Cisco's latest CEO's attitude towards artificial intelligence has revealed the complex understanding of the current status and future development trends of AI technology. The report surveyed more than 2,500 CEOs around the world, covering five continents. Data shows that although the vast majority of CEOs plan to integrate AI into their business, few are truly prepared, highlighting the face of enterprises in AI applications. Challenges and opportunities.
Cisco recently released a research report on CEOs in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). The report shows that although 97% of CEOs plan to integrate AI into their business, only 2% think they are ready for AI. The survey covers more than 2,500 CEOs from more than 250 companies in Europe, North America, South America, Africa and Asia Pacific, all over 25 years old.
Image source notes: The image is generated by AI, and the image authorized service provider Midjourney
Research shows that most CEOs realize that AI integration is a necessary condition for business development, but their understanding of this technology has hindered them from seizing growth opportunities to some extent. More than 70% of CEOs believe that their understanding of AI has affected their ability to raise “critical questions” on the board. In addition, 58% of CEOs are worried that their understanding of AI will have a negative impact on company growth over the next five years.
In the survey, CEOs also mentioned several factors that prevented them from integrating AI into their business, including infrastructure inadequacies, budget constraints, security risks and skills gaps. Of these, about 28% of respondents believe that the potential benefits of AI have been exaggerated. While 10% of CEOs said they had no concerns about AI, only 2% believed that “all preparations were in place” and felt that AI could be integrated smoothly.
Jeetu Patel, Cisco's executive vice president and chief product officer, emphasized the urgency of corporate action in a statement, saying: "Ultimately, there are only two types of companies: those are AI companies and those that will be considered irrelevant."
Surveys show that many CEOs are concerned about losing their competitive advantage due to infrastructure gaps and insufficient investment in new technologies. According to a report from Menlo Ventures last year, corporate spending on AI grew six times in 2023, rising from $2.3 billion to $13.8 billion. The report also noted that companies have identified 10 potential AI applications, with 24% prioritizing near-term implementation.
Currently, many organizations use generative AI in their businesses to generate code, support chatbots, conduct enterprise searches, and more. The survey also found that 47% of the solutions were built on their own within the enterprise, while 53% were obtained through suppliers.
It is worth noting that companies do not blindly follow the trend when facing AI, but pay more attention to the return on investment. Buyers are more concerned with tools that provide measurable value (30%) and solutions that understand their unique background in their work (26%) rather than options at the lowest price (just 1%), the report notes.
Key points:
97% of CEOs plan to introduce AI, but only 2% say they are ready.
70% of CEOs believe that understanding of AI affects their business development, and 58% are concerned about future growth.
Companies focus more on AI's return on investment and pay attention to solutions that can provide measurable value.
In short, this report from Cisco clearly demonstrates the caution and challenges of enterprises as they embrace the wave of AI. CEOs are generally aware of the importance of AI, but inadequate preparation and misunderstanding of AI are the main factors that hinder its widespread use. In the future, enterprises need to strengthen the training of AI talents, improve infrastructure construction, and pay more attention to the return on AI investment in order to truly seize the opportunities brought by AI.