The results of a study by global enterprise application company IFS reveal that almost 90 per cent of Australian companies say they are ready to invest in AI.

 
The study polled 600 business leaders in countries including Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Sweden, UK and the US and a broad spectrum of industries involved with their companies’ enterprise technology including enterprise resource planning (ERP), enterprise asset management (EAM), and field service management (FSM).

The key findings were:

• About 90 per cent of respondents (Australia and globally) reported at least some plans to implement AI in various parts of their business. Inventory planning and logistics was the most commonly reported area of investment in Australia with 54 percent planning AI projects (39 per cent globally), while customer relationship management (CRM) was second at 46 per cent (39 per cent globally). Globally, industrial automation was the most common area of AI investment at 45 per cent (28 per cent in Australia). 

• When asked how they plan to use AI, 57 per cent in Australia (61 per cent globally) said they expected it would help them make existing workers more productive. Less than half, 39 per cent in Australia (48 per cent globally), said they would use AI to add value to products and services they sell to customers. About 29 per cent in Australia (18 per cent globally) said they would proactively use it to replace existing workers.

• While a majority of respondents anticipated productivity increases from AI, only 21 per cent in Australia (29 per cent globally) anticipated AI would lead to a reduction in headcount in their industry. To manage this, 57 per cent of Australian respondents (56 per cent globally) stated that society could best prepare by changing educational programs to prepare workers to make direct use of AI tools to increase their own productivity. Another 29 per cent (23 per cent globally) said they expect the market to create new jobs for people displaced by AI, while 11 per cent (15 per cent globally) suggested a shortened 30-hour work week.

“AI is no longer an emerging technology. It is being implemented to support business automation in the here and now, as this study clearly proves,” said Bob De Caux, IFS Vice President of AI and Robotic Process Automation.

“We are seeing many real-world examples where technology is augmenting existing decision-making processes by providing users with more timely, accurate and pertinent information. In today’s disruptive economy, the convergence of technologies such as AI, RPA, and IoT is bolstering a new form of business automation that will provide companies that are brave enough with the tools and services they need to be more competitive and outflank larger competitors.”
 
An early adopter of industrial automation solutions that make use of robotics to transform its business strategy is North American packaging manufacturer Cheer Pack. They deployed a fleet of AI-powered autonomous vehicles to robotise material movements in their US factory and have seen strong returns on the investment.

“We expect the costs savings to be over 1.5 million US dollars per year. In addition, each and every employee will be re-tasked to a higher-skilled position helping us with our labour shortage,” said Cheer Pack Director of IT, Alex Ivkovic.

De Caux said, “The findings of the study and the real-world scenarios being realised at our customers point to the conclusion that the time is right for companies to reap both business and financial benefits from technology automation.

“Falling for the hype of AI is easy, but success requires disruption to existing business models. The technologies themselves are not a panacea, nor are they a universal solution to any problem. However, with the right data model and viable use cases, AI can support improved productivity and deliver significant benefits to both operations and the wider business. AI will be used by the vast majority of organisations in some form in the near future, extracting real value from intelligent processes, for the long-term.”
 
Download the complete study, “How are Companies Planning to Adopt Artificial Intelligence and Adjust to Resulting Disruptive Change”, here.