Artificial intelligence is the top technology companies need to drive tangible business value as they shift to a servitised business model, according to a survey conducted by global cloud enterprise software company IFS.
The study polled 2,000 senior executives– vice presidents and above— in France, Germany, Japan, Nordics, the UK, the US, and UAE, across manufacturing, services, telecoms, energy and resources, construction and engineering and A&D industries.
Improving operational efficiency and capturing new customer segments or targeting new markets are the top reasons for leveraging AI, followed by increasing satisfaction, enhancing customer retention, and securing higher profit margins.
The Manufacturing and Services sector leads industries in the survey in terms of urgency behind building AI capabilities, followed by A&D, Telecoms, Construction and Engineering, and Energy, Utilities and Resources.
Respondents identified driving innovation and continuously building differentiation within their respective markets as the foundation to increase revenue growth and profitability.
Forty-three per cent of respondents said the momentum behind transitioning their business model towards a servitised one remains a clear priority.
The survey also revealed a significant gap between the “leaders” and “laggards” in completing the move, with 19 per cent and 23 per cent respectively.
Organisations that exhibit slow progress in building momentum for the transition cited the need to clearly define the impact on their workforce, processes, and technology landscape.
The survey also found that while executive leadership is behind the evolution of the business, obtaining a complete and actionable understanding of the impact of the shift on people and processes is crucial.
Alex Rumble, senior vice president of product marketing, analyst relations, and competitive intelligence at IFS, said servitisation is fundamentally about being customer-driven in the design, manufacturing, delivery, and servicing of products and services.
“We often hear from customers that digital transformation is not about technology. This research very clearly points to tight alignment between the C suite when it comes to evolving the business and bringing the organisation proactively along the journey,” Rumble said.
“It is the coming together of servitisation and the explosion of digital technologies that has created a perfect storm for companies to harness the power of AI, automation and ML, for example, to re-engineer and streamline their businesses behind the customers’ needs and deliver business value. That is exciting for IFS,” she added.
