Australia’s competitive steak could be driving the country’s impressive AI advancements, according to a recent study presented at the World Economic Forum.
The Leadership in the Age of AI report found that Australia is second only to China in terms of deploying artificial intelligence – placing it ahead of the UK, the US, France, Germany and India.
In fact, some 89% of Australian businesses are now using AI technology – up from 65% just last year. For the insurance and finance sector, it seems much of this growth comes from a desire to keep up with the competition.
Last year, just 16% of execs in the insurance and finance industry identified competitive advantage as the driving force behind their investment in AI. However, this year, the figure jumped to 57%.
“The rise in AI deployment in Australia compared to last year is being driven by a greater sense of competition and urgency within the business world – as leaders have started to notice competitors adopting AI technology they are beginning to look at the right AI strategy for their organisation in a bid to remain competitive,” said Andrew Groth, SVP and head of Australia and New Zealand at Infosys – the company which conducted the survey.
The Infosys study also found that 52% of banking and insurance organisations in Australia have plans to build a dedicated team of AI professionals in the near future, with 78% of the sector’s C-suite execs seeing their future business strategies hinging on AI.
However, the same proportion are having a difficult time finding qualified staff to lead integration of AI technologies – a key skills gap holding Australian businesses back.
“Organisations will need to adapt leadership policies, employee training, and business models to embrace new technologies and working practices that simultaneously empower their human workforce and allow them to remain competitive in the market,” said Groth.
“Deploying AI can significantly benefit a business’s bottom line, with an increase in production, actionable insights, improved time efficiencies, business elasticity and a decrease in operating costs just some of the benefits we’re seeing from Australian organisations which have already adopted AI technologies,” he continued.
The study also found that while the majority of organisations (75%) begin using AI to automate existing routines or inefficient processes, those in later stages of AI deployment are leveraging the technology to innovate and differentiate.
For example, 78% of Australian IT decision makers in financial services reported they are using AI to build new business-critical solutions and services to optimise insights and the consumer experience.
“The AI projects Australian businesses are deploying are far from the humanistic robots people see in Sci-fi movies, but rather algorithms that are capable of learning and constantly improving specific processes to automate and solve business challenges,” said Groth.
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