Businesses Fall Short on Delivering Basic IT Services: Study

While generative AI adoption increases in the enterprise, the ability to deliver basic services by IT departments is declining, according to a new study.

Fewer than half (47%) of technology business leaders said their IT organization is effective for basic services, a decrease from 69% in 2023.

The findings are from a survey of 2,500 C-suite executives in 34 countries conducted by IBM and Oxford Economics. The study included chief technology officers, chief information officers and chief data officers.

A separate IBM study found that a majority (80%) of CEOs said the use of next-generation technologies such as generative AI requires transparency to foster trust

However, only half of technology business leaders said they are delivering on key responsible AI capabilities for explainability. Even fewer said they are delivering capabilities for privacy, transparency or fairness

“Tech leaders today are grappling with multiple business demands, made even more complicated by the rise of generative AI,” said Mohamad Ali, senior vice president of IBM Consulting.

“They must navigate the challenges of modernizing their IT infrastructure and scaling generative AI to support the business’ core competitive advantage. In this evolving AI landscape, the relationship between tech CxOs and their finance counterparts has never been more important, aligning technology spend with business outcomes to drive real value from AI investments.”

Related:Gartner Predicts 30% of Generative AI Initiatives Will Fail by 2025

Technology infrastructure concerns have increased over the past six months because of generative AI, as technology business leaders turn to optimizing their infrastructure for scaling it, according to the study

More than a third of technology business executives have increased concerns about regulation and compliance as a barrier to generative AI, but most of them see regulatory changes as an opportunity. However, only half of CEOs see opportunity in regulatory change.

For the future, most technology business leaders said their competitiveness will rely on their ability to attract, develop and retain top talent, though most said they are having difficulty filling key technology roles.

For specialized skills, the majority of business technology leaders said they are turning to business partners as a source, according to the study.