• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, October 26, 2017

The adoption of artificial intelligence is well underway but many execs expect some roadblocks ahead.

There’s a lot of enthusiasm and optimism for AI, most notably as a potential competitive advantage.

For example, after deploying AI for various online advertising function, lingerie retailer Cosabella learned plenty of lessons and adapted and modified from there. Any business that doesn’t start using AI in at least some area will be missing that learning and find themselves behind.

The good news is that most (80%) large businesses have some form of AI in use within their organization, although many see room for improvement, according to a new study.

The study comprised a survey of 260 business and technology decision-makers of vice president level or higher in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific who work for companies with revenue of $50 million or more. The study was conducted by research firm Vanson Bourne for Teradata.

While most (83%) business in the Americas have some form of AI capabilities in use, 44% of them say there is lots of room for further implementation and other integration.

The top areas where businesses are driving revenue with AI are product innovation (50%) and customer service (46%). Almost a third (32%) are seeing AI driving revenue in marketing.

In the Americas, the leading department driving revenue from AI capabilities is customer service.

The top three areas in the Americas that will drive business outcomes are customer experience (62%), operational excellence (56%) and product innovation (51%).

There are perceived barriers along the way, most notably lack of infrastructure, lack of access to talent and understanding and AI technology being still nascent and unproven, according to the survey.

Artificial intelligence is coming into businesses of all types and categories in a big way and where it starts is just the beginning of a journey.

The key is that many AI functions will end up impacting consumers in many ways, since much of the AI focus on business ends up being aimed at their customers.