Global management consultancy Kearney has published its 2024 AIA Global AI Assessment, revealing that only 4% of businesses worldwide qualify as “leaders” in AI and analytics, including their use of generative AI.
The 2024 AIA study surveyed more than 1,000 leaders from 12 industries and 25 countries in mid-2024, ranking their maturity in AI and analytics processes, particularly the new technologies surrounding AI.
Investing in AI for growth
Kearney’s report confirms that businesses are not only aware of how big data, AI, and analytics will impact revenue generation and enhance business strategies, but they are investing to stay ahead of the curve, too.
More than three-quarters of organizations (77%) anticipate that GenAI will improve customer experience and believe it will boost future revenue by making processes more efficient (76%), helping them make better decisions. With these benefits in mind, global companies have increased their GenAI budgets by 22% in the past year, and GenAI now constitutes more than a quarter (26%) of their total data and analytics budgets.
Struggling to keep pace
While AI’s ability to increase revenue and improve efficiency is widely recognized, many companies are still struggling to keep up:
- A third of businesses (33%) have not yet started implementing GenAI technologies, or identified use cases.
- More than half (51%) of companies have immature AI and analytics capabilities.
- These organizations may have developed strategies and identified use cases for analytics and AI, but they are struggling to build, scale, and sustain the necessary capabilities.
- Most companies still lack the AI and analytics capabilities needed for meaningful results—45% cited a lack of technical expertise as a major barrier to GenAI adoption, leaving a large portion of businesses unable to fully leverage AI’s advantages.
Emerging AI leaders
Encouragingly, an almost equal percentage of companies (49%) enjoy more mature AI and analytics capabilities, with 4% established as leaders. These leaders demonstrate advanced AI integration, with 47% adopting AI-specific governance tools compared to 3% of laggards. Additionally, 72% of AI and analytics initiatives in the “leaders” category are supported by the C-suite, showcasing their competitive advantage and readiness for the next evolution in AI.
Bharath Thota, partner at Kearney, said: “These findings reveal a critical divide. Many businesses are lagging behind, stuck with immature AI capabilities, struggling with disjointed data, and missing out on its benefits as a result. It’s time for these companies to act—falling behind is not an option in this fast-evolving landscape.
“By comparison, for the successful companies, a strong AI and analytics strategy is inseparable from business outcomes and demands continuous tracking for tangible results, which ultimately sets them apart from the competition.”
Ramyani Basu, partner at Kearney, added: “AI will not replace humans, but it will fundamentally change the way we work, promising a revolution greater than the Internet. But remember, this is like 1995, not 2005; we are at the start of the AI journey, and like the early years of the Internet, we must be data-informed, leveraging human creativity to expand AI’s capabilities.
“AI adoption requires a cultural shift toward experimentation. Companies need to prioritize agility, embrace failures, and concentrate on practical, real-time results to adapt and sustain growth. Now, with GenAI taking AI to the next level, the opportunities for companies to leverage data to drive innovation and competitive advantage are virtually endless.”
To read the full 2024 AIA Global AI Assessment, visit the website here.
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Notes to editors
This report was developed using a comprehensive survey administered to a representative sample of executives at more than 1,000 organizations across six industry clusters and over 20 countries globally. The survey was designed to establish a market-leading AI and analytics benchmark, enabling companies to understand the state of AI and analytics practices in their organization, how they compare with their peers, and what they can do to move forward.
1Â Increase in budget as a percentage of analytics budget
