,
across an even split of technology and non-technology companies,
also shows companies' fast-scaling commitment to the technology in
terms of growing size of teams working on it. Companies have around
100 people spending some time engaging with the new AI technology
in some form, with large companies having as many as 240 team
members, the data shows.
As companies around the globe race to seize generative AI's
potential and capture its competitive advantages, the analysis
shows the greatest focus for executives in terms of business goals
from AI capabilities is to harness benefits from boosts to revenues
alongside enhanced efficiency and productivity. Both goals are
cited by 68% of companies surveyed among their top three primary
objectives.
However, the survey data also reveals a need for businesses to
strengthen their focus on how they can best use generative AI, with
only around 36% of executives indicating their organization has a
strong, well-defined vision for AI deployments, with a sequenced
roadmap and clear value expectations. In addition, a fifth of
organizations (21%) have ideas for generative AI deployment but
have not yet made coordinated efforts.
Despite this, the data also indicates that generative AI is
meeting or exceeding businesses' expectations in 75% of instances
overall. Alongside, around four-fifths of respondents (~80%)
observe that prototyping for generative AI use is faster than was
experienced with earlier, traditional AI technology and machine
learning.
For the cases where AI deployments have fallen short of
expectations, the most common issues cited are around poor output
quality or the technology not meeting performance needs. This
tech-market fit issue is common for new technologies. The next most
common set of levels of issues is around user adoption and
off-the-shelf tooling which did not deliver the expected value. But
the survey also shows indications that these issues are being
encountered less frequently for some key use cases, with
performance for use cases in sales, sales operations, marketing,
customer service and customer onboarding cited by respondents as
improving in the latest findings. Concerns over risk, data security
and privacy, and uncertainty around regulation have also declined.
Most firms still see room to improve their generative AI
preparedness across the areas of data readiness, data security and
talent.
"The scale and pace of generative AI adoption across the
business landscape is remarkable. It speaks to this technology
having a truly far-reaching and transformative impact for companies
across sectors as it continues to develop – and as deployments
continue to accelerate," Gene
Rapoport, Bain & Company partner and leader of AI
initiatives for Bain's Private Equity practice, said. "It's equally
impressive that, with most major business already putting money and
muscle behind generative AI implementations, the majority are
seeing a path towards realizing real business value. But what is
also clear is that CEOs and executive committees need to take clear
ownership of activating AI in their organizations and ensuring a
clear, well-defined vision for its use. The businesses that do are
going to emerge quickly as those that lead with AI and secure the
best results and the greatest competitive advantage."
Sanjin Bicanic, Bain &
Company partner and member of Bain's Advanced Analytics Group,
added: "Many software companies are adding AI features to their
products at a breakneck pace, but our research shows those
solutions are not yet fully featured enough to create value for the
Enterprise. This gap in perceived value combined with the
availability of frontier models as APIs are the two main reasons
why we're seeing so many companies choosing to build to capture
value quickly. As solutions get better, we expect to see more
buying, but the landscape is shifting rapidly and it's not yet
clear where building might be a correct long-term solution."
Four evolving themes
As adoption of generative AI increases across all use cases,
concerns around organizational readiness have grown, Bain also
finds. Four themes emerge from the analysis that show how companies
are thinking about the technology:
- Are we delivering value yet? Across industries,
conversations about generative AI are more earnest, moving from
excitement and hype to more realistic assessments.
- Five promise areas: As companies get their hands
dirty with generative AI, they are reporting some use cases show
the best signs of success, including sales, software development,
marketing, knowledge worker assistants and customer service.
- Tech companies are finding out first: Compared to Bain's
2023 Q4 survey, companies in the tech industry were more likely to
say their data and security protocols were ready for generative AI
as well as being further ahead in adoption. This contrasts to
companies across other (non-tech) industries, which reported about
the same levels of readiness in both surveys, indicating they have
not yet hit this bottleneck.
- Buy or build? Both approaches are being tested
across use cases. Companies are buying third-party solutions when
available but are investing in tailoring them for their needs.
Notes to Editors
- For a media pack showing the results of Bain &
Company's latest quarterly Generative AI Survey, please get
in touch.
Media Contacts:
Gary Duncan (London) — Email: gary.duncan@bain.com
Katie Ware (New York) —
Email: katie.ware@bain.com
Ann Lee (Singapore) —
Email: ann.lee@bain.com
About Bain & Company
Bain & Company is a global consultancy that helps the
world's most ambitious change makers define the future.
Across 65 cities in 40 countries, we work alongside our clients
as one team with a shared ambition to achieve extraordinary
results, outperform the competition, and redefine industries. We
complement our tailored, integrated expertise with a vibrant
ecosystem of digital innovators to deliver better, faster, and more
enduring outcomes. Our 10-year commitment to invest more than
$1 billion in pro bono services
brings our talent, expertise, and insight to organizations tackling
today's urgent challenges in education, racial equity, social
justice, economic development, and the environment. We earned a
platinum rating from EcoVadis, the leading platform for
environmental, social, and ethical performance ratings for global
supply chains, putting us in the top 1% of all companies. Since our
founding in 1973, we have measured our success by the success of
our clients, and we proudly maintain the highest level of client
advocacy in the industry.
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