AI Tops Security as Top Investment Priority

AI is the top investment priority for enterprises in 2024, overtaking both security and cloud deployment, according to a new study by IDC.

The study comprised a survey of 823 IT and business decision-makers in the U.S. 

Researchers found that 73% of those working at midsize and large enterprises utilize or plan to utilize AI within the next 12 months in a bid to enhance customer engagement. For large enterprises the proportion was higher (81%). 

At the forefront of this trend is manufacturing (84%), followed by financial services (78%), technology/software/gaming (77%), health care (68%) and retail (67%). 

The top expected benefits from implementing AI and machine learning to support IT solutions are improved operating efficiency and improved customer support with agent-assist tools and intelligent chatbots. 

Beyond AI infrastructure, business decision-makers said they are also focused on cloud services for on-demand provisioning and elastic scaling, security solutions to protect data across cloud and edge locations and network enhancements for multi-cloud connectivity and ease of use. 

However, most enterprises said they are still in the early stages of their digital transformation journey with only 32% having full implementation. Large enterprises are leading the effort. 

Additionally, the lack of external IT partners, internal skills gap and the lack of buy-in from the C-suite, along with budget constraints, are key challenges that organizations must surmount to implement digital infrastructure, said IDC. 

Rapid provisioning and ease of network/IT management are other key challenges and requirements for digital transformation highlighted in the study. 

The report was sponsored by telecommunications company Lumen Technologies.