{"id":69835,"date":"2025-05-31T07:59:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T23:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/?p=69835"},"modified":"2025-05-26T16:04:54","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T08:04:54","slug":"ibm-study-ceos-double-down-on-ai-while-navigating-enterprise-hurdles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/2025\/05\/31\/ibm-study-ceos-double-down-on-ai-while-navigating-enterprise-hurdles\/","title":{"rendered":"IBM study: CEOs double down on AI while navigating enterprise hurdles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A new global study by the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ibm.com\/investor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">IBM<\/a> Institute for Business Value found that surveyed CEOs are committed to advancing AI solutions across their organization even as they face challenges from accelerating technology adoption.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ibm.com\/thought-leadership\/institute-business-value\/en-us\/c-suite-study\/ceo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">IBM CEO study<\/a>,\u00a0which surveyed 2,000 CEOs globally, revealed that executive respondents expect the growth rate of AI investments to more than double in the next two years, and 61% confirm they are actively adopting AI agents today and preparing to implement them at scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the findings, 68% of surveyed CEOs identify integrated enterprise-wide data architecture as critical for cross-functional collaboration, and 72% view their organization\u2019s proprietary data as key to unlocking the value of generative AI. However, the research indicates organizations may be struggling to cultivate an effective data environment:&nbsp; half (50%) of respondents acknowledge that the pace of recent investments has left their organization with disconnected, piecemeal technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the foreword of the study,&nbsp;<strong>IBM Vice Chairman Gary Cohn<\/strong>&nbsp;writes, \u201cAs AI adoption accelerates creating greater efficiency, and productivity gains, the ultimate pay-off will only come to CEOs with the courage to embrace risk as opportunity. Meaning, focusing on what you can control, especially when there is so much you can&#8217;t.&nbsp;When the business environment is uncertain, using AI and your enterprise data to identify where you have leverage is a competitive advantage. &nbsp;At this point, leaders who aren&#8217;t leveraging AI and their own data to move forward are making a conscious business decision not to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cCEOs are balancing the pressures of short-term ROI and investing in long-term innovation when it comes to adopting AI,\u201d said&nbsp;<strong>Mohamad Ali, Senior Vice President and Head of IBM Consulting<\/strong>. \u201cBut we know that organizations that keep innovating, especially during periods of uncertainty, will emerge stronger and be better positioned to capitalize on new opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other key findings include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>CEOs face competing pressures of short-term ROI and long-term innovation<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Surveyed CEOs report that only 25% of AI initiatives have delivered expected ROI over the last few years, and only 16% have scaled enterprise wide.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>To accelerate progress, two-thirds (65%) of CEO respondents say their organization is leaning into AI use cases based on ROI, with 68% reporting that their organization has clear metrics to measure innovation ROI effectively.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Just over half (52%) of CEO respondents say their organization is realizing value from generative AI investments beyond cost reduction.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>64% of CEOs surveyed acknowledge that the risk of falling behind drives investment in some technologies before they have a clear understanding of the value they bring to the organization, but only 37% say it\u2019s better to be \u201cfast and wrong\u201d than \u201cright and slow\u201d when it comes to technology adoption.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>59% of surveyed CEOs admit their organization struggles to balance funding for existing operations and investment in innovation when unexpected change occurs, as 67% say more budget flexibility is needed to capitalize on digital opportunities that drive long-term growth and innovation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>By 2027, 85% of surveyed CEOs expect their investments in scaled AI efficiency and cost savings to have returned a positive ROI, while 77% expect to see a positive return from their investments in scaled AI growth and expansion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>CEOs see strategic leadership and specialized talent as essential to unlocking AI value, amid expertise and skills gaps<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>69% of CEO respondents say their organization\u2019s success is directly tied to maintaining a broad group of leaders with a deep understanding of strategy and the authority to make critical decisions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>67% of CEOs surveyed say that differentiation depends on having the right expertise in the right positions with the right incentives.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>CEOs cite lack of collaboration across organizational silos, aversion to risk and disruption, and lack of expertise and knowledge as top barriers to innovation in their organization.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Surveyed CEOs say roughly one-third (31%) of the workforce will require retraining and\/or reskilling over the next three years, while 65% say their organization will use automation to address skill gaps.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>54% of CEO respondents say they are hiring for roles related to AI that did not exist a year ago.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em>To view the full study, visit\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ibm.com\/thought-leadership\/institute-business-value\/en-us\/c-suite-study\/ceo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.ibm.com\/thought-leadership\/institute-business-value\/en-us\/c-suite-study\/ceo<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0IBM CEO study,\u00a0which surveyed 2,000 CEOs globally, revealed that executive respondents expect the growth rate of AI investments to more than double in the next two years, and 61% confirm they are actively adopting AI agents today and preparing to implement them at scale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":69836,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[853,214],"class_list":["post-69835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-white-papers","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-ibm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69835"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69837,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69835\/revisions\/69837"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}