Just 26% Indian firms are prepared to adopt AI: Report
A mere 26% of Indian businesses are fully equipped to adopt and utilize artificial intelligence (AI) technology, as revealed by Cisco's inaugural AI Readiness Index. The index examined over 8,000 international companies across 30 markets, assessing their preparedness in six key areas, such as strategy, infrastructure, data, governance, and talent. The primary sectors where companies are turning to AI include IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, and customer experience.
Data challenges and cybersecurity concerns
The study discovered that organizations encounter the most difficulties when integrating AI with their data. "While 93% of respondents (globally) believe AI will have a significant impact on their business operations, it also raises new issues around data privacy and security... 73% of the respondents admit that this is due to data existing in silos across their organizations," the report noted. Furthermore, businesses expressed apprehension about cybersecurity, governance, and the influence on their operations in the upcoming 12 months.
AI deployment urgency and revenue streams
Approximately 97% of companies surveyed worldwide stated that the need to implement AI and AI-driven solutions has intensified over the past six months. However, a mere 23% of firms in the Asia Pacific Japan and China (APJC) region believe that AI will create new revenue streams, despite its potential to revolutionize businesses. Companies are primarily employing AI to enhance efficiency and productivity, which may affect current revenue but might not generate new revenue streams soon.
Infrastructure scalability and data center GPUs
In India, just 39% of organizations regard their infrastructure as highly scalable, while an equal percentage reports limited or no scalability at all when addressing new AI challenges within their existing IT infrastructures. To meet AI's growing power and computing requirements, over two-thirds (68%) of companies will need additional data center graphics processing units (GPUs) to support present and future AI workloads.
AI skills gap and policy implementation
An impressive 95% of respondents concur that they have invested in retraining existing employees, but 16% express skepticism about the availability of sufficient talent to upskill. Additionally, 18% of organizations report not having comprehensive AI policies in place, posing risks to data privacy, data sovereignty, and compliance with global regulations. Liz Centoni, Executive Vice President and General Manager at Cisco, stressed the importance of organizations evaluating their infrastructure investments and monitoring AI usage to ensure ROI, security, and accountability.
