Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a popular topic, driving the digital revolution across industries. Many businesses are eager to adopt AI as part of their digital transformation journey. However, AI adoption challenges prevent some organizations from successfully incorporating AI into their operations and achieving the desired outcomes. As a result, several companies face roadblocks when integrating AI. Managed Service Providers (MSPs) can help overcome these challenges by providing the expertise and support necessary for effective AI adoption.
A global IDC survey found that many organizations reported failures in their AI projects. Though different organizations follow different methodologies and approaches to AI adoption, some common road blockers exist. Let’s learn about the most reasons for AI adoption failure observed by adopters across industries:
Lack of a data strategy and structured data
Data is the most crucial component of any AI initiative. AWS defines a data strategy as a long-term plan for managing an organization’s information assets through technology, processes, and rules. Unfortunately, a considerable percentage of organizations fail to implement the foundation of all your data practices. So, in most cases, they get incomplete and unorganized data. A Forbes survey of 700 global C-suite executives shows that a minimal percentage (only 12%) of companies have built, and are executing, a company-wide data strategy. As a result, most enterprises have unstructured data in almost every aspect, including text files, emails, social media messages, and employee complaints. It becomes extremely difficult for organizations to accumulate and consolidate such unstructured data from different systems of records and silos. This hampers data visibility and accessibility across departments, leading to challenges in data management, including quality and security.
To adopt AI, prioritize developing and implementing a data strategy to gather structured, usable data across the organization. AI solutions are built on a cohesive, well-structured data strategy. It enables you to understand customer behavior and predict market trends effectively.
No linkage to business outcomes
Another primary reason behind the underperformance of AI for certain businesses is that they consider artificial intelligence as “ a high-tech, superpower thing” without proper planning on how to use the AI results. Being isolated from actual business goals, AI implementation fails to produce desired outcomes. When one adopts AI without knowing how the organization will get and use the AI results, the whole purpose of AI adoption fails. In most cases of AI adoption failure, organizations seem to concentrate more on the production of AI, such as systems, processes, setting up tools, etc.
On the other hand, the most successful AI adopters start their AI adoption process by identifying their business pain points and challenges and trying to align AI solutions with them. Business owners also involve process owners and AI experts in planning to ensure they adopt AI solutions effectively. A well-defined AI strategy is needed to align technology and business together to kick-start the adoption process and get a successful outcome. Everyone in the organization should understand the business problems to solve, the purpose of AI integration, expectations, and success metrics.
Insufficiency of the right talents
Demand for data scientists has surged over 650% due to advancements in AI. But the supply of competent practitioners seems insufficient as per the market needs. It makes the situation more challenging for businesses that want to adopt AI. The insufficiency of skilled professionals and AI talents in the market causes enterprises to upskill their existing employees. But sometimes, this initiative of upskilling existing employees doesn’t reflect the appropriate outcome.
How can MSPs help businesses to adopt AI?
Partnering with a managed IT service provider (MSP) can benefit businesses to adopt AI solutions efficiently. An MSP can help their corporate customers’ AI adoption by improving speed, quality and efficiency, filling the talent gaps, and reducing business risks.
Reduced risk of failure
According to a Gartner report, about 42% of survey respondents do not completely understand the benefits of AI — leading to unsuccessful AI incorporation. Partnering with an MSP can reduce this risk of brand failure by developing an effective AI implementation plan according to the business needs. Since experienced MSPs have better knowledge about the pitfalls and have tried-and-tested processes and tools for effective AI implementation with minimal risks.
Improved efficiency
Developing and implementing an AI model needs to collect and annotate data; build, test, and deploy the model; and monitor it frequently. Partnering with an MSP can help organizations to automate and create pipelines for these processes. System automation will improve efficiency without the need to expend resources. Partnering with an MSP allows companies to remain competitive with faster turnaround and scaling rates.
When a company tries to source data on its own for AI initiatives, the process can be complicated and time-consuming. The initiative can even end up creating biased datasets. These consequences can lead to limited or inefficient AI models that fail to offer valuable insights and desired outcomes.
An MSP provides advanced quality controls and data management tools, enhancing the accuracy and consistency of AI models.
Meets talent gaps
Reskilling or hiring in-house for AI initiatives can be costly and may not be enough. On the other hand, seeking expertise from an MSP can be a more effective and affordable way to fill the talent gap.
Conclusion
The path to AI adoption is not without its hurdles. In fact, AI adoption challenges—such as unstructured data, misalignment with business goals, and a talent shortage—hinder its true potential. However, partnering with an experienced MSP can help organizations smoothly transition to AI-powered systems and overcome these obstacles. Addressing these challenges allows businesses to fully leverage AI and gain a competitive edge in the digital age.
