Reality, Preparedness and Data gap: The State of AI in Business

The appetite for artificial intelligence (AI) is growing. But companies need to be prepared for successful implementations.

Currently, just over a third (37%) of companies are actually ready to implement AI projects. This is revealed by the Riverbed Global AI & Digital Experience Survey, which gathers the impressions of more than a thousand IT managers from seven different countries, including Spain.

While most have passed the evaluation and experimentation stages, less than a quarter (23%) are at the final transformation stage.

Riverbed’s survey also gives a good indication of the optimism around the technology. As many as 94% of respondents say AI is high on the C-Suite’s list of priorities and 91% say it provides a competitive advantage.

Strong expansion in this area is expected over the next three years. By 2027, 86% of companies expect full readiness.

‘AI is on the C-Suite agenda and is a priority for IT leaders,’ says Jim Gargan, chief marketing officer at Riverbed, because ’it can deliver huge benefits to IT operations and transform industries and the way we work.’

‘What leaders really want is to move from AI hype to practical AI that works and delivers measurable results,’ Gargan notes.

Beyond managers, the most optimistic are younger employees. Leaders say Generation Z is the most comfortable with AI (52%), ahead of Millennials (39%), members of Generation X (8%) and Baby Boomers (1%).

As many as 59% of respondents to the survey say the sentiment in their organisation towards AI is positive. Thirty-seven percent think it is neutral. Only 4% say there is scepticism.

Businesses appreciate the role of AI in the digital employee experience. According to 86% of executives, automation is important for improving IT efficiency and the end experience.

Over the next few years they will focus on workflow automation, automated remediation, 24/7 support availability, data-driven insights and feedback analytics.

Within twelve to eighteen months, they expect to be using or testing generative AI. Only a third (34%) currently have use cases in production for IT operations or have completed prototypes.

Among the challenges organisations face, the ‘reality gap’ stands out. Eighty-two percent of Riverbed respondents believe they are ahead of their rivals in AI adoption for IT services and digital experience.

There is also a ‘readiness gap’ and a ‘data gap’. Seventy-two percent claim that it is difficult to implement AI to make it work and spread. While 85% recognise the importance of reliable data, 69% are concerned about the effectiveness of their data. A minority rate their data as excellent in terms of completeness (43%) and accuracy (40%).

To overcome barriers, 57% of companies have formed dedicated AI teams and 45% also have observability and user experience teams.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)