- Companies would like to do more with AI, but lack the possibilities, the report shows
- The Cisco AI Readiness Index shows that virtually no company feels ready to get the most out of AI
- The lack of skills and good infrastructure also remain a challenge for many
Many companies are desperate to bring AI into their workplaces, but simply don’t have the skills or talent needed to do so effectively, new research shows.
Cisco’s latest AI Readiness Index, which covers nearly eight thousand companies, shows that only 13% of companies feel they are fully ready to leverage the potential of AI tools.
This is actually a decline from the previous year, but comes with a growing urgency from bosses to ensure they don’t fall behind when it comes to the benefits AI technology can deliver.
AI struggles
The survey found that almost all companies (98%) said there was an increased urgency to adopt AI over the past 12 months, despite declining appetite for the technology.
This willingness was not helped by the apparent shortage of back-end technology, with networks in particular not being equipped to handle the pressures of AI workloads, as the survey found that only 21% of businesses believed they had the necessary GPUs had to meet current and future AI. to demand.
Security was also a concern, as less than a third (30%) of companies said they had the capabilities to protect data in AI models with end-to-end encryption, security audits, continuous monitoring and immediate response to threats.
However, this is not to say that the outlook is necessarily bleak for companies looking to adopt AI, as budgets will evolve as the technology landscape changes.
The research shows that roughly 30% of IT budgets will be spent on AI, almost double the current future, and almost half of companies say that while AI implementations among top priorities have not met expectations to date have met, almost two-thirds (59%) believe the impact of AI investments will exceed expectations after five years.
Nearly two-thirds (66%) of boards are also reportedly very or moderately receptive to an increased focus on AI in the future, potentially signaling further support – although the survey shows this was up from 82% last year.
“In the end, there will only be two types of companies: those that are AI companies, and those that are not. AI makes us think about power requirements, computing needs, high-quality connectivity within and between data centers, data requirements, security and more,” said Jeetu Patel, Chief Product Officer at Cisco.
“Regardless of where they are in their AI journey, organizations must prepare existing data center and cloud strategies for changing demands, and have a plan for AI adoption, with flexibility and resilience, as strategies evolve.”