• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, November 15, 2023

Vendors can rattle on about how marketers are embracing AI. But few firms are ready for it globally, according to the Cisco AI Readiness Index, a new study from Cisco. 

Among other things, 81% of marketers surveyed said they suffer from the fact that data exists in silos across their organizations.

While 95% of organizations have a highly defined AI strategy in place, or are at least developing one, 61% believe they have a one-year window to implement it. 

Ninety-seven percent have felt a greater urgency to deploy AI technologies in their organization over the past six months.

Still, 84% of marketers believe AI will have a major impact on their businesses. 

In terms of strategy, 73% are benchmarked as either Pacesetters or Chasers, and only 4% are Laggards. 

When it comes to infrastructure, only 17% of have networks that are fully flexible to handle AI workloads and their complexity, while 23% have limited or nonexistent scalability within their current IT infrastructures. 

Within companies, 82% of those on boards and company leaders are showing high or moderate receptiveness to AI. But 22% of middle managers have limited or no willingness, and 31% of companies say employees are reluctant or downright resistant.

This all proves there is work to be done. 

“The race to AI Readiness is on, with organizations under intense pressure to shift from strategic planning to execution mode in order to capitalize on the transformative potential that AI represents,” says Liz Centoni, executive vice president and general manager, applications and chief strategy officer for Cisco.  

Centoni adds: “To realize the benefit of AI-powered products and services, companies need solutions that secure and observe their AI models and toolchains to ensure performance, secure sensitive data and systems, and deliver trustworthy and responsible AI outcomes.”

The Cisco AI Readiness Index is based on a double-blind survey of 8,161 business and IT leaders in firms with 500 or more employees across 30 markets.