Workato Unveils Findings from AI Report, Exploring the Hype and Impact of Generative AI on Business Processes and Operations

Workato, the leading enterprise orchestration platform, launched its research report, Behind the AI Hype: The 2024 State of LLMs in Business Processes, commissioned by UserEvidence. The AI data report presents the key trends around how over 1,000 business leaders in North America respond to the hype around generative AI. With shifting sentiment around AI after a massive spike in interest, this report reveals that business leaders believe the hype around generative AI is real and are achieving significant results by integrating AI in their business processes.

Also Read: Implementing a Digital Adoption Platform in Your Organization? This can help!

“More than a year into the AI boom, we are still seeing organizations experimenting with AI tactically or opportunistically versus developing an enterprise-wide strategy. Without this strategy, organizations will not see the meaningful results we can expect”

During the rapid rise of generative AI, many began questioning its value and whether or not solutions fueled by AI would produce lasting results. Some began to believe the hype around AI over-promised and under-delivered, with most anticipating immediate results. Organized into six sections, this report examines a value driver that businesses overlooked when evaluating AI strategies and deployments: business processes and operations. One of the main takeaways is that business leaders do believe the hype around AI with 82% believing generative AI is the next big wave of business transformation in their industry, and 9 out of 10 say they are at least experimenting with AI in their business processes.

“Business leaders and teams outside of IT are feeling the pressure to adopt AI in an impactful way for the bottom line. We’ve discovered in the Behind the AI Hype data report that these leaders are not slowing down regarding AI adoption. But the how behind the strategies is crucial,” said Bhaskar Roy, Chief of AI Products & Solutions at Workato. “While it may be surprising for some to see real value in operations, organizations are leaning on AI to drive competitive advantages. There is still a lot to learn and understand in these early days of AI. The curiosity, determination, and competitive nature of business leaders will help propel organizations into the agentic economy.”

Also Read: Cloud and AI: Data management and data protection are primary pain points for CIOs and CISOs

This report identified the following key findings:

• AI in business processes unlocks new value: In addition to efficiency and productivity, 43% achieved improved business agility and 40% enhanced decision-making

• For most, AI is still a work in progress: While 89% use gen AI in business processes, only 23% would consider it “fully deployed,” with a majority saying it is in development or experimental

• Approach and strategy significantly alter AI outcomes: How companies activate generative AI and their approach to LLMs affect the results that business leaders share from their AI initiatives

• Humans-in-the-loop are a high priority, but not always necessary: 95% of respondents believe humans-in-the-loop are important, and 60% believe human review is required for at least half of all processes

• Artificial intelligence increases demand for human intelligence: Business leaders believe expert reviewers – rather than front-line or entry-level employees – should sign off on AI-generated content and decisions

• Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is not considered an AI contender: RPA ranked dead last in the survey, with only 5.7% of participants believing it is the best choice for their AI strategy in the future

“More than a year into the AI boom, we are still seeing organizations experimenting with AI tactically or opportunistically versus developing an enterprise-wide strategy. Without this strategy, organizations will not see the meaningful results we can expect,” said Massimo Pezzini, Head of Research, Future of the Enterprise at Workato.

This report was commissioned with an independent market survey from UserEvidence of over 1,000 business leaders, director level and above, in North America about generative AI in their business processes. Participant selection was vendor-neutral. The research sample was random and did not target Workato or UserEvidence customers, although they were not excluded from participating. Respondents represented nearly 20 industries, with almost half coming from four key sectors: technology, financial services, healthcare, and manufacturing.

Workato empowers enterprises to transform their business operations by orchestrating business processes end-to-end and operationalizing AI across the entire organization. Designed with best-in-class security and governance, scalability, performance, and availability, Workato’s low-code, no-code platform makes it easy for IT and business teams to orchestrate their applications, data, and experiences.