Who are winners and losers in the AI race?

Earlier this year we surveyed SME leaders across Scotland about artificial intelligence (AI) and the findings backed up what we’ve known for a while, namely that the question is no longer ‘if’ AI should be part of your strategy, but ‘how’.

The vast majority of Scottish SMEs said they expected AI to boost productivity, with 88 per cent of businesses saying productivity gains were their main priority for implementing AI. The survey showed that 57 per cent of companies had already invested in AI, with approximately 90 per cent planned to invest.

Some may be surprised that only just over half of Scottish SMEs had invested in AI, but this was tempered by an overwhelming appetite for investing in AI. It supports the notion that AI is rapidly becoming the great enabler for businesses who have the ambition to innovate, scale, and outpace their competition.

Darren Auld is an expert in ‘special ops’ software delivery

IT systems (36 per cent), admin (29 per cent), and sales and marketing (21 per cent) came out as the main areas being targeted by SMEs in order to achieve productivity gains.

Other findings from the survey included that 70 per cent of SMEs don’t believe AI will lead to layoffs, one of the more contentious themes when it comes to narratives around artificial intelligence.

What is certain is that AI has never been as accessible as it is today, and it will be even more so tomorrow. The survey revealed that only 20 per cent of companies had trialled AI before implementing it, and that was one of the bigger surprises to come out of the research, given that best practice recommends putting in place pilots before you adopt.

Adoption of AI by SMEs seems to be in the news on a regular basis these days. Last month, UK-wide SME research by the University of St Andrews Business School found that artificial intelligence has a significant positive impact on productivity levels for small and medium enterprises compared to non-adopters. The study, led by Professor Ross Brown, found that productivity gains ranged between 27 and 133 per cent.

When we engage with clients and peers, we talk about a four pillar approach that helps to make the AI journey as effective as possible, while de-risking the investment to the greatest extent possible. Essentially, companies need to identify their core challenges, utilise high quality data, test AI via pilot projects, and then continually evolve AI within the business.

McKinsey recently released its annual global survey on AI, revealing that larger corporations are starting to make organisational changes designed to generate future value from generative AI. These larger companies are beginning to take steps that drive bottom-line impact - for example, redesigning workflows as they deploy gen AI and putting senior leaders in critical roles, such as overseeing AI governance. SMEs should take heed.

When we come to revisit our SME leaders in Scotland next time around, we expect to find much higher levels of AI adoption, the writing is on the proverbial wall as AI shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. And without doubt, there will be winners and losers in the AI race.

Darren Auld is the CEO and Co-founder of ‘special ops’ software delivery firm ClearSky Logic​