Several interesting pieces of research were published this week. They included Icertis sponsoring and contributing to a research study about the state of legal operations conducted by the Blickstein Group. 6sense published a study that looked at various aspects of the B2B buyer experience, in a detailed study. Other research comes from Automation Anywhere, ConnectWise, Deltek, Deloitte, Domo, Dynatrace, Sage, Salesforce, Skillsoft and Wolters Kluwer.
Automation Anywhere
Automation Anywhere released its fourth Indian edition of the Automation Now & Next report, emphasizing the significance of process automation and generative AI as key investment catalysts for Indian enterprises.
The key findings included:
- 63% of Indian enterprises are proactively directing investments towards artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) for the automation of their business processes in the upcoming 12 months.
- 72% of the respondents globally investing in AI/ML over the next 12 months.
- Indian enterprises have witnessed an 85% growth in AI investments since last year.
- 33% of these enterprises are strategically planning to adopt Generative AI as a driving force for growth, reflecting a forward-looking approach towards innovative technologies in pursuit of business optimization and transformation.
- 78% of enterprises say productivity gains are the desired impact of automation, surpassing all other KPIs.
Ankur Kothari,” Co-Founder, Chief Operating Officer of Automation Anywhere, said, “Productivity is foundational to economic growth and the world’s next level of evolution. Intelligent automation, including AI and generative AI, are proving crucial to solving the massive productivity crisis unfolding in front of us. The 2023 Now and Next report echoes our long-held belief that intelligent automation is the only true solution to the current workforce challenges facing organizations around the globe.”
The report highlighted 3 key takeaways:
- There are still barriers to adoption of AI technologies,
- Intelligent Automation can overcome India’s productivity challenges
- Generative AI will accelerate scalability for automation.
ConnectWise
Service Leadership Inc., a ConnectWise solution, announced the early findings from its 11th Annual IT Solution Provider Compensation (Remuneration) Report, to be released in early March 2024.
Early findings indicate:
- Wage inflation peaked in 2022, with TAE increases decreasing year over year since then. 2024 TAE increases are planned to be lower than 2023 actual increases, suggesting a return to historical norms.
- Best-in-class TSPs (top 25% most profitable) had roughly half as many employees (20.5%) receive top increases of over 6% as the bottom quartile TSPs, who gave top increases to approximately 39% of employees.
- Value Added Resellers (VARs) are anticipating even lower increases than MSPs. Best-in-class VARs are planning on nearly 50% of employees receiving increases of 3% or less.
- Europe stands out as the only region planning more increases over 4% in 2024 versus that of 2023. Most of those increases will be in the 4 -6% range. Top-level raises over 6% are anticipated to decrease from nearly 38% in 2023 to 19% in 2024.
- Canada stands out as the region with the lowest planned increases of any region, with only 10% of employees receiving increases of 6% or more and 40% receiving 3% or fewer increases.
Peter Kujawa, VP & GM, Service Leadership, Inc., commented, “Our findings from the compensation survey show a material improvement in wage inflation for TSPs in all regions worldwide. In 2023, we saw less top-level increases (those over 6%) than in 2022, and in 2024, providers are planning on roughly half as many top-level increases as in 2023.”
Deltek
Deltek published its Digital Trends Unwrapped: Tech Powering Architecture and Engineering Project Success in 2024 report. The report looks at digital transformation across ARC firms and priorities for 2024. 58% of A&E firms surveyed believe that social responsibility should be at least equally important to their company as its profits are. However, only 25% have placed significantly greater importance on CSR.
- 40% of A&E firms believe that investing in new technologies is key to profitability in 2024.
- 42% of engineering and 33% of architecture firms describe themselves at an ‘advanced’ or ‘mature’ phase of their digital transformation journey.
- 92% believe that if they make significant progress in their digital transformation, they will not lose out on market share.
- However, there is room for improvement, with 26% of A&E firms saying they track operating profit ‘badly’, while 18% say the same for tracking project profitability.
Neil Davidson, Group Vice President, Professional Services Sector at Deltek, said, “It’s reassuring that so many firms connect that digital transformation is intrinsically linked to long-term resilience. With the right investment strategies, firms can make the most of limited resources while still driving their business forward in a way that aligns with a long-term strategy.
“Digital transformation, including AI adoption, does not happen overnight. Implementing the right technology tools, proven in the industry, will secure the insights and streamlined processes, invaluable to growth in the architecture and engineering industries.”
Deloitte
According to the Deloitte Private report, “Private Company Outlook: Talent,” 60% of private company C-suite executives surveyed anticipate cash flow may limit their ability to hire in the next 12 months. The survey surveys CXOs from private businesses in the US.
Key findings included:
- Increasing productivity (45%) and investments in technology (36%) lead private companies’ list of business priorities in the next 12 months. Respondents ranked information technology (excluding AI and cybersecurity) (36%), sales/marketing (32%) and supply chain (32%) as the top three skills the organization needs most to meet its business priorities.
- Smaller private companies surveyed expect greater hiring challenges due to cash flow. Nearly twice as many companies (78%) with annual revenue of $100 to under $200 million report cash flow limits their ability to make new hires compared with those earning more than $1 billion (41%).
- In the face of hiring challenges, private companies plan to rely heavily on reskilling in the next 12 months. Training/reskilling employees (43%) is the primary approach among companies surveyed to meet their talent needs in the coming year, ahead of hiring (26%), engaging contract workers (19%) or automation (12%).
- Skills-based hiring and hybrid work are top strategies to compete for talent. More than half of respondents (51%) said their organization is increasing skills-based hiring to be more competitive, followed by hybrid work (48%) and implementing a new compensation strategy (47%).
Wolfe Tone, vice chair and U.S. Deloitte Private leader, commented, “As private companies juggle limited cash flow, aspirations for digital transformation and efforts to increase productivity, they’re relying on their own workforce to meet their business priorities. Private companies are leaning into reskilling in combination with skills-based hiring and hybrid work as part of a broader portfolio of talent strategies.”
Domo
Domo released its 11th annual “Data Never Sleeps” Report.
Key highlights included:
- The AI Boom: AI-driven platforms such as ChatGPT are reshaping the ways we work, communicate and create, with users submitting 6,944 prompts every minute. However, users haven’t forsaken their search engine habits, as searches on Google total more than 6.3 million every minute (up from 5.9 million a year ago).
- Entertainment Dominance: After a dip in engagement last year, X (formerly Twitter) now sees 360,000 posts from users every minute, up from 347,000 in Data Never Sleeps 10.0. Spotify users stream 24,000 hours of music, including 69,444 Taylor Swift songs. Instagram users are sending over 694,000 reels via direct message every sixty seconds.
- Transactions on a Tear: Digital spending continues its vast expansion. E-commerce giant Amazon sees more than $455,000 in sales every minute, and on the digital transaction app Venmo, users send $463,768 worth of payments every minute, up 6% year over year. In the food sector, DoorDash diners place orders totalling $122,785, up 60% from last year, reflecting the increased reliance (and potentially, inflation) on food and food delivery services in this digital age.
- Cybersecurity Challenges remain. However, as digital activities intensify, so do cybersecurity threats. Cybercriminals launch 30 DDoS attacks every minute, highlighting the need for robust online security measures to protect individuals and businesses.
Josh James, founder and CEO of Domo, commented, “This year’s findings reflect the ever-changing and fast-paced digital landscape, which has only been heightened by the rapid popularity of AI models such as ChatGPT.
“Data drives everything we do, from a quick search online or sending an email, to checking the latest headlines on our way to work. Data Never Sleeps, now in its eleventh year, depicts just how much we rely on data and its impact on our daily lives in one of the 525,600 minutes in a year.
“Data weaves the fabric of our digital lives, and our annual Data Never Sleeps report highlights some of the most meaningful data for businesses and consumers alike.”
Dynatrace
Dynatrace published The State of AI 2024: Challenges to Adoption and Key Strategies for Organizational Success. The report was based on a survey of 1,300 CTOs, CIOs and other technology leaders.
The key findings included:
- 83% of technology leaders say AI has become mandatory to keep up with the dynamic nature of cloud environments.
- 82% of technology leaders say AI will be critical to security threat detection, investigation, and response.
- 88% of technology leaders expect AI to extend access to data analytics to nontechnical employees through natural language queries.
- 62% of organizations have already changed the job roles and skills they are recruiting for because of AI.
- 88% of technology leaders think AI will enable cloud cost efficiencies by supporting FinOps practices.
- 61% of technology leaders will increase investment in AI over the next 12 months to speed up development by automatically generating code.
Bernd Greifeneder, Chief Technology Officer at Dynatrace, commented, “AI has become central to how organizations drive efficiency, improve productivity, and accelerate innovation. The release of ChatGPT late last year triggered a significant generative AI hype cycle. Business, development, operations, and security leaders have set high expectations for generative AIs to help them deliver new services with less effort and at record speeds.
“However, as organizations endeavor to realize the expected value, it becomes evident that generative AI requires domain-specific tuning and integration with other technologies, including other types of AI.
“In addition, organizations must use AI securely and responsibly and monitor it closely to manage cost and user experience. This will help them provide accurate results, reduce expenses, and prevent employees from exposing sensitive data or creating vulnerabilities in their environments.”
Sage
Sage highlighted research that found it is helping to transform the economic landscape of the North East through an economic footprint of £411m and a network of almost 3,000 jobs. The Cebr report looks at Sage’s economic impact on the UK. It looks at the direct and downstream economic impact of Sage on the UK and different regions and also reports on the work that the Sage Foundation does in the community.
Paul Struthers, Managing Director of Sage UKI, said: “Sage is proud to call the North East home, and we’re fully committed to driving regional economic growth, nurturing local talent, and empowering businesses to thrive. These statistics reflect our dedication to the region’s prosperity but also the passion behind our regional heritage.
“We believe the North East is the best place to start and grow a business, with transformational innovation happening on our doorstep, helping to foster sustainable skills and careers while boosting the region’s economic resilience.”
Salesforce
Salesforce announced the release of the annual IDC report on the Salesforce Economic Impact. It notes that Salesforce AI-powered cloud solutions will generate $948 Billion in new revenues for Customers by 2028.
Overall, Salesforce’s AI-driven cloud solutions are expected to generate a net gain of $2.02 trillion in business revenue impact between 2022 and 2028. IDC’s updated methodology reflects the positive influence of AI-powered clouds on its compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.30% in 2023. For context, the Salesforce Economy CAGR was 19.60% in 2021 and did not factor in AI-powered clouds.
The uplift is largely due to the emergence of AISalesforce President and Chief Legal Officer Sabastian Niles notes, “AI’s influence on how we live, how we work, and how we learn is growing, and it will only become more prevalent in the coming years.”
IDC expects companies worldwide to have invested $16 billion in GenAI solutions in 2023. GenAI spending is expected to exceed $140 billion at a CAGR of 70%+ for 2023–2027. IDC has estimated that the adoption of AI-powered cloud solutions will result in an additional 4.7 million direct jobs being created between 2022 and 2028 within the expanded Salesforce ecosystem.
Skillsoft
Skillsoft released its 2023 IT Skills and Salary Report. Based on insights from more than 5,700 global IT professionals, including leaders and staff members, the report examines the state of the IT industry, underscoring the pressing need for workforce upskilling and reskilling, given the rapid advancement of AI and machine learning (ML) technologies.
Key findings include:
- AI and ML are the biggest areas of focus for IT leaders, though 43% rate their teams’ AI and ML skill sets as low.
- One in three IT leaders is struggling most with finding qualified AI and ML talent.
- The top driver of skills gaps is the rate of technology change outpacing training programs.
- Last year, 45% of IT professionals said management did not see a tangible benefit from training. Just 15% now say the same, as skill building becomes a business imperative.
- 97% of IT leaders say certified staff adds value to their organization.
- IT professionals’ top reason for skill building is to prepare their organization for new technology, especially as generative AI (GenAI) becomes more advanced.
Orla Daly, Chief Information Officer, Skillsoft, said, “With AI accelerating disruption at an unprecedented pace, the need for workforce training has never been more obvious and consequential. Organizations are at a critical point where they need to be deliberate and proactive about building skills and capabilities – especially related to AI – or risk falling behind in the coming year.
“Interactive training experiences where professionals learn by doing will unlock rich possibilities, creating business value while increasing team member engagement and morale.”
Wolters Kluwer
Wolters Kluwer Compliance Solutions published the 2023 Regulatory & Risk Management Indicator survey. The 2023 Indicator Main Score rose from an index level of 94 in the 2022 survey results to 119 this year, a 25-point index increase.
There were four main contributing factors:
- A three-fold increase in the dollar amount of regulatory fines imposed over the past 12 months, moving from $1.3 billion for the 2022 survey period to $3.9 billion this year.
- Compliance-related hurdles, such as perceived heightened scrutiny of fair lending practices.
- Continued reliance on manual processes.
- Competing business priorities further compound the challenges faced by financial institutions.
Tim Burniston, Senior Advisor, Regulatory Strategy, for Wolters Kluwer Compliance Solutions, said, “Lenders have faced many headwinds recently, from the turmoil generated earlier this year by a few but significant bank closures to the interest rate environment and the effects of inflation, leading to 30-year fixed-rate mortgages in the US reaching rates of 8%—their highest in more than two decades.”
Also, a new Wolters Kluwer Health survey, Generative AI in Healthcare: Gaining Consumer Trust, reveals one of the biggest concerns Americans have about generative AI (GenAI) in healthcare is not knowing where the medical information being used came from or how it is validated.
- 86% agree a problem with using GenAI in healthcare is not knowing where the information came from and/or how it was validated
- 82% agree another problem is that information may be coming from internet searches with no filter.
- 49% say they are concerned GenAI might produce false information.
- However, while 80% said they would be concerned if their healthcare provider were using GenAI, this drops to (still) 63% if they knew their doctor was using GenAI that came from an established source in healthcare, that it created by doctors and clinicians and that it was constantly being updated.
Greg Samios, President and CEO of Clinical Effectiveness, Wolters Kluwer Health, said, “As the healthcare community begins implementing GenAI applications, they must first understand and address the concerns Americans have about it being used in their care. It will take responsible testing as well as understanding the importance of using the most current, highly vetted content developed by real medical experts to build acceptance of this new technology in clinical settings.”
