According to IBM's Global AI Adoption Index 2021, conducted by Morning Consult in Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, more than a third (36%) of IT professionals said their company has accelerated the rollout of AI technologies as a direct result of the pandemic.
According to IBM's Global AI Adoption Index 2021, conducted by Morning Consult in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, more than a third (36%) of IT professionals said their company has accelerated the deployment of AI technologies as a direct result of the pandemic. 44% said their company is actively exploring the use of AI in its operations. And 27% of respondents said that their company has actually deployed AI in their business.
Amongst the professionals surveyed whose job involves evaluating AI solution providers, "43% said that the ability to automate processes to enable more value-added human work was central to their thinking". More than one third (34%) of European IT professionals said that the prospect of making employees more productive influenced their decision to use automation software or tools as a direct result of the pandemic. More than one third of European IT professionals say their company plans to invest in out-of-the-box AI applications (35%) in the next 12 months.
The need to build absolute confidence in the business outcomes of AI was cited as a major concern by 72% of respondents rolling out AI or evaluating its use.
Natural Language Enablement The survey finds that 38% of European IT professionals are currently using natural language processing applications.
The survey reveals that 38% of European IT professionals are currently using natural language processing applications, and more than a quarter (26%) indicate that their company plans to adopt the use of natural language processing applications in the next 12 months.
However, many companies are wary of AI: 38% mentioned the perceived complexity of integrating AI into existing business systems. 33% pointed to a lack of expertise or knowledge as a barrier to AI adoption and 29% identified the increasing complexity of data and the existence of data silos as a barrier.
As a result of the proliferation of data in the enterprise, more than two-thirds of European IT professionals draw on more than 20 different data sources to feed their AI. Close to 90% of IT professionals report that the ability to implement their AI projects regardless of where the data lies is key to the adoption of this technology.
Despite these factors, AI is becoming more accessible, with 41% of respondents saying that new, more accessible AI solutions were a driver for increased adoption.