After years of waiting, Artificial Intelligence is finally making real steps forward, particularly within Fortune 1000 corporations. A survey taken in 2018 represents nearly 60 different industry leading companies, many of which were Fortune 1000 businesses and bellwether, and 93% of respondents were C-level executive decision-makers.
This research reveals that 97.2% of companies are investing in, building or launching big data and AI initiatives. Also, the greater availability of data within organisations is empowering AI initiatives, and so big data and AI are becoming increasingly intertwined. A direct correlation between big data accessibility and advancements in AI advancements can now be seen, and large corporations have access to volumes and sources of data that can be used to feed AI algorithms.
Increasing access to data means that AI algorithms can detect patterns and work to understand behaviour and produce a range of benefits including real-time consumer credit approval, and new product offers.
Financial service companies have long been driving the industry, as their large volumes of transactional and customer data they gather has fuelled the development of data management and data governance processes over the last decades. These analytics are used to assess customer profitability, identify target markets and manage risk. For industries such as life sciences, despite being newer to data management than other industries, have vast caverns of scientific and patient data that have remained all but undisturbed, despite their potential for insight.
Data-driven competitors such as Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple have cultivated highly agile databases of information, are pushing companies to invest more in big data and AI initiatives in 2018 to keep up. The 2018 survey revealed that 71.8% of executives state that investments in AI will have a huge impact on their ability to stave off disruption throughout the next decade. As the fear of disruption indicates, the number of organisations investing in AI and big data will continue to increase.
Now, 73% of executives surveyed indicate that investments in AI and big data are beginning to yield real results. The advanced analytics successfully improve decision-making, accelerate time-to-market for new products and services, and to improve customer service. Over 1/4th of executives report success in monetising their investments, which is the goal for the majority of organisations.
As companies look to the future, there is the growing belief that AI holds the key to improvement, and 93% of executives identify that their company is investing in AI for the future. Without investment in this technology, competing will become difficult, and those with developed AI capabilities will be best able to compete with agile, data-driven competitors of the future.