The AI revolution awaits: two-fifths of companies are still exploring the business opportunities inherent in artificial intelligence

By: Trademagazin Date: 2024. 09. 25. 11:40

While the world is burning with the fever of artificial intelligence-based tools available for free, the AI hype is a little more subdued in the corporate sector: although almost three-quarters of companies use the technology in some business area, the explosive growth experienced since 2017 seems to be slowing down, and relatively there are few examples of integrated solutions that revolutionize the basic operations of companies. According to experts, developments are often self-serving and companies prefer to follow AI trends, but goals and a real concept are missing, there are serious problems with data authenticity, and the competencies of colleagues who use artificial intelligence on a daily basis are also lacking. In most cases, it is worthwhile to take a step back, assess the real business opportunities, and think about what solutions we can use to deal with the challenges that may arise only years later.

According to estimates, around 266 million companies globally use some kind of artificial intelligence-based solution, mainly related to one business function. The technology has mostly seeped into the field of customer service and cyber security, but more and more people are also using digital assistants to perform various administrative tasks. The most popular tool is still generative AI, which undoubtedly provides enormous help in content production, sales and marketing activities, data processing or certain IT tasks, but integrated, revolutionizing business functions as a whole are less visible on the market – which of course does not mean that no pilot developments are taking place in the background. But how is it worth getting involved in such a far-reaching project, what aspects are important to consider and how do we avoid pitfalls?

A strategic approach is needed

Artificial intelligence-based developments have come into focus at many companies in almost every sector in recent years, but for the time being, the majority are groping, looking for industry examples and specific application areas (use cases). Many people prefer to just follow the trends, because they guess the potential of AI solutions, but in the absence of a well-formulated and well-thought-out digital strategy, they cannot build on a solid foundation. Developments are thus limited to the introduction of one piece of software and are unable to provide a real solution to changing market conditions and current business needs. The lack of competence also causes difficulties: the design and maintenance of AI systems requires extensive expertise, but internal users also often struggle with the fact that they do not really understand how and in what way artificial intelligence can help their work.