Seven in 10 (69%) IT leaders believe a failure to successfully implement AI is costing their company money, according to a survey by Storm Technology.
A similar proportion (71%) think their organisation will lose market share or competitive advantage within three years if they do not invest effectively in AI.
The survey, conducted by Censuswide in April, involved 200 IT decision-makers split evenly between Ireland and the UK (100 each).
Some 82% agreed their company needs to invest in updating technologies and tools to be competitive, and two-thirds (66%) believe their company is taking too long to leverage AI, rising to 77% in Ireland.
About 63% said their company has become disillusioned by AI, again rising to 70% in Ireland, but 77% agree their organisation should spend more on AI in 2025.
Respondents expect their businesses to spend an average of €491,250 on AI this year, which would mark a 42% increase from the estimated AI spend for 2024 (€346,213).
Among all respondents, AI (35%) is one of the top five priority areas for IT spend over the next year. The others are cybersecurity (37%), cloud infrastructure (30%), data analytics (25%), and technology training (26%).
Where businesses are currently leveraging AI, 36% are deploying it in operations, followed closely by marketing (35%), and then finance (31%).
The survey also revealed the main benefits of AI usage as driving business growth (29%), enhanced customer service (28%), and improved data analysis, reporting or insights (28%).
However, just a fifth (20%) of respondents in Ireland cited business growth as a main benefit of AI, compared to 38% of UK counterparts.
As for actual results being driven by AI among all respondents, faster data analytics came to the fore (35%), followed by rising productivity levels (25%).
Shorter customer response times (24%), increased profitability (24%) and automated processes (23%) finished off the top five.
(Pic: Getty Images)
