About two-thirds of companies are emphasizing an “AI First” culture to take advantage of the many benefits that it offers, yet few can boast that they have obtained enterprise-wide success in implementing the technology. A recent report by the International Data Corporation (IDC) said that only a quarter of companies worldwide have an enterprise-wide AI strategy.

Additionally, 50 percent of companies state they have AI as a priority and have AI projects at a business unit level, and that 25 percent have yet to devise their AI approach. 

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“For many organizations, the rapid rise of digital transformation has pushed AI to the top of the corporate agenda. However, as AI accelerates toward the mainstream, organizations will need to have an effective AI strategy aligned with business goals and innovative business models to thrive in the digital era,” said Ritu Jyoti, program vice president of IDC’s Artificial Intelligence Strategies.

The biggest barriers to implement an AI strategy include the cost of AI solutions, a lack of skilled personnel and bias in the data that AI deduces information from. 

The report surveyed 2,473 organizations that are using artificial intelligence solutions in their operations, either developing them in-house, using commercial off-the-shelf solutions or a combination of both. 

Jyoti told SD Times the study focused on what companies are currently working on and what they plan to work in the next 12-24 months, compared to what they worked on in the past 12-24 months.  She added that organizations working with AI frameworks is definitely increasing rapidly from an overall marketing perspective. 

Jyoti said that the most notable finding in the survey is that more than 60 percent of surveyed organizations reported changing their business model in the past two years because of implementing AI.

Additionally, last year’s survey by the Boston Consulting Group and MIT, titled “Artificial Intelligence in Business Gets Real,” showed that 88 percent of companies that adopted AI early on are investing more in AI than they did in the previous year and are eager to scale AI throughout their enterprise. Also, these “pioneers” prioritize revenue-generating applications over cost-saving ones.

IDC outlined four key elements that it says will help companies succeed in implementing an effective AI strategy:

  1. Align the AI strategy with a strategic business goal such as improving profits or reducing workforce costs
  2. Use rich data sets as the foundation of your strategy execution and to follow secure governance guidelines 
  3. Consider which business processes will need to be updated to support the strategy.
  4. Include ethical considerations in your strategy to eliminate AI bias