Despite general investment downturn AI sees surge in spending, survey shows


In a survey commissioned by ABBYY, AI implementation has seen a surge of investment by IT executives in the US, UK, Germany, and France.
The survey, which looked into both the budgets and ROI surrounding AI implementation, also saw positive responses surrounding employee happiness, work value, and innovation.
Customers also have reason to rejoice as, “more than half of the leaders surveyed stated higher quality products and projects, along with faster delivery of their products to customers. More than a third reported improved customer service outcomes”, according to Gabrielle Lukianchuk, Chief Marketing Officer, at ABBYY.
A bright future for AI automation
The greatest investments being made in AI surround intelligent automation with mid to large businesses leading the pack in terms of spending. With 57% of IT executives expecting a 2x return on investment, intelligent automation delivered at least a 2x ROI to 47% of respondents.
This impressive ROI can be most attributed to the benefits of employing intelligent automation, as 52% of respondents reported improved efficiency as the greatest achievement of its implementation closely followed by increased productivity (48%).
Interestingly, the greatest barrier seen by respondents to the implementation of AI automation has been the “Tendency to maintain ‘old’ ways of doing things”, with 31% of respondents citing this as a reason. However, the future looks promising with AI strategies being implemented across 89% of businesses- 37% of those being a 3-5 year plan.
Smaller businesses seek to prioritize customer experience and automate sales processes as revenue generating mechanisms in 2023, while also looking to decrease liabilities such as software subscriptions and rent. However the complexity of implementing such mechanisms is reflected, as smaller businesses were more likely to only have a 1 or 2 year AI strategy.
Overall, AI budgets among enterprises of all sizes saw an 80%+ increase which can be attributed to how necessary automation, and naturally AI, has become in remaining competitive in the modern economy.
More from TechRadar Pro
In a survey commissioned by ABBYY, AI implementation has seen a surge of investment by IT executives in the US, UK, Germany, and France. The survey, which looked into both the budgets and ROI surrounding AI implementation, also saw positive responses surrounding employee happiness, work value, and innovation. Customers also…
Recent Posts
- Google Gemini’s AI coding tool is now free for individual users
- Attention, Kindle owners –today is your last chance to download backups of your ebooks
- Scooby-Doo is a good movie with a bad Rotten Tomatoes score – here’s why you should ignore the critics and watch it before it leaves Netflix
- Microsoft is testing free Office for Windows apps with ads
- Everything new on Apple TV+ in March 2025: Severance season 2 finale, Dope Thief, The Studio, and more
Archives
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- September 2018
- October 2017
- December 2011
- August 2010