AI aspirations threatened by lack of skills for over a third of global CIOs

The research of 650 technology leaders in global enterprises across Europe, US and APAC showed that not only are enterprises struggling to attract or retain crucial talent, but their current external technology partners are not aligned to their AI ambitions either. 29% of global CIOs said their current external technology partners do not have the right capabilities in place to support AI initiatives, and 28% of global respondents feel regional variations in ability to implement AI initiatives is a key challenge.

The other leading obstacle to fulfilling AI ambitions include navigating AI governance and ethics (36%). This refers to ongoing challenges such as regulation, trust and data protection when it comes to using AI tools in a business setting. This is another concern which could be eased with support and guidance by experienced AI talent.

The survey found that 42% of CIOs also believe that training for new ways of working, a result of AI, is one of the biggest IT challenges in supporting remote and hybrid workers, and 39% said that understanding how employees use AI is now a concern.

Network performance and flexibility are additionally among the key factors preventing companies from implementing AI at scale. When asked what prevents or limits their organization’s networks from supporting large data or AI projects, 38% of global respondents said network performance, such as application responsiveness or latency, and 38% of global respondents also said their networks’ inability to scale flexibly on demand.

What’s more, networking talent was cited as the second hardest area to recruit for, with 36% of global respondents citing it as a key challenge. In fact, networking talent was even harder to recruit for than data, AI and automation, suggesting that it’s more than just AI talent that organisations are struggling to onboard, it’s the core infrastructure talent too.

In spite of these challenges, 32% of CIOs are moving forward with caution with AI implementation, and 44% are excited and ready to take on AI initiatives. Just less than one in 10 global enterprises (8%) are not ready to take on AI at all. When asked how long it will be until their organization implement AI initiatives, more than a quarter of global respondents (36%) expect to implement cybersecurity AI initiatives within the next 12 months.

Ben Elms, CEO, Expereo, comments:

“CIOs need to keep pace with market innovations, customer expectations and fierce competition when it comes to AI, while ensuring they are adopting the technology responsibly and effectively, without cutting corners. This is a difficult act to balance, and without the necessary skills in place, driven by competition for AI and core networking talent, CIOs should look to outsource crucial expertise, and partner with the right technology providers that can offer the local expertise and growth initiatives that work for them.

“Networking technology, data strategies and wider tech infrastructure are all key areas which run adjacent to AI initiatives, which must also not be ignored.”