Despite enterprise enthusiasm for generative AI, business leaders remain uneasy about incorporating it into their operations, and there are many challenges, especially as to how best to start. I feel.
Two global studies, one from Workday and one from Salesforce, provide useful insight into how this is reflected in HCM and Finance, and Sales and Service, respectively To do.
Workday polled 1,000 companies around the world for its Insights on Artificial Intelligence in the Enterprise 2023 report. According to it, over 90% of respondents (HR and finance professionals) said he has already invested in AI, and 99% see real business benefits from using such technology. I understand that you believe.
Anyone implementing some form of AI or ML [Machine Learning] that is We are already seeing tangible ROI in many use cases, with an overwhelming majority of respondents (80%) believing that AI will enable their employees to work more efficiently and make better decisions.
Treasurer use cases include improving forecasting, automating non-strategic tasks, scenario planning, risk and fraud detection, and more. Use cases for HR respondents include recruitment and applicant tracking, business analytics, skills assessment tools, skills management, learning management, and talent management.
Among all Workday respondents, the top benefits for those already using AI were improved decision-making (41%), increased productivity (38%), and automated business processes (35%). %) was. About 34% of respondents believe it can be applied to reskilling/upskilling employees, and 33% expect to reduce headcount and reduce hiring costs.
sell it
Meanwhile, Salesforce conducted a survey of over 2,000 sales and service professionals as part of its Generative AI Snapshot Research series. About 61% of sales reps believe generative AI can help improve customer service, and a similar percentage believe it can help improve sales efficiency. Among service professionals, nearly two-thirds (63%) predict generative AI will help them serve customers faster.
At first glance, such levels of optimism seem justified. Of those respondents who are actually already using AI technology, 84% of sales reps and 90% of service professionals report positive results.
When it comes to features where generative AI is used, basic content creation for sales reps (82%) tops the list, followed by market data analysis (74%) and automating personalized sales communications. For service professionals, basic content creation and personalization of service communications again tops his list with 68%, followed by improving automation of customer service communications.
But with that said, adoption rates are still low at 35% for sales reps and 24% for service reps. This is fairly low compared to some other business functions. For example, a Salesforce survey reported that 51% of marketers are using generative AI. This difference is likely to continue. In terms of intent, a further 20% of sales respondents and 15% of service respondents plan to adopt generative AI, compared to a further 22% of marketers.
The problem is?
So what is the clog? Both Workday and Salesforce data show some common themes, such as skills shortages and concerns about ethical use and trust.
Some Workday survey respondents are very concerned about the impact of AI on their workforce. Nearly half, 45%, believe AI and ML will benefit workers, improve workloads and create new career opportunities, while 43% are more cautious, saying AI will put them out of work. I am expressing concern that it may be connected. Skills shortages are a major concern, with 72% of respondents saying their organization lacks the skills needed to deploy AI across the enterprise.
Nearly half of respondents said security and privacy concerns are the main barriers to adopting AI in their organizations. Data trust, or the hallucinogenic factor, is the top concern for many, with 77% citing it as a problem and 48% saying security and privacy are barriers to AI adoption. Currently, only 29% of people are confident AI is being applied ethically, but more than half believe it will improve in the next five years.
All Salesforce respondents share similar concerns. More than half of salespeople (53%) admit they simply don’t know how to get the most value out of generative AI, while 49% feel they don’t know how to safely use technology in the workplace. and 47% feel they do not understand. I don’t know how to use it “effectively”. Similar concerns are reflected for service professionals at 60%, 55% and 54% respectively.
There are also career concerns here, with 48% of service professionals and 39% of sales professionals worried they will lose their jobs if they do not understand how to properly use generative AI. But how do they acquire the skills they need? About 63% of salespeople expect employers to provide training and learning opportunities, and 57% of service professionals expressed a similar opinion. Unfortunately, at this point it looks pretty hopeful, with 67% of sales and 64% of service respondents not receiving such training.
And finally, the majority of Workday and Salesforce respondents are concerned about delegating too much decision-making authority to AI. A staggering 93% of Workday users say they believe continued human engagement is important, while his 56% of Salesforce users share similar concerns.
my view
It’s interesting to map the results of these polls to the users who attended the recent Josh Bersin Company’s Irresistible conference. Mastercard Chief Human Resources Officer Michael Fracaro, one of the conference speakers, said at the conference that Mastercard increased employee productivity by 87% using AI-based scheduling tools. Told. In another example, the company strengthened its ability to match employee skill sets to various project requirements and achieved significant results globally in employee mentorship.
To address these types of challenges, Mastercard has established an AI Governance Steering Committee made up of business leaders across the company with a focus on trust, data, data privacy and security, and data owners. bottom.
As with all systems, the quality of the data used has a large impact on the effectiveness of an AI platform. He 77% of Workday survey respondents feel this could be a major roadblock for their organization. Setting up a steering committee to oversee data integrity, like Mastercard, is one way to overcome this problem.
Meanwhile, Tracy Franklin, chief human resources officer at Moderna, who also spoke at the event, said the company, which has 4,000 employees, is using enterprise-wide AI training to solve the problem. The company has built its own university and an AI academy that can ensure that its staff have the skills they need.
So, from a user’s perspective, there are ways around the concerns and adoption barriers highlighted by both findings. From a vendor perspective, it’s clear that leaders at Workday and Salesforce have a problem. Workday Co-CEO Carl Eschenbach recently said at the Bank of America 2023 Global Technology Conference:
Now, when it comes to generative AI and ChatGPT, everyone asks, “Are there any use cases?” We’re looking at different use cases that we think will be very valuable. But it’s all data that comes from the internet. These are all data that are probably not as highly curated as ours. However, there are use cases for anomaly detection. We see it as a personal assistant. While you’re logged into Workday, there might be things you can do as a personal assistant. And we believe that some of the everyday tasks people do today can leverage that technology for the future. But I think we are in a good position. we take advantage of it. we’ve taken advantage of it. We will be investigating more use cases in the future.
Meanwhile, Salesforce UKI CEO Zahra Baraholoumi commented at the company’s World Tour London event:
I have spoken with many leaders and they are all very excited. they are excited They can feel the benefits. They see the horizon, they see the future. But guess what? they are cautious Very cautious. why? Well, because there is an AI trust gap. Any company would like to accept this. In fact, it’s a top priority for many people. But customers are less enthusiastic. That’s because less than half of customers trust a company’s data. And here comes the challenge.
One last thing to note is that the genie is solid out of the bottle. Going back to Workday’s survey, 81% of decision makers now believe AI is necessary to keep their businesses competitive. For those of you who worry or feel there are significant barriers to AI adoption in the enterprise, we know you still have to scratch your head. More than 80% said their investment levels would be at least the same or increase over the next 12 months. So there may be challenges ahead, but they are inevitable if you turn them into opportunities.
(Additional reporting by Stuart Lauchlan)
