Kyndryl Report Reveals Why Businesses Struggle with AI Success and How to Overcome It

New Kyndryl global study revels gap between enterprises’ appetite for artificial intelligence and readiness to make money from it A new global report from Kyndryl finds a substantial gap between business enthusiasm for artificial intelligence (AI) and their ability to use it to create value.

The “People Readiness Report” audited more than 1000 senior executives from 25 industries and eight geographies, revealing that, although 95% of companies have invested in AI, 71% of leaders think that their workforce is not prepared to adopt AI in their everyday work.

Among other things, the report identifies a number of reasons for this problems. A whopping 51% of businesses say they don’t have the expertise staff for AI and 45% of CEOs believe their staff is hesitant or hostile when it comes to AI use.

This under preparedness is getting in the way of realizing the full potential of AI: Just 40% of leaders currently use AI-driven insights to make decisions, and only one in five use it as a tool for developing new products and services.

But the research uncovers a small cohort of ‘AI Pacesetters’ – just 14% of the organizations – that are using AI to move ahead of the competition and improve offerings while also ensuring their workforce is prepared for a future with artificial intelligence.

These leaders are breaking through key barriers , taking an aggressive approach to change management (three times as likely as the rest), building employee confidence in AI (29% less likely to list engagement fears) and addressing skill gaps head on (67% more likely to have tools to assess skills inventory).

The report also reveals a difference of opinion between CEOs and CIOS/CTOs. CEOs are also less likely to see their companies as mature adopters of AI, and more likely to turn to external hiring instead of developing existing workforce to meet talent needs.

As Maryjo Charbonnier, Chief Human Resources Officer at Kyndryl, puts it: “Readying a workforce for the age of AI is easier in theory than it is in practice, but it is an urgent imperative for business leaders.

That includes shaping the business impact of AI, understanding how to integrate your skill data into your customer demand and taking a multipronged approach to preparing the workforce to develop skills and how leveraging innovative AI tools in their work.”

The Kyndryl study highlights that though technological infrastructure is key to adopting AI, enterprises must focus on workforce readiness by employing a strategic change management, trust-building and skills building strategies to truly unlock the disruptive potential of AI and realize measurable value.