New research shows the transformative power of AI

A globe with dots on it, flanked by three workers and featuring an AI star to indicate the power of AI

The more I talk with ServiceNow customers, the more excited I get about the transformative power of AI. Early adopters are reaping the benefits of AI-powered self-service, increased agent efficiency, enhanced developer productivity, and more.

That’s why I’m excited to share the findings of ServiceNow’s inaugural Enterprise AI Maturity Index study, conducted in partnership with Oxford Economics. The responses of 4,500 global business leaders—including 297 in the UK and Ireland (UKI)—confirm the revolutionary potential of AI, with 81% of the C-suite actively engaged in AI efforts.

Last year, organisations allotted 15% of their technology budgets to AI. A decisive majority plan to increase AI spending next year—85% in UKI.

Those leading the charge, which we refer to as AI pacesetters, are doing so with the recognition that AI is not a point solution. They’re using it to integrate existing workflows and invent new ones to make their businesses run faster, smarter, and more efficiently.

Investment increases are planned (UKI): 85% will increase AI spend next year, 33% will increase by 5-9%, 29% will increase by 10-14%

AI in action

I get inspired when I think about how British Telecom (BT) Group, with operations in 180 countries, embraced AI to reimagine its customer service processes, which formerly ran on 56 different legacy service management systems and involved 15,000 people.

We were able to help BT Group get on a path to consolidating those service management systems on the ServiceNow platform, automating processes, and saving nearly $32 million. That’s the power of AI.

Food manufacturer Mondelez International is another example. AI-powered HR Service Delivery helped the company increase its overall employee self-service rate by 76%, while the AI Search functionality in Employee Center helped improve deflection rates to between 30% and 60%, depending on the region. Those are significant improvements.

AI for the win

Most organisations we surveyed are early in their journey toward AI maturity. But the pacesetters are supercharging their AI efforts, scaling AI with groundbreaking cross-functional workflows, and building the right skills across their organisations.

The numbers speak for themselves: Globally, 74% of AI pacesetters are already seeing a positive return on investment, and one in three is hitting returns of 15% or more.

The reality is AI offers organisations an attainable way to connect people, processes, and technologies across the enterprise with cross-functional workflows. That integrated approach can create a competitive advantage. Laying the groundwork today to be an AI-connected enterprise tomorrow is imperative.

Get more insights about the transformative power of AI in the complimentary Enterprise AI Maturity Index 2024.