As AI Adoption Accelerates, Here Are Some Tips for Catching Up

In March, we published the 2024 Global AI Research Report , which surveyed 1,420 global IT decision makers across a wide range of industry sectors. The survey revealed that a monumental uptick in the adoption of AI has begun, with two-thirds of IT decision makers indicating that their company’s AI initiatives are moving past the ideation stage and entering the implementation phase.

By now, it’s clear that the widescale embrace and use of AI is not just a pie-in-the-sky-idea, but rather a practical application with potential use cases across entire organizations. As our research makes clear, businesses that have so far failed to embrace this technology are at risk of being at a significant competitive disadvantage in the near future.

For those who think they may have fallen behind in their pursuit of AI initiatives, here are some areas of focus that can help you catch up.

Implement an AI talent strategy

The responsible adoption of AI within any organization requires more than mere access to it. You must also ensure that your employees know how to properly leverage it. According to our survey, 85% of IT leaders are actively recruiting individuals with AI/ML skills. Additionally, over 80% of these leaders have implemented or plan to implement formalized AI training programs within the next year to upskill their current workforce. Having a robust AI talent strategy in place will distinguish those who excel in AI from those who lag behind.

Your talent strategy should be 2-part and focus on training and recruitment.

1. Train your employees: Establish a training goal to ensure every employee learns how to effectively leverage AI technologies. This includes best-practice procedures for integrating AI into their daily tasks. This is not just training data scientists or engineers. Every employee needs to become AI competent, meaning they need the skills to be able to effectively use AI in their day-to-day work, be it marketing for creative work or developers leveraging code generation tools to improve quality and speed to delivery.
2. Hire specialized talent: Recruit skilled data scientists, AI engineers and software developers to build and integrate next-generation intelligent applications powered by AI.

Focus on creativity

When it comes to leveraging AI technologies, coding and technical know-how are no longer the sole necessities. In fact, creativity and critical thinking were identified by survey respondents as the most important skills, with half those surveyed ranking them as crucial to the successful adoption of AI. When it came to hiring specialist talent, half of those surveyed indicated that they are seeking professionals who understand how to leverage AI as a co-worker.

AI is moving beyond the IT department

Although initial discussions about AI predominantly occurred within IT departments, the focus is now shifting to other areas of the organization. In fact, 46% of survey respondents noted that customer service was driving their AI strategy, while 44% said the functional departments (marketing, sales, HR and finance) were leading the charge, and 40% said that engineering or product development were driving its development. The goal here is to develop an organization-wide strategy as opposed to a technology-centric strategy.

The future of applications: thinking beyond chatbots

While ChatGPT and Gemini currently dominate AI conversations, the future of generative AI technology is expected to extend well beyond chatbot functionality. Soon, new developments will transform AI from a mere commodity into a breakthrough technology, comparable to smartphones or personal computers. Organizations need to think about AI in increasingly broad terms, moving beyond the confines of customer service, which is rapidly becoming commoditized. Indeed, applications as we know them are swiftly evolving to become intelligent applications that promise to redefine our interaction with technology.

The first businesses to fully recognize and embrace the potential of AI will gain a tremendous advantage over their peers. These early adopters will be more agile and productive, better equipped to respond to market fluctuations, and more attuned to delivering the products and services their customers desire. As AI adoption continues to accelerate, the advantages will compound, making it increasingly difficult for laggards to catch up. The question for businesses leaders now is: When it comes to AI, will your company in your industry become the next Netflix or a Blockbuster?

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