NEW YORK, May 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- New market
research commissioned by IBM (NYSE: IBM) found that almost
one-third of IT professionals surveyed globally say their business
is now using artificial intelligence (AI), with 43 percent
reporting that their company has accelerated their rollout of AI as
a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. While recent advances in the
technology are making AI more accessible than ever, the annual
survey also found that a lack of AI skills and increasing data
complexity are cited as top challenges.
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The "Global AI Adoption Index 2021," conducted by Morning
Consult on behalf of IBM, revealed that while AI adoption was nearly flat over the last year, momentum
is shifting as the need for AI has been accelerated by changing
business needs due to the global pandemic. AI is already changing
the way businesses operate today, from how they communicate with
their customers via virtual assistants, to automating key
workflows, and even managing network security. The "2021 CEO Study"
from IBM's Institute for Business Value recently revealed that more
than half of CEOs surveyed expect AI to deliver tangible business
benefits in the next few years.
Highlights from the "Global AI Adoption Index 2021" include:
- Business adoption of AI was basically flat, but significant investments
in AI are planned: Almost one-third of companies reported using
AI in their business, similar to 2020 findings. For those deploying
or exploring AI, they report it is being driven by multiple
pressures and opportunities businesses are facing, from the
COVID-19 pandemic to advances in the technology that make it more
accessible. A third of global IT professionals report their company
plans to invest in both skills and AI solutions over the next 12
months.
- COVID-19 accelerated how businesses are using automation
today: 80 percent of companies are already using automation
software or plan to use this technology in the next 12 months, and
for more than one-in-three organizations, the pandemic
influenced their decision to use automation to bolster the
productivity of employees, while others found new applications of
this technology to make themselves more resilient, such as helping
to automate the resolution of IT incidents.
- Trustworthy and explainable AI is critical to business:
91 percent of businesses using AI say their ability to explain how
it arrived at a decision is critical. While global businesses are
now acutely aware of the importance of having trustworthy AI, more
than half of companies cite significant barriers in getting there
including lack of skills, inflexible governance tools, biased data
and more.
- The ability to access data anywhere is key for increasing AI
adoption: The proliferation of data across the enterprise has
resulted in over two thirds of global IT professionals drawing from
more than 20 different data sources to inform their AI. Almost 90
percent of IT pros say being able to run their AI projects wherever
the data resides is key to the technology's adoption.
- Natural language processing is at the forefront of recent
adoption: Almost half of businesses today are now using
applications powered by natural language processing (NLP), and
one-in-four businesses plan to begin using NLP technology over the
next 12 months. Customer service is the top NLP use case with 52
percent of global IT professionals reporting that their company is
using or considering using NLP solutions to improve customer
experience and it was the use AI case IT professionals were most
likely to report that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased their
focus on.
"As organizations move to a post-pandemic world, data from the
Global AI Adoption Index 2021 underscores a major uptick in AI
investment," said Rob Thomas, Senior
Vice President, IBM Cloud and Data Platform. "A large majority of
those investments continue to be focused on the three key
capabilities that define AI for business - automating IT and
processes, building trust in AI outcomes, and understanding the
language of business. We believe these investments will continue to
accelerate rapidly as customers look for new, innovative ways to
drive their digital transformations by taking advantage of hybrid
cloud and AI."
While adoption is poised for growth, some global businesses are
still facing a multitude of challenges when it comes to adopting
AI. Persistent barriers across markets and industries highlight the
need for continued focus on addressing skills and solutions
gaps.
- The survey determined top three barriers to AI adoption for
businesses are: Limited AI expertise or knowledge (39 percent),
increasing data complexity and data silos (32 percent),
and lack of tools/platforms for developing AI models (28
percent).
IBM is working to accelerate adoption by delivering AI designed
for the needs of businesses. To give businesses, data scientists
and developers the capabilities they need to scale AI, IBM is
continually bringing new innovations to IBM Watson from IBM
Research that help enable organizations to better understand the
language of business, automate processes and IT, and drive trust in
their AI outcomes. Additionally, IBM Global Business Services
brings deep technology, industry and process design expertise to
co-create solutions with customers that embed AI into core business
processes and create intelligent workflows at scale.
Download the full report here.
Methodology
The data sheds new light on the deployment
of AI across 5,501 businesses in China (500), France (500), Germany (500), India (500), Italy (500), Latin
America (1,000 across Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Peru),
Singapore (500), Spain (500), the United Kingdom (500), and United States (501). The polling was conducted
online through Morning Consult's proprietary network of online
providers in April 2021. All
respondents were required to have significant insight or input into
their firm's IT decision-making. See full details on the
methodology at the end of the summary.
About IBM Watson
Watson is IBM's AI technology for business,
helping organizations to better predict and shape future outcomes,
automate complex processes, and optimize employees' time.
Watson has evolved from an IBM
Research project, to experimentation, to a scaled, open set of
products that run anywhere. With more than 40,000 client
engagements, Watson is being
applied by leading global brands across a variety of industries to
transform how people work. To learn more, visit:
https://www.ibm.com/watson
Media Contact:
Zachery
Bishop
IBM Media Relations
Zachery.bishop@ibm.com
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SOURCE IBM