MARKET VIEWPOINT

AI Adoption Delivers Value at Scale

Aug 21, 2020

Luzviminda Daracan
Research Officer
PCCW Solutions

AI is delivering meaningful value at scale, as reported by a recent global survey involving more than 1,000 executives from AI-powered companies, representing a full range of regions, industries, company sizes, functional specialties, and tenures. It is also indicated that high-performing companies have achieved greater scale, higher revenue and lower costs than other companies without adopting AIi.

In addition, it is said that AI has the potential to deliver additional global economic activity of around $13 trillion. By 2030, 70% of businesses will adopt at least one type of AI technologiesii.

AI-powered enterprises achieving significant returns

63% of enterprises adopt AI in different business functions to achieve revenue growth. Business units in marketing and sales, product and service development, and supply-chain management leverage AI-powered analytics to predict consumer behaviour and for better demand forecasting.

44% of executives report cost savings from AI adoption through improved operational efficiency and output optimisation, especially in the manufacturing and logistics industry.

Increasing AI adoption levels across capabilities and industries

AI adoption within enterprises have seen a significant increase to further enhance business processes, products and services. 58% of executives embed at least one AI capability into a process or product in at least one business function. In addition, 30% of executives utilise AI across multiple business units and functions. This shows that AI adoption is becoming more mainstream.

Among the various industries, retail has seen the largest increase in AI adoption with 60% of IT executives stating that their companies have embedded at least one AI capability in one or more of their business functions.

The pace of AI adoption continues to grow

74% of enterprises adopted or planning to adopt AI will increase their AI investment in the next three years. With AI adoption steadily becoming more mainstream, the disruptive technology has reached significant foothold in enterprises.

Nearly 30% of AI high-performing companies will further increase their investments in AI by 50% or more. The urge to scale enterprise businesses through AI is the new norm. At such, companies need to accelerate AI adoption to realise benefits and stay ahead of the competition.

i McKinsey Analytics: Global AI Survey
https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Featured%20Insights/Artificial%20Intelligence/Global%20AI%20Survey%20AI%20proves%20its%20worth%20but%20few%20scale%20impact/Global-AI-Survey-AI-proves-its-worth-but-few-scale-impact.pdf
ii https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/artificial-intelligence/notes-from-the-ai-frontier-modeling-the-impact-of-ai-on-the-world-economy