As AI becomes more integrated into society, its economic impact will be significant, and organizations are only just beginning to understand the scale of this phenomenon.F what is possible. For businesses to invest in AI, however, it must make business sense. Business leaders and decision makers need to understand which industry and line of business use cases are best positioned to drive value within their organization, what the ROI will be, when to expect to valuation and how to get started. In short, they need help demystifying the business case for AI.
To help businesses understand the opportunities AI can unlock, Microsoft commissioned a study through IDC that provides unique insights into how AI is being used to drive economic impact for organizations. IDC surveyed more than 2,000 business leaders and decision-makers around the world responsible for bringing AI transformation to life within their organizations. The study, which is based on the results of the Microsoft study Labor Trends Index focused on workplace productivity, examines how companies are monetizing their AI investments, from generating new revenue streams to delivering differentiated customer experiences to modernizing internal processes. Main findings of the studyEast study broadcast*:
- 71% of respondents say their company is already using AI
- 92% of AI deployments take 12 months or less
- Organizations realize a return on their AI investments in 14 months
- For every dollar a company invests in AI, it achieves an average return of 3.5 times more.
- 52% say a lack of skilled workers is their biggest barrier to implementing and expanding AI.
The study illustrates that AI has demonstrable commercial value, And We are seeing this emerge in core use cases in areas such as employee experience, customer engagement and interns.all business processes, and how AI can help inhibit innovation. With generative AI, this value increases exponentially, as we saw last year with OpenAI’s generative AI technologies such as ChatGPT.
“IDC projects that generative AI will add nearly $10 trillion to global GDP over the next 10 years.** Calculating the value of new investments in GenAI requires developing a business case by simulating the costs potential and responsible value realization,” said Ritu Jyoti, Group Vice President AI and automation for IDC.
This wave of innovation has accelerated the pace of AI adoption in ways that change and improve the way we work and live, and Microsoft customers are increasingly leveraging AI opportunities for transformation of their business.
Enrich employee experiences:EEmployees across industries face a growing volume of digital debt and administrative burdens that slow productivity and get in the way of meaningful work. To address this challenge, AI is being used to bring together unstructured data such as social media, product details and customer engagement to better tailor communications, enable smarter insights and resolve problems faster. In addition, employees use Azure OpenAI and Microsoft Copilot in Microsoft 365 to increase their writing capabilities for things like presentations, website content, case studies, blogs, press releases, search engine optimization and digital art.
Reinventing customer engagement: Facing stiff competition for customer acquisition and retention, organizations have struggled to keep pace with the increasing amount of customer signals and provide personalized service to customers in real-time. To increase customer loyalty, organizations apply Dynamics 365 AI capabilities in contact centers for real-time assistance and guidance on suggested responses. Employees also use AI to summarize conversations, guide next steps, and get coaching feedback. Virtual assistants powered by Azure are used to deliver all kinds of hyper-personalized experiences across different verticals like healthcare for claims processing and entertainment for sports fans. Sellers use Viva Sales to help develop leads and close deals.
Reshape business processes: Businesses have pockets of valuable information scattered throughout their organization, which can be difficult for employees to locate and use comprehensively. By finding and making connections between this information, AI can surface integrated insights that help predict and accelerate workloads. This is particularly evident in cybersecurity, where employees are using AI insights to more quickly identify bad actors and better protect both employees and intellectual property. AI is also usedn manufacturing and operations, to create digital replicas of their supply chain environments so they can run simulations and optimize workflow management, resulting in increased supply chain efficiency.
Bend the innovation curve: This is an exciting concept as businesses across all industries look to regain the edge. Organizations can deploy AI to stay ahead of changing business dynamics and exceed customer expectations. By not needing to modernize every underlying system to achieve these results, and by putting AI directly in the hands of developers with GitHub Copilot, organizations can operate with agility and accelerate innovation. Teams can leverage AI to increase production and accelerate time to market while being able to focus on higher value activities.
IDC survey data confirms that businesses are eager to adopt AI technology, with 71% of respondents are currently using AI tools in their organization and 22% plan to do so in the next 12 months. However, even with this momentum and positive outlook for what AI can help them achieve, organizations face implementation challenges. The shortage of skilled employees is preventing companies from accelerating their AI-based innovations. 52% of respondents report that the lack of skilled workers needed to implement and scale AI initiatives across all business functions is the biggest barrier.
To help close the skills gap, Microsoft has already engaged more than 6 million people globally in learning activities over the past 12 months and has the ambition to provide skills to everyone who uses our technology of AI. We have also authorized our ecosystem of more than 400,000 partners worldwide with the skills to implement AI technology responsibly and deliver greater customer value.
No matter where you are on your cloud and AI transformation journey, Microsoft can help. To learn more about how customers across industries are shaping their AI transformation with Microsoft, please visit Microsoft Cloud Blog which shares real-world examples of AI-driven business impact, as well as resources and skills opportunities you can use to prepare to lead the AI era.
About the study
The IDC studycommissioned by Microsoft, draws on findings from 2,109 companies with more than 13 million employees in 16 countries around the world. Through the questionnaire, respondents were identified as the AI decision-makers within their organization.
Source: *IDC infographic, sponsored by Microsoft, The Business Opportunity of AI, IDC #US51315823, November 2023. **Generative Artificial Intelligence: A New Chapter for Enterprise Business Applications, IDC Perspective #US50471523, March 2023.
