New research from engineering, technology and consulting services provider, Expleo suggests that businesses are shrugging off ‘zero return’ fears around AI projects, with 70% of those surveyed rating their organisation’s programmes a success.
However, the study of 250 UK business leaders also suggests a widening gap between early-stage experimentation and enterprise-wide adoption, with 40% highlighting integration with legacy systems as the main challenge in scaling AI-led technology programmes.
Expleo has 18 years’ experience delivering business transformation in partnership with many of Northern Ireland’s largest companies and government bodies and is an employer of more than 300 technology and engineering experts in the region. AI is central to the organisation’s strategy, and it continues to make significant investments in tools and talent to build leadership in AI integration, with its latest piece of research highlighting the growing relevance of this technology to the future of Northern Ireland commerce.
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The survey further revealed that of the projects launched in the last 12 months, only a handful were cancelled or paused, with most in planning or early development (40%), others at pilot stage (28%) and almost a third already operational (30%).
Among those who said projects had fallen short of expectations (15%), there was a general caution around their organisation’s ability to derive long-term business impact. This group cited a lack of measurable time savings for employees (41%), new insights (38%), and evidence of return on investment (34%) as their chief concerns.
“Many organisations have proved the value of AI in pilots, yet scaling those gains across complex systems still poses a challenge,” said Scott Armstrong, Head of Northern Ireland at Expleo.. “Progress depends on bringing technical execution and business outcomes closer together so that integration becomes part of transformation, not an obstacle to it.”
When asked their view on the biggest challenge to scaling AI projects after the pilot phase, business leaders highlighted integration with existing systems as the biggest blocker (40%), rising to more than half of those working in large enterprises. Around a third saw budget constraints as a limiting factor (33%) and lack of internal expertise (29%) rounded out a trio of top-of-mind issues.
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Rising costs are also a major stumbling block, with budget overruns the most common reason for cancellations or delays (38%). By contrast, cultural resistance from employees or leadership appeared to be far less significant to the group surveyed, with fewer than one in five business leaders pointing to this as an obstacle (19%).
Despite these challenges, the outlook for well executed AI programmes remains strong. Nine in ten organisations surveyed said they are likely to invest further in AI in the near future.
Armstrong concluded: “The findings show that companies ready to align their technical goals with the systems that support them can turn early AI success into sustained progress across their operations.”
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