A new study by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a global leader in IT services, consulting, and business solutions, reveals that more than eight out of 10 (86 per cent) of senior business leaders have already deployed artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance existing revenue streams or create new ones. The ‘TCS AI for Business Study', a comprehensive report on the state of AI adoption and its impact on businesses, also finds that 69 per cent of businesses are more focused on using AI to spur innovation and increase revenue than on productivity improvement and cost optimization.

Executives are generally positive about the impact of AI, with 57 per cent reporting excitement or optimism about the potential impact of AI on businesses. Among respondents in the study, 45 per cent expect up to half their employees will need to use generative AI capabilities to do their job in three years' time — and another 41 per cent think even more will do so. Most (65 per cent) believe AI will augment and enhance human capabilities, enabling people to focus on higher-value activities that require creativity and strategic thinking.

Dr Harrick Vin, Chief Technology Officer, TCS, said, "2023 was a year of exuberance, with every enterprise experimenting with AI/GenAI use cases. We are now entering an era of wide-and-deep enterprise AI adoption. Enterprises, however, are realising that the path to production for AI solutions is not easy, and that building an AI-mature enterprise is a marathon, not a sprint. Our AI study has confirmed this sentiment; it has also highlighted that enterprises feel underprepared to deploy AI solutions at scale as well as to manage the profound shifts in the roles of people and ways of working resulting from such deployments."

Business leaders are less certain about the path to transformation. Only four per cent use AI in a way that has transformed their business and nearly a quarter (24 per cent) haven't even moved beyond the initial exploratory phase.  Top barriers to business success include current corporate IT infrastructures and customer expectations. Organisations also recognise the need to move beyond existing metrics to measure the success of AI implementations; nearly three-fourths (72 per cent) say they don't have the right metrics. The survey also highlights the need for businesses to take a strategic approach to AI adoption and develop the right performance indicators to measure the impact of the technology on their business.

Sivaraman Ganesan, Head, AI.Cloud Business Unit, TCS, said, "When calibrated for accuracy and harnessed responsibly, GenAI makes the computational power of the data, cloud, and AI come alive. Add in human ingenuity and organisations can create a new paradigm for the modern marketplace. As a result, today's enterprises will deliver new stakeholder and customer value like never before - incrementally, through assist and augment efforts, and exponentially as transformation initiatives. Our rich heritage in the business domain, engineering, consulting, services, and solutions allows us to take advantage of this new paradigm, offering a unique value proposition to all our customers and partners."

The TCS Thought Leadership Institute surveyed nearly 1,300 CEOs and other senior executives with P&L responsibilities, across 12 industries and 24 countries. About half the companies had $1 billion to $5 billion in annual revenue and the other half had over $5 billion in revenue.

Other key results from the report, which can be found at on.tcs.com/2024-global-AI-study, include: 

• Executives believe the impact of AI will be greater than or equal to that of the internet (54 per cent ) and smartphones (59 per cent)

• Corporate functions with the most completed AI projects: Finance/comptroller (completion rate of 29 per cent); HR (completion rate of 28 per cent); Marketing (completion rate of 28 per cent)

• 65 per cent of senior executives say their competitive advantage will still come from humans — with their creativity, intuition, and strategic thinking unleashed by AI's augment and assist capabilities

• 40 per cent of executives say that in the future they have a lot of changes to make to their business before they can take full advantage of AI

•  Over half (55 per cent) said they were actively making changes right now to their business or operating models, or to their products and services, due to the potential benefits and risks of AI

• 81 per cent of executives highlight the need for global AI standards and regulations

• 93 per cent  of executives surveyed in the United Kingdom & Ireland said they have AI projects aimed at growing revenue. Executives in other regions are equally enthusiastic with 89 per cent in North America, 88 per cent  in APAC, 83 per cent  in Continental Europe, and 80% in Latin America

• Nearly two-thirds of BFSI (64 per cent) and manufacturing (63 per cent) industry executives surveyed say they are excited or optimistic about the impact of AI on businesses

"Since our inception in 1968, TCS has always been leading change in embracing new technologies, helping decipher the opportunities behind them and execute transformational projects for our clients to rapidly unlock business value. Through our TCS Thought Leadership Institute, we have brought in new insights on every key technology development and how various industries and personas (CEOs, CFOs, CIOs etc.) are leveraging them. Through this new, data-driven, and unique global AI study, we hope to further deepen the dialogue and perspectives on how AI can be used to build stronger, more sustainable and adaptable businesses for the future," said Abhinav Kumar, Chief Marketing Officer, TCS.