TCS AI for Business Study – Key Findings

Key Findings
TCS AI for Business Study
From potential to performance. By design.

2
About the TCS AI for Business Study
TCS surveyed approximately 1,300
senior executives across 24
countries in Asia, Latin America,
Europe and North America, more
than half with revenue over
US$5 billion.
The report includes the results from
respondents across all 12 industry
sectors in the survey.
What’s driving AI implementations?
How is AI redefining business?
How are employees, skills and roles shifting?
What customer engagement AI trends are emerging?
Where is AI strategy headed?
Do business results match aspirations?

The transformative
potential of AI

4
An optimistic outlook on AI’s impact
Q. How would you compare AI's potential impact on your business model with the following technological developments?
Q. Which of the following is closest to how you’re feeling about AI's potential impact on your business?
More than half believe the impact
of AI will be greater than or equal
to smartphones
59%
54%
More than half believe the impact
of AI will be greater than or equal
to the Internet
More than half say they are
optimistic or excited about AI’s
potential impact on their business
57%
Few technology advancements have gripped the public imagination like artificial
intelligence. The majority of executives surveyed believe AI’s impact on their business
model will be greater or equal to that of earlier disruptive technologies. Above all,
they’re optimistic about its potential impact on their business.

5
Humans, not AI, expected to remain the competitive differentiator
Q. In your business, which of these statements most closely matches your own expectations for how AI will impact decision making in the next 3-5 years?
Most executives believe that rather than replacing human workers, AI will augment and
enhance human capabilities, enabling people to focus on higher-value activities that
require creativity, empathy, and strategic thinking.
65%
of executives say human strategic decision making, intuition, and creativity
will remain essential to their company's competitive advantage.

6
Greater innovation, productivity lead AI business imperatives
Q. On a scale of 1 to 10 — where 1 is solely interested in using AI to lower costs and optimize operations and 10 is solely focused on spurring innovation and
revenue growth where would your company's current approach toward AI fall?
Q. On a scale of 1 to 10 — where 1 is solely focused on using AI to improve quality and 10 is solely focused on using AI to enhance productivity — where would
your company's current approach toward AI fall?
Senior business leaders are more interested in using AI for innovation than optimization,
and more focused on enhancing productivity than improving quality. (Yet quality may
hold the brightest promise for AI benefits in the future.)
70%
of executives are more focused on
using AI to spur innovation than on
lowering costs and optimization
72%
Almost three-quarters are more
focused on using AI to enhance
productivity than on improving quality

7
Personalized interactions are top AI customer focus areas
Q. In what ways are you exploring AI's impact on your relationships with customers?
When it comes to customer engagement and AI, organizations say they’re looking for
more than automated chatbots. Almost half of business leaders are focused on
exploring AI’s ability to deliver deeply contextual, personalized interactions at critical
moments of truth in the customer journey.
45%
want more highly personalized
interactions with marketing
initiatives (other than chatbots)
44%
want more highly personalized
interactions for post-sales activities
(other than chatbots)

9
One size fits one? AI adoption strategies vary
AI is not plug-and-play technology with a one-size-fits-all strategy. The findings from global executives reflect the
varied approaches to rapidly evolving AI technology across individual organizations. Some favor bold
experimentation and fail-fast methods; nearly the same number prefer a more conservative wait-and-see approach.
Q. Which is most important to your company's leadership regarding the use of AI in the enterprise?
want to establish an enterprise-wide Al strategy
to maximize its benefits to the company
28%
say they want to stay true to their purpose and success
model in exploring how they might leverage Al
25%
want to experiment and take risks with Al to
maximize its benefits
23%
want to wait and see how Al is used in their
industry and follow the lead of others
23%

10
Fast or slow, most organizations are adopting AI
Q. What is the state of implementation for AI-enabled operations in the following areas of your company?
While the pace of AI adoption differs, the
ultimate objective is overwhelmingly
consistent. Almost all executives surveyed –
94% – have AI implementations planned, in
process or already completed.
of departments are planning Al
implementations
34%
of corporate functions have Al
implementations in-process or completed
59%

11
A gap between aspiration and reality
Q. Looking at your organization overall, which most closely describes your company's current relationship to AI?
haven’t even moved beyond the initial AI
exploration phase
24%
are still cleaning up their data and
moving it to the cloud
29%
4%
say it’s a differentiating factor for
business transformation at this time
Only
The merging of reasoning and recognition
intelligence into generative models offers
tremendous potential to help companies
reimagine entire value chains and transform
the way they do business.
But a majority of executives say they have a
long way to go to realize these outcomes.

12
What’s hampering AI progress?
Global executives say their current IT infrastructures, their customer expectations, and their current IT service
providers are hampering overall AI efforts.
Q. What are the top 3 challenges to making effective use of AI in your company?
Current IT
infrastructures
Customer
expectations
Current IT
service providers
#1 #2 #3

13
Generative AI brings its own set of challenges
45% of executives expect up to half of their employees to be using GenAI on a daily basis within the next 3 years. And
while talent development is a topic of conversation, security and privacy is the biggest concern.
*Pacesetters are the study’s top financially successful performers in their industry
Q. In three years, what percentage of your employees do you believe will be using/interacting with Generative AI capabilities on a daily basis?
Q. Rank the top 3 statements, which most closely reflect how recent attention to Generative AI (specifically) has changed your company's assessment of AI's benefits and risks more
generally.
Top GenAI adoption concerns
Top GenAI adoption
concerns for Pacesetters*
Security and privacy issues
Enhanced focus on ethical and
responsible Al use
1st
Enhanced focus on ethical and
responsible AI use
Cultural shifts
Lack of IT readiness
Increased focus on talent development
and training
Talent development and training
Cultural shifts
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
Pacesetters are more concerned about
ethical and responsible AI use and
managing an AI-ready culture and
talent base.

14
The role of humans in the workplace is likely to evolve
Q. How do you foresee the balance between roles created and roles eliminated as a result of AI's use at your company?
think AI will increase or have no impact
on the number of job roles created
49%
expect a decline in the number of roles
47%
Productivity has and will remain a key
benefit of AI—and this applies to people
being assisted by GenAI at work over the
next few years. Not only will human
productivity improve, so will their strategic
thinking and focus.

Balancing risk
with opportunity

16
Making way for AI
Q. Have you given any thought to how your company's strategic direction needs to be revised due to AI's potential benefits or risks for your organization or your industry?
of companies are discussing Al and making
enterprise-wide plans for it
17%
of companies are currently making changes to their
business models, the roles of their stakeholders, or
changes to their offerings and how they sell them
55%
Introducing such transformative technology into a
large enterprise comes with great responsibility.
Organizational and operational models that are AI-
ready require extensive preparation and stringent
governance that foster trust in outcomes and ensure
business value and return on investment.
Globally, businesses are not only aware of the shifts
involved, but actively planning for them.

17
Homegrown implementation prevails…for now
Q. On a scale of 1 to 5, how much are you relying on external vendor and partnerships
(including academic or government partners) for your AI implementations and how much are you doing in-house?
Q. Are you planning to create your own enterprise-specific LLMs for use in Generative AI implementations?
About three-quarters of executives say they are
relying — completely, mostly or partly — on
in-house talent to implement AI
77%
Just over half plan to create their own
enterprise-specific LLMs for use in
GenAI implementations
51%
As AI preparation turns to implementation,
organizations must strive to achieve the right mix
of artificial intelligence with investment. Despite
the complexity, the majority of companies are
more likely to rely on internal teams to develop
and implement AI. Just over a half plan to create
their own enterprise-specific LLMs.

18
And lack of success metrics threatens future AI investments
Q. Which statement most closely matches how you feel about measuring the success of and financial return on AI implementations?
of executives say they need better KPIs to
measure the success of Al implementations
Global executives say they need better KPIs to measure the success of their AI implementations. Without KPIs,
organizations will struggle to demonstrate AI’s value and gain internal traction for its adoption.
say they have “good enough” metrics
and KPIs for their current stage of AI
deployments.
19%
said they aren’t even aware of any
useful metrics for AI implementations.
8%
72%
Only

19
Navigating ethical, security, and privacy dimensions
The debut of sophisticated AI applications has intensified the focus on security and privacy concerns, and the ethical
dimensions of AI use have also garnered significant attention. Most senior executives prefer global regulations based
on use cases or with some regional regulations in this fast-changing landscape.
Q. Which regulatory landscape is most appropriate for your business's use of AI?
40% prefer global Al
standards regulating
specific use cases
and outcomes
41% prefer global Al
standards, plus
specific regional
controls
14% prefer a
heterogenous
environment of
local regulations
4% think it's too
early or unnecessary
to regulate Al

20
Government and industry are equally weighted as
regulations champions
Many governments (like the EU) and industries (such as finance and life sciences) are already advocating for
regulations around AI.
57%
Government
57%
Industry
50%
Academia
Q. Which organizations should be involved in establishing regulations about AI?
30%
NGOs

21
Recommendations
Embrace an AI strategy based on
prioritized initiatives and use cases that
have the potential to drive tangible
business outcomes
Focus on the business value,
not the technology
Invest not only in the necessary
technology and infrastructure but in a
culture that embraces change,
experimentation, and continuous learning.
Make your business &
culture AI-ready
Consider the broader strategic value of AI
initiatives and how they can be used to
improve operational efficiency, reduce risk,
and enhance decision-making--all of which
can contribute to overall business
performance.
Adopt a more
strategic approach
Let business and IT staffs focus on core
competencies and strategic objectives,
seeking partnerships and external expertise
where appropriate, rather than shouldering
the entire burden of AI implementation
internally.
Don’t go it alone
Implement AI with the goals of expanding
revenue, opportunity, and innovation,
which offers the potential to create new
jobs and enhance human capabilities.
Plan for success,
not scarcity
Leverage modern AI to deliver highly
personalized, proactive and more value-
added experiences across the customer
journey for competitive differentiation
and to build long-term loyalty.
Create higher-level
relationships with customers
Based on this research, here are our recommended next steps.

22
Demographics: 24 countries
Country representation
United States
Canada
Mexico
United Kingdom
Ireland
Germany
/Austria
Switzerland
France Netherlands
Denmark
Spain
Luxembourg
Belgium
Norway
Sweden
Finland
India
Australia
New Zealand
Japan
Colombia
Brazil
Chile
Global sample
n = 1,272

23
Demographics: role and revenue
Revenue representation (in USD)
3%
49% 45%
3%
$500m to $1bn
$1bn to $5bn
Role representation
16%
35%
49%
CEO Unit/divisional head SVP/VP (P&L responsibility)
Global sample
n = 1,272
$5bn to $100bn
$100bn+

24
Demographics: Industries
n=90
Life Sciences
n=80
Healthcare
n=90
Energy & Resources
n=106
Consumer Package Goods
n=86
Communications, Media &
Information Services
n=160
Banks, Financial Services & Insurance
n=59
Logistics
n=184
Manufacturing
n=166
Retail
n=89
Technology
n=67
Travel & Hospitality
n=95
Utilities

Download
the Report
Contact Us
Get more insights: tcs.com/insights/global-studies/

TCS AI for Business Study – Key Findings

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