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New research from Salesforce has revealed more than four in five (85%) IT leaders anticipate a surge in developer productivity over the next three years with thanks to artificial intelligence.
The news is very much welcome, with two in five (39%) reporting an increase in IT requests in the past 12 months.
It’s not all good news, though, according to the company. Three in five (62%) have revealed that their company simply isn’t prepared to adopt AI, with many lacking the necessary infrastructure.
Businesses need to prepare before adopting AI
The scale of the problem is critical, with an overwhelming majority (98%) of businesses experiencing a degree of challenge during their digital transformation efforts. Four in five (80%) blame their difficulties on data silos, and nearly three-quarters (72%) say that the systems they use are too reliant on each other, resulting in technical limitations.
Summarizing the findings of the study, Salesforce highlights that integration is the primary hurdle to AI innovation. By tackling data silos and challenging existing solutions that impose technical limitations, companies can begin to explore rolling out their own AI tools.
As organizations seek automation to alleviate some of the pressure that has been put in IT teams, including skills gaps and compliance concerns, Salesforce revealed an overly cautious approach. Only one in five (22%) IT leaders report having an up-to-date strategy to guide non-technical users through integrating apps and data sources via APIs.
According to the report’s figures, holding workers back from benefitting from APIs could be costing efficiency and productivity. APIs are reported to contribute around 33% of all revenue, highlighting the sheer scale.
Param Kahlon, EVP and GM for Automation and Integration at Salesforce, said: “AI is only as powerful as the data organizations can connect to it and the outcomes they can drive from it.”
Kahlon’s further comments suggest that Salesforce is reasonably optimistic about AI adoption by businesses so far, but it’s clear that companies could be driving even further cost efficiency with the correct systems and procedures in place.