At the 2020 virtual Web Summit I had occasion to meet virtually with Francois Candelon, Global Director at the BCG Henderson Institute about a recent study they did with the MIT Sloan Management Review on the value that companies are getting from their artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives. I also spoke with Alan Baratz, President and CEO of D-Wave, about the practical uses of quantum computers. They had an interesting lesson to teach on how data should be handled and the best way to make AI and advanced processing technologies work best. The lesson in short, is that these technologies work best when they are used to augment humans, changing the way they work. The BCG Henderson Institute and MIT Sloan Management Review study was conducted with more than 3,000 executives worldwide and revealed that more than half of respondents are deploying AI and six out of ten have an AI strategy in 2020, up from four out of ten in 2018.

According to the Digital Banking Report, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by financial institutions of all sizes continues to escalate, as banks and credit unions better understand the benefits of the technology in reducing risk, improving operations, and enhancing the customer experience. While most organizations recognize that they are in the early stages of development, the pandemic has only accelerated this deployment. Much of the activity around the use of data, AI and machine learning in the banking industry has traditionally revolved around risk and fraud mitigation. More recently, a growing number of organizations have recognized how firms within and outside the financial services industry have used AI to improve personalization, customer communication and engagement. According to research by MIT Sloan Management Review and the Boston Consulting Group, the challenge of achieving data and analytics maturity has moved from understanding the power of AI to actually recognizing the financial benefits of the technology. Unfortunately, the research found that only 10% of companies that deploy AI actually realize significant financial benefits.

Enterprises seeing real success with artificial intelligence have something in common: they are capable of learning quickly from their successes or failures and re-applying those lessons into the mainstream of their businesses. Of course, there's nothing new about the ability to rinse, learn and repeat, which has been a fundamental tenet of business success for ages. But because AI is all about real-time, nanosecond responsiveness to a range of things, from machines to markets, the ability to leap and learn at a blinding pace has taken on a new urgency. At this moment, only 10% of companies are seeing financial benefits from their AI initiatives, a survey of 3,000 executives conducted by Boston Consulting Group and MIT Sloan Management Review finds. There is a lot of AI going around: more than half, 57%, piloting or deploying AI -- up from 46% in 2017.

Enterprises seeing real success with artificial intelligence have something in common: they are capable of learning quickly from their successes or failures and re-applying those lessons into the mainstream of their businesses. Of course, there's nothing new about the ability to rinse, learn and repeat, which has been a fundamental tenet of business success for ages. But because AI is all about real-time, nanosecond responsiveness to a range of things, from machines to markets, the ability to leap and learn at a blinding pace has taken on a new urgency. At this moment, only 10% of companies are seeing financial benefits from their AI initiatives, a survey of 3,000 executives conducted by Boston Consulting Group and MIT Technology Review finds. There is a lot of AI going around: more than half, 57%, piloting or deploying AI -- up from 46% in 2017.

A global survey of more than 3,000 managers, as well as interviews with executives and scholars, has reported that a majority of companies are developing artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities but have yet to gain significant financial benefits from their efforts. The survey, published in the Expanding AI's impact with organisational learning study from Boston Consulting Group in partnership with MIT Sloan Management Review, found that just one in 10 companies generates significant financial benefits from AI. The study notes that the adoption of AI across industries is increasing, and more companies perceive that AI drives both strategic opportunity and risk. The researchers found that 57% of companies report having AI pilots or have deployed AI. This is a significant increase from 2018, when 44% of companies said they were piloting or deploying AI.

Only 10% of companies obtain significant financial benefits from artificial intelligence technologies. Our research shows that these companies intentionally change processes, broadly and deeply, to facilitate organizational learning with AI. Better organizational learning enables them to act precisely when sensing opportunity and to adapt quickly when conditions change. Their strategic focus is organizational learning, not just machine learning. Organizational learning with AI is demanding.