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Innovation

Are enterprises really ready for AI?

Businesses are facing setbacks around AI adoption -- with over half feeling that they are not prepared to effectively use AI technologies in their organisations.
Written by Eileen Brown, Contributor

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Despite the hype, most organizations are not doing much with AI. For AI to work properly, businesses have to understand both the outcomes and the inputs.

Unfortunately, businesses currently focus on the outcomes, and they've not invested in the right data sets to use AI engines or predictive models in the right way.

Read also: Most US workers want to see more AI and robots in the office

Digital transformation firm PointSource has released a report that uncovers unprofitable technology investments organizations are making under pressures to achieve digital transformation in 2018.

It surveyed over 600 senior-level decision makers on their 2018 technology investments, the motives behind those investments, and how ready they really feel for these new technologies.

Companies seem to fall for the hype and are jumping into new technologies that do not align with their current digital transformation pain points. The survey revealed that the majority of companies are investing in technology that they do not feel confident using.

A quarter of companies have invested more than 25 percent of their 2018 budgets in AI, blockchain, voice, or facial-recognition tech. However, over half (53 percent) do not feel prepared to effectively use AI, blockchain, or facial-recognition tech.

Company decision makers invest in technologies often without taking a step back and assessing how those technologies fit into their larger digital strategy and business goals.

Instead of companies collaborating across departments and focusing on where they are going, the survey showed that 60 percent of departments fight one another over budget and resources, and 90 percent waste time tracking down digital information internally.

The average cost of an hour wasted costs businesses $7,739.64.

Are Enterprises really ready for AI ZDNet
(Image: PointSource)

While the majority of such companies perceive these investments as a fast track to the next level of digital maturity, they are actually taking an avoidable detour.

Organizations do not seem to know what technologies they need. Decision makers are not investing in the solutions they have identified as most valuable.

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Greg Ng, vice president of digital transformation at PointSource, said: "We're finding that many organizations are making the same mistakes twice when approaching digital transformation.

He added, "They're rushing to make huge investments in technologies that are perceived to have high ROI, and then failing because they aren't prepared -- leaving them with technologies that don't work as intended or conflict with existing systems."

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