Diving brief:
- Most (97%) of companies that invest in artificial intelligence achieve a return on investment, some are doing better than others, according to the results of an Ernst & Young survey published Tuesday.
- Organizations that spend 5% or more of their total budget on AI see higher rates of positive returns than those that spend less, according to a findings report. Companies in the 5% or above category also reported an increase in ROI compared to six months ago in various areas, including operational efficiency, employee productivity and product innovation, the report said. .
- The study “suggests that there is some learning curve in how to leverage your AI initiatives,” Dan Diasio, global AI consulting leader at EY, said in an interview. “The more you start to evolve and learn the proper methods to configure these systems, the more feedback you get. »
Dive overview:
The research comes as enterprise software companies like Microsoft, Salesforce, Oracle, SAP and ServiceNow have flooded the market with AI-based tools, with a growing focus on “AI agents” capable of perform tasks on behalf of the user.
“I think it’s pretty compelling when you think about the fact that these agents can work 24/7 behind the scenes,” ServiceNow Financial Director Gina Mastantuono said last week at the UBS Global Technology and AI conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. “They don’t take vacations; they work when people sleep. This allows for significant productivity and efficiency.
Global spending on information technology is expected to total $5.74 trillion in 2025an increase of 9.3% compared to 2024, driven by investments in AI, according to Gartner.
EY found that 34% of companies already investing in AI plan to spend $10 million or more on the technology next year, up from 30% six months ago.
Despite AI’s overall positive impact on businesses, companies’ data infrastructure is becoming a bottleneck, EY said. Eighty-three percent of business leaders said their organization’s adoption of AI would be faster if they had a stronger data infrastructure, and two-thirds (67%) revealed that the lack of infrastructure actively hinders the deployment of technology.
“Data infrastructure and management are key challenges in maximizing the potential of AI, but too many organizations are lagging behind,” Diasio said in a statement released Tuesday. “Businesses urgently need to build knowledge assets, capturing their unique expertise and processes, which will prove particularly important as agentic AI models come online and revolutionize the way we work. »
EY surveyed 500 senior executives from U.S. companies representing various industries. The survey was carried out between September 24 and October 4.