New research from Rackspace Technology exposes a 55% increase in companies investing over 6% of their entire IT budget in AI and machine learning as initiatives mature
New research from Rackspace Technology, a leading end-to-end multicloud solutions company, has revealed how demand for bespoke artificial intelligence (AI) solutions is fuelling a skills gap. The majority of UK IT leaders report that their organisations intend to build AI solutions from the ground up, with just 10% opting for off-the-shelf solutions.
This is fuelling demand for AI skills – 86% of UK IT leaders are actively seeking to hire people with AI and Machine Learning (ML) expertise. When reporting on the most difficult skills to hire for, IT leaders reported that ML specialists are the hardest to find. Collaborative robotics specialists, deep learning specialists and predictive modelling experts closely followed as difficult capabilities to hire.
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More than one-quarter of organisations (27%) report a lack of skills as having created challenges for exploiting the results of AI and ML programs. IT leaders need further upskilling for team members in AI and ML programming and software design (46%), machine learning (49%), data quality analysis (42%) and data governance and security expertise (38%).
The majority (57%) of IT leaders report that AI and ML is now part of their current business strategy, with the majority of companies (71%) reporting having realised substantial benefits from AI and ML to their operations. Those that have implemented it report a positive impact on revenue (74%), the ability to reduce expenses (69%), brand reputation (69%) and brand awareness (70%).
Two-thirds of organisations are now moving into a stage where they are optimising and scaling their AI models (41%) or moving from proof of concepts and pilots to formalise the solution in production (31%). To further realise the technology’s potential, IT leaders are investing a greater proportion of their IT budgets in AI and ML programs. 87% of UK organisations are dedicating more than 6% of their annual IT budget to these initiatives in 2022 – a 55% increase on those that committed that proportion of their budget in 2021.
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Simon Bennett, CTO, EMEA at Rackspace Technology, comments: “Many organisations are moving into the next stage of maturity for their AI implementations to drive real return on investment, and we are seeing this reflected in the more prominent role AI plays in business and IT strategies. But this shift means that the use of AI is no longer a competitive advantage. It is a case of move now or be left behind.
“To help increase the understanding of AI and ML, many leaders are investing in internal upskilling programmes. But, companies should not only look at what dedicated skills they can hire into their organisation, but consider where trusted partners can offer expertise and experience to support as these initiatives grow in frequency and importance.”
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