The rapid rate of development in the GenAI market makes it challenging to keep tabs on user impact. What’s working? Why? And, is GenAI the transformational technology that has been so far promised?
Those evaluating, investing in, and using the technology are best positioned to deliver insight in these areas. The latest report to delve into the benefits of AI and GenAI in particular is the “2024 Business Opportunity of AI,” commissioned by Microsoft and carried out by IDC.
The study was based on responses from more than 4,000 global business leaders and key decision-makers. In this analysis, we’ll cover key findings from the report and share some details on tangible customer impact that has been disclosed by Microsoft.
AI Impact Analysis
Regarding GenAI adoption, the study found that use of the technology had increased significantly from 55% of companies in 2023 to 75% in 2024. Comparatively, AI adoption increased from 71% in 2023 to 78% in 2024 with more than 92% of organizations surveyed using AI for productivity use cases. Furthermore, 43% say these productivity use cases have delivered the most significant ROI.
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Looking a little deeper into ROI, the report found that for every dollar invested in GenAI, companies are seeing an average $3.70 ROI for every dollar invested. The leaders in the field are seeing even greater returns, averaging an ROI of $10.3 to the dollar.
That said, the report also highlighted barriers to adoption. Most significantly, 30% of respondents flagged the absence of specialized AI skills in house, while 26% said they “lack employees with the skills needed to learn and work with AI.”
Despite this, the study found that most of those surveyed plan to expand beyond the reach of pre-built AI tools within 24 months. Ultimately, the aim is to customize advanced AI products or build fully custom AI tools themselves.
Microsoft’s AI Impact
In a blog post released in tandem with the findings from the new report, Alysa Taylor, chief marketing officer, commercial cloud & AI at Microsoft, lays out over 200 AI transformation stories. In addition to being a goldmine for an analyst like myself, it’s a great way to share the impact of AI for specific use cases.
“Today, more than 85% of the Fortune 500 are using Microsoft AI solutions to shape their future,” says Taylor. “In working with organizations large and small, across every industry and geography, we’ve seen that most transformation initiatives are designed to achieve one of four business outcomes.” These outcomes include:
- Enriching employee experiences
- Reinventing customer engagement
- Reshaping business processes
- Bending the curve on innovation
Customer Stories
For this analysis, I wanted to pull out a single customer story that caught my attention. AXA, a leading insurance company based in France, leveraged Azure OpenAI Services to develop AXA Secure GPT. The platform enables AXA employees to use GenAI to access data in a highly secure environment that complies with the various internal and external data privacy regulations governing the company.
“Our goal was to ensure that all our employees had access to the same technology as the public AI tools within a secure and reliable environment,” said Vincent De Ponthaud, head of software and AI engineering at AXA. “We wanted to go fast, and that’s why we did it in less than three months.”
It’s important to analyze both specific customer use cases and broader adoption data because companies looking to develop AI strategy and use cases need a broad perspective on what is and isn’t working.
Studies that provide a general take on the state of AI technology adoption are important because they deliver the basis from which a company can set its goals. However, when you look a little deeper into the specific customer outcomes that AI has enabled, it provides the inspiration you might need for that all-important “Aha” moment.
Related news: Microsoft Drives Agents, Copilots Deeper Into Core Systems and Third-Party Platforms
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