Riverbed, a company specializing in artificial intelligence (AI) observability, has announced the results of the ‘Riverbed Global AI & Digital Experience Survey’ survey of 1,200 IT decision-makers, private companies, and the public sector from seven different countries. (Australia, France, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, United States and Saudi Arabia).
According to the report, while 94% of respondents say AI is one of the C-Suite’s top priorities and 91% agree that it provides a competitive advantage, only 37% are fully prepared to implement AI projects currently, as organizations face challenges ranging from data quality to scalability that are impacting their ability to reap the full benefits of AI. However, the next three years are expected to be a period of rapid expansion as companies look for practical approaches and solutions, and by 2027,6% of leaders expect their organization to be fully prepared to implement their AI strategy and projects.
While, currently, 54% of managers say the main reason for using AI is to drive operational efficiency in the face of growth (46%), these figures will change in 2027, with 58% of organizations stating that AI will primarily be an engine of growth versus boosting efficiency (42%). Trust in AI is also growing: leaders say they would prefer to use AI to automate a major IT upgrade (61%), than sitting in the back seat of a driverless car in the city (39%).
Optimism among managers and younger employees
With AI poised to transform organizations around the world, the survey revealed that enthusiasm for AI is high among managers, employees of younger generations, and organizations as a whole.
- Today, 66% of managers say AI is a key strategic priority for their organization, and another 33% say it is at least moderately important.
- 94% agree that AI will help them deliver a better digital experience to end users.
- 59% say the sentiment towards AI in their organization is positive, 37% neutral and only 4% skeptical.
- When asked which generation is most comfortable with AI in the workplace, leaders responded that Generation Z (52%), followed by Millennials (39%), and Generation Boomers (1%). However, in the United States, Millennials consider themselves native to AI (47% vs. 40% of Generation Z).
The study also revealed that most organizations have passed the stages of evaluation and experimentation with AI and, today, 65% are accelerating their strategies with increasing investment in infrastructure and talent; and another 23% are in the final transformation stage, in which AI is fully integrated into your business processes.
AI can improve the digital experience and IT operations
Riverbed’s previous 2023 Global Digital Employee Experience (DEX) survey found that DEX is a critical focus for organizations, especially with the rising digital expectations of Generation Z and Millennial employees, who make up about half of the workforce. Global workforce.
In this year’s survey, companies recognized the role that AI plays in DEX, as 86% of leaders agreed that AI automation is important to improve IT efficiency and deliver an improved digital experience to end users. Respondents ranked the top five ways they expect to use AI for IT to improve DEX within 3 years, including workflow automation (72%), automated remediation (69%), 24/7 support availability as chatbots (63%), data-driven insights (59%), and feedback analysis (57%).
Leaders surveyed also noted that they expect to see many benefits through the use of AI in IT operations, including improved operational efficiency and productivity, faster IT support response times, increased revenue, and a better digital employee experience.
All leaders surveyed hope to use, test, or start devising the Generative AI for IT operations within 12-18 months. Currently, only 34% of organizations have put Generative AI use cases into production for IT operations or completed prototypes that they plan to bring to production… Within 12-18 months, this figure will almost double to 67%, and the rest of the organizations will be in the ideation phases.
Despite the enthusiasm and benefits of AI, there are several loopholes
The study identified three major gaps that organizations must overcome to ensure their adoption translates into business profits and success.
Reality gap
The vast majority of respondents (82%) believe they are ahead of their competitors (including 30% significantly) when it comes to adopting AI for IT services and the digital experience, and only 5% claim to be slightly behind. This gap between perception and reality indicates that many leaders are overly confident in where their IT stands on their AI journey relative to their industry counterparts.
Preparation gap
As noted above, there is a readiness gap, with only 37% of managers saying their organization is fully prepared to implement AI projects today. Furthermore, 72% say that since AI is still maturing, it is difficult to implement it to make it work and spread.
Data gap
Almost all managers (85%) recognize that reliable data is essential for excellent AI. However, of respondents, 69% are concerned about the effectiveness of their organization’s data for using this technology, and only four in 10 rated their data as excellent in integrity (43%) and accuracy (40%), with 42% noting that the quality of their data is a barrier to greater investment. Additionally, many respondents are concerned about data security concerning AI, including 76% of managers who are concerned about their private data being in the public domain.
Strategies to drive successful AI initiatives
Companies are taking several steps to overcome challenges and drive successful AI strategies that deliver tangible results. To address AI readiness, 57% of organizations have formed teams dedicated to its adoption, and 45% have observability equipment and/or user experience.
As far as data is concerned, the vast majority of leaders (86%) say using real data, rather than synthetic data, is crucial in AI efforts to improve the digital experience… Furthermore, 84% of those surveyed agree that the observability in all IT elements is important in one aiops Strategy, and at least 82% say observability to overcome network blind spots – including public cloud, remote work environments, zero Trust architectures, and company-owned mobile devices are extremely or moderately important.
The study also found several correlations between successful adoption of AI by high-performing organizations (with revenue growth of 10.5% or higher), versus low-performing organizations (flat or declining revenues).).
- High-performing organizations prioritize AI, with 74% considering it a key strategic priority (and 26% moderately important), compared to 56% of low-performing organizations.
- 67% of high-performing companies are leveraging AI to its full potential to improve the digital employee experience (DEX), compared to 45% of low-performing companies.
- 63% of high-performing companies offer extensive AI training, compared to 41% of low-performing companies.
