Only 14% Of Organisations Are Fully Prepared To Deploy And Leverage AI: Cisco
More than half of the organisations admit serious impact to business if they fail to act in the next 12 months.
Only 14% of organisations globally are fully prepared to deploy and leverage artificial intelligence-powered technologies, according to Cisco’s AI Readiness Index.
The research noted that considerable gaps exist across six key business pillars—strategy, infrastructure, data, governance, talent and culture—with 86% of companies not fully ready to integrate AI into their businesses.
While AI adoption has been progressing for decades, the advancements in generative AI, coupled with its public availability in the past year, are driving greater attention to the challenges, changes and new possibilities posed by the technology.
While 84% of respondent organisations expect that AI will have a significant impact on their business operations, it also raises issues around data privacy and security. Findings showed that companies experience the most challenges when it comes to leveraging AI alongside their data, with 81% admitting that this is because of data existing in silos across their organisations.
The index, which surveyed over 8,000 companies, revealed that companies are taking many proactive measures to prepare for an AI-centric future. When it came to building AI strategies, almost one third of respondents were categorised as Pacesetters (fully prepared), indicating a significant level of focus by C-suite executives and IT leadership. This could be driven by the finding that 97% of respondents said the urgency to deploy AI technologies has increased in the past six months, with IT infrastructure and cybersecurity reported as priority areas.
“To realise the benefit of AI-powered products and services, companies need solutions that secure and observe their AI models and toolchains to ensure performance, secure sensitive data and systems, and deliver trustworthy and responsible AI outcomes,” said Liz Centoni, executive vice president and general manager, Cisco.
Key Findings
The research found that only 14% of companies are Pacesetters (fully prepared), 34% are Chasers (moderately prepared), 48% are Followers (limited preparedness) and 4% are Laggards (unprepared).
Other significant findings include:
Urgency: Of the respondents, 61% said they have a maximum of one year to implement an AI strategy before their organisation begins to incur significant negative business impact.
Strategy: Organisations are on their way when it comes to AI strategy, with 95% already having a highly defined AI strategy or are in the process of developing one.
Infrastructure: Almost 95% of businesses are aware that AI will increase infrastructure workload, but only 17% have networks to handle them. Additionally, 23% have limited or no scalability when it comes to meeting new AI challenges within their current IT infrastructures.
Data: While data serves as the backbone for AI operations, it is an area where readiness is the weakest, with the greatest number of Laggards (17%) and 81% claiming some degree of siloed or fragmented data in their organisation.
Talent: Around 82% of boards and leadership teams show high or moderate receptiveness towards AI. However, 22% of organisations reported middle management has either limited or no receptiveness to AI, and 31% said employees are limited in their willingness to adopt AI or outright resistant. Additionally, 90% said they have invested in uplevelling employee skillsets, and 29% expressed doubt about the availability of skilled talent.
Governance: Of the respondents, 76% reported not having comprehensive AI policies in place, an area that needs addressing as companies consider and govern factors that present a risk in eroding confidence and trust.
Culture: Culture had the lowest number of Pacesetters (9%), driven largely by the fact that only 21% have comprehensive change management plans for widespread AI adoption.
