Survey reveals top priorities for C-Suite Executives

These unique opportunities, brought on by GenAI, will impact areas such as revenue and growth, operational efficiency, cost reduction, strategic differentiation, and even brand presence. Constellation Research and Dialpad recently surveyed more than 1,000 senior executives about their AI initiatives. The survey showed the impact of AI on tasks, decision-making, and investment decisions.

Key Takeaways:

• 77% of leaders believe AI will provide them a competitive advantage.

• 69% of executives plan to spearhead their organisation’s AI efforts.

• 75% of respondents believe AI will have a significant impact on their roles in the next three years.

• 77% are confident that AI can accurately share information and results.

• 38% of respondents are moderately to extremely concerned about AI.

• 54% of leaders are concerned about AI regulation.

AI Is the Top Priority for Organisations

AI is the top priority for every business, across industries, geographies, and roles. More than 75% of respondents believe AI will have a significant impact on their roles within the next three years. In fact, more than 69% of those surveyed already are using AI at work.

Trust is Growing Due To Familiarity With AI

Early adopters have mapped out how humans interact with AI, and trust has emerged as a key design point. Surprisingly, 49% of executives believe that they can somewhat trust AI, with 31% definitely trusting AI. In fact, more than 77% are confident that AI can accurately share information and results.

CxOs Leading AI Efforts Despite Some Nervousness

More than 69% of executives expect to spearhead their organisation’s AI efforts. However, 42% of CxOs worry about security and compliance when it comes to AI.

Experienced Leaders Know How to Navigate Around Potential Risks

Generative AI models rely on probabilities, which can occasionally result in the creation of incorrect or misleading information, also known as "hallucinations”. Whether hallucinations are the result of a feature or a bug, more than 38% of respondents are moderately to extremely concerned about the accuracy of AI results.

High-Quality, High-Volume Data Is the Heart of AI

Savvy organisations realise that data is very important (35%) to extremely important (34%) for the success of AI. A solid majority (80%) expect AI to help them better understand their data. More importantly, 74% believe they have enough data to get to a level of precision their stakeholders will trust.

AI Bringing a Competitive Advantage in the Enterprise

More than 77% of leaders expect AI will provide their organisation with a competitive advantage. CX users rank increased efficiency as the top use case, followed by faster problem resolution, reduced costs, greater consistency and quality, and better insights into customers. Of the 75% of respondents with contact centres, 63% use AI before, during, and after the call.

Organisations Planning to Skill Up Employees

The cultural path to AI will require dedicated training, reskilling, and investment for employees. Leaders expect a symbiotic relationship between humans and AI. To accomplish this lofty goal, CxOs plan to reskill workers for AI (72%). AI skills play a key role in hiring decisions (66%), and the majority of respondents plan to improve their own skills in AI in 2024 (68%).

The Bottom Line: AI Will Augment And Amplify Human Capabilities

AI is bigger than the last great disruption, the internet. The move to digitisation and digital transformation was a necessary half-step toward the move to AI. While some will now profess that the fifth Industrial Revolution is AI, AI is more exponential than the internet or the fake fourth Industrial Revolution, digital transformation. The dawn of the true fourth Industrial Revolution begins with AI. This cognitive era will be with us for decades to come, and CxOs should get started right away.