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Will we see AI’s impact on 2019 holiday results?

Written by Gib Bassett

Photo: @lelia_milaya via Twenty20

A majority of executives whose companies have adopted AI report that it has provided an uptick in revenue in the business areas where it is used, and 44 percent say AI has reduced costs, according to McKinsey's November Global AI Survey Report. Among the encouraging findings:
  • AI-use cases are most likely to drive revenue growth in marketing and sales, product and service development, and supply chain management.
  • AI-use cases are most likely to reduce costs in manufacturing and supply chain management.
  • AI adoption increased in nearly every industry in the past year. Retail has seen the largest increase, with 60 percent embedding at least one AI capability in one or more functions or business units, a 35 percent increase from 2018.
On the downside, only a small share of companies across industries are attaining outsized business results from AI. Moreover, McKinsey finds that some core practices are necessary to capture the value of analytics at scale, including aligning business leaders on AI’s potential across each business domain, as well as investing in talent and developing skillsets. Even AI-high performers have work to do. Only 36 percent of respondents from these companies say their frontline employees use AI insights in real time for daily decision making, and just 42 percent systematically track a comprehensive set of well-defined key performance indicators for AI. Adoption by business people is a function of ease of use and value, but also executive leadership and culture. Rationalizing your use case plans against the landscape of applications, tools, platforms, data science and IT capabilities at your disposal will make the most of your investments — so you can focus on the softer skills side of AI value.

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