Only 26% of organisations in India are prepared to deploy AI: Cisco Study

Only 26 per cent of organisations in India are fully prepared to deploy and leverage artificial intelligence (AI)-powered technologies, according to Cisco’s inaugural AI Readiness Index released on Thursday. The Index, which surveyed over 8,000 global companies, was developed in response to the accelerating adoption of AI, impacting almost every area of business and daily life.

Alongside the stark finding that overall, only 26 per cent of companies are Pacesetters (fully prepared), the research found that one-third (32 per cent) of companies in India are considered Laggards (unprepared) at 1 per cent, or Followers (limited preparedness) at 31 per cent.

According to the report, 75 per cent of respondents in India believe they have a maximum of one year to implement an AI strategy before their organisation begins to incur significant negative business impact. Ninety-five per cent of organisations already have a highly defined AI strategy in place or are in the process of developing one, a positive sign, but it shows there is more to do.

Ninety-five per cent of businesses globally are aware that AI will increase infrastructure workloads, but in India, only 39 per cent of organisations consider their infrastructure highly scalable. The same number (39 per cent) of companies say they have limited or no scalability at all when it comes to meeting new AI challenges within their current IT infrastructures. To accommodate AI’s increased power and computing demands, over two-thirds (68 per cent) of companies will require further data centre graphics processing units (GPUs) to support current and future AI workloads.

While data serves as the backbone needed for AI operations, it is also the area where readiness is weakest, with the greatest number of Laggards (9 per cent) compared to other pillars. Seventy-three per cent of all respondents claim some degree of siloed or fragmented data in their organisation. This poses a critical challenge. The complexity of integrating data that resides in various sources and making it available for AI implications can impact the ability to leverage the full potential of these applications.

Boards and Leadership Teams are most likely to embrace the changes brought about by AI, with 87 per cent and 88 per cent respectively showing high or moderate receptiveness. However, more work is needed to engage middle management, where 18 per cent have either limited or no receptiveness to AI. Among employees, over a third (20 per cent) of organisations report that employees are either unwilling to adopt AI or outright resistant. The need for AI skills reveals a new-age digital divide. While 95 per cent of respondents agree that they have invested in upskilling existing employees, 16 per cent allude to an emerging AI divide, expressing doubt about the availability of enough talent to upskill.

Also, 18 per cent of organisations report not having comprehensive AI policies in place. This area must be addressed as companies consider and govern all the factors presenting a risk in eroding confidence and trust. These factors include data privacy and data sovereignty, understanding and compliance with global regulations. Additionally, close attention must be paid to the concepts of bias, fairness, and transparency in both data and algorithms.

The new research finds that while AI adoption has been slowly progressing for decades, advancements in Generative AI, coupled with public availability in the past year, are driving greater attention to the challenges, changes, and new possibilities posed by the technology.

“As companies rush to deploy AI solutions, they must assess where investments are needed to ensure their infrastructure can best support the demands of AI workloads,” said Liz Centoni, executive vice president and general manager, applications and chief strategy officer, Cisco. “Organisations also need to be able to observe with context how AI is being used to ensure ROI (return on investment), security, and especially responsibility.”