Most brands still learning how to tap into the rise of AI

Further evidence has emerged that the rise of AI is more hype than substance, with only about one in ten UK firms managing to use the technology to maximise value across their business as “leaders”, with the vast majority still classified as “learners”.

So says a new report by IBM, “AI in Action”, conducted by Harris Poll, which quizzed 2,000 companies across the UK, US, India, Japan and Germany.

The report identified a number of findings that may explain the outcomes achieved by AI leaders, including greater investment, strategic focus, and the ability to customise their AI efforts to achieve optimal value.

However, confidence in data management is one of the starkest differences between leaders and learners, according to the survey.

Many leaders use data fabrics to knock down silos, ensure interoperability and orchestrate fluid data movement across platforms.

Similarly, data lakehouses – single platforms that by combining the key benefits of data lakes and data warehouses – help organisations track where data originates, how it flows through systems and how it gets transformed along the way.

This type of visual data lineage boosts governance and confidence, the report maintains, adding that strong data labelling is also an important part of data management, likewise, synthetic data generation and data acquisition can bridge data gaps.

IBM also uncovered large discrepencies between how advanced companies were from the different countries involved. The US and India are leading the way with 23% of firms being leaders, compared with 77% being learners; Germany was next with a 13%/87% split, followed by the UK on 11%/89% and Japan trailing on 7%/93%.

IBM Consulting Americas AI leader and VP and senior partner Shobhit Varshney said: “Of the organisations that were considered AI leaders, two-thirds reported that AI has already driven 25% or greater improvement in their revenue growth rate.

“We dove into the data to uncover how these AI Leaders were implementing AI within their businesses that could help others learn from their success.”