Amid the surge in AI advancements, businesses face the critical task of discerning genuinely transformative opportunities from the hype around emerging technologies. Business leaders must recognise that AI is evolving from a novelty to a necessity and start exploring strategies for successful AI integration. Dennis Woodside explains how to navigate this landscape, discussing the key drivers of AI adoption, employee perceptions and strategies for measuring AI’s ROI.
With all the hype around AI, how challenging is it for businesses to identify use cases with real transformative potential?
Since generative AI exploded into the market 18 months ago, an unprecedented hype cycle has resulted in inflated expectations that distract from the tangible benefits the technology offers.
Enterprise executives looking to successfully embed AI into their business in 2024 will need to right-size those expectations and work on separating AI hype from reality. This can be achieved through identifying truly valid use cases, building an AI culture, forming the right teams and tracking ROI.
What are the major drivers of AI adoption today?
Our latest Freshworks Global AI Workplace survey found that more than a third of global workers (37%) say their companies are adopting AI software due to a fear of missing out on “the next big thing” or failing to keep up with innovation.
Similarly, more than half (53%) of workers say they are pushing AI software in their organisation to avoid falling behind competitors, and 46% of workers say any company not using AI is already behind and more likely to fail in the future.
How do employees view AI? Do they feel it can improve their productivity?
Much is said of the AI ‘trust gap’ in consumers and employees, who share varying levels of concern over a range of complicated issues, from job replacement to AI governance, regulation and ethics. However, it’s becoming clear that more and more workers trust AI to improve performance – and their careers.
The hype cycle is passing and measurable outcomes of AI implementations are coming into focus
Our report found that knowledge workers are achieving impressive productivity gains from using AI at work, with nearly three in four global workers (72%) trusting AI to bring value to their work processes. Furthermore, 81% of employees say they trust AI because they believe the quality of work produced is good or that it makes their team more productive.
How are organisations at the forefront of AI adoption measuring ROI and impact?
As organisations shift from experimentation to execution with AI tools and initiatives, they’re evaluating which performance metrics are most relevant to understand the impact and ROI. Not surprisingly, productivity has been a primary focus.
Employees surveyed estimate that AI is already cutting their workloads considerably by summarising reports, suggesting next steps, handling repetitive tasks and other efficiencies—meaning employees can take on higher-value work.
Aside from productivity, the top performance metrics for workplace AI include better quality of work, improved customer engagement, revenue increases and employee satisfaction improvement.
Is AI now a business necessity? And how should organisations that have yet to embrace it get started?
AI is no longer an experimental pilot tool, but rather an active driver of substantial efficiency and productivity gains across industries. Investing in AI is not an option but a necessity for businesses wanting to keep up with competition.
For those just getting started on their AI journey, business leaders should pay attention to what their customers care about most and invest in a comprehensive, value-adding generative AI partner.
When it comes to the business benefits of AI, do senior leaders believe the best is yet to come?
Yes, the good news is the hype cycle is passing and measurable outcomes of AI implementations are coming into focus, making the technology difficult for IT decision-makers to ignore.
For a long time, companies have invested time and energy training humans to understand software. With generative AI in play, products are now learning to approach tasks in a similar way to humans, changing the rules of the game entirely.
To find out more about how AI is enhancing business software visit freshworks.com
