Introduction

With AI reshaping industries at unprecedented rates, findings from the 2024 CISCO Live Report suggest Australian companies are trailing, with only four percent ready to leverage the technology, a decline from the previous year.

Across APAC use cases for AI and cloud adoption are countless including enhancing cybersecurity through to transforming network resiliency, but there’s much more to be leveraged here.

For example as companies continue facing fast-paced changes to customer experience needs, including new demands for seamless digital experiences, real-time support and hyper-personalisation – sophisticated AI-driven capabilities becomes critical.

Some of Australia’s largest companies are betting big on AI too, including Telstra’s recent $700m AI investment with Accenture.

Yet many businesses struggle to translate AI investment into tangible business value. AI projects often remain siloed, security concerns slow adoption, and enterprises lack the AI-ready infrastructure needed to scale.

But the remit is clear: get AI ready or risk falling behind.

This poses questions company executives need to be asking, but first let’s get clear on where the key challenges lie:

Infrastructure Limitations

Many organisations lack the necessary IT infrastructure to support AI initiatives – this hamstrings innovation efforts from the outset. Only 13% of Aussie companies possess the graphics processing units (GPUs) to handle future AI demands, and a mere 17% have comprehensive security measures to protect data within AI models 1.

Talent Shortage

It’s no secret there’s a scarcity of skilled AI professionals in Australia, presenting a huge barrier to AI readiness 2. This talent gap limits companies’ ability to effectively deploy and manage AI solutions.

Unmet Return on Investment (ROI) Expectations

Despite substantial investments in recent years, many Aussie companies are finding that AI initiatives are not delivering on anticipated returns. This has led to scepticism and slowed adoption rates.

These challenges aren’t industry specific either, but remain an issue across the board. So how do we bolster the AI adoption and readiness of Aussie companies? There are six questions forward-thinking CEO’s and CTO’s need to be asking themselves about AI:

1. Are we clear on our AI strategy and use cases?
With almost 70% of Australian enterprises investing in AI, and an additional 23% saying AI adoption is in their 12 month road map 4, it’s clear that Australian companies know AI readiness is a must-do, but a clear strategy is essential to maximise its value.
⦁ What business problems are we solving with AI? And what could we be solving?
⦁ Do we have a clear roadmap for integrating AI into our operations, products, or customer experience?

2. Do we have the right data infrastructure in place?
In Australia, 80% of consumers now expect personalised digital interactions and yet only 35% of enterprises say they’re confident in their AI data readiness to meet this demand 5. And customer experience is just one consideration in your AI infrastructure plan.
⦁ Is our data accurate, accessible, protected and well-organised?
⦁ Are we leveraging internal and external data sources to unlock AI’s potential?
⦁ Do we have AI-Optimised customer experience (CX) infrastructure?
⦁ What support should we invest in to do this better?

3. Do we have the right talent and expertise?
With the demand for AI infrastructure accelerating, the industry-wide skills gap will continue to hamstring AI adoption if not addressed in an innovative way. In-house talent is just one part of the equation.
⦁ Do we have skilled data scientists, AI engineers, and domain experts?
⦁ What channel partners and external experts are required to meet our strategy needs?
⦁ Are our employees being upskilled to work alongside AI systems?

4. Is our organisation culturally prepared for AI adoption?
AI readiness isn’t just about technology – embedding the right mindset into company culture is critical for adoption, too. Change is often met with resistance, and needs to be managed accordingly especially when it can be interpreted as a threat to peoples jobs.
⦁ Are we fostering an AI mindset across teams?
⦁ What is our plan to address change management and employee concerns about AI integration?
⦁ How will we communicate these changes effectively to all stakeholders including leadership, employees, clients, investors and customers?

5. Are our governance and ethical frameworks robust?
As Australia moves increasingly towards tightening regulations around AI and AI adoption, enterprises are responsible for ensuring their AI models are fair, transparent, and compliant. And third party vendors and partners need to be held accountable, too.
⦁ Do we have safeguards to ensure AI decisions are transparent, fair, and compliant with regulations?
⦁ How are we mitigating potential biases in our AI models now and into the future?
⦁ Is the technology we utilise from third party vendors and partners transparent? How do we hold them accountable to this?

6. Are we measuring the ROI of AI initiatives effectively?
While AI investment in Australia continues to grow, only 30% of Australian companies have clear, measurable ROI metrics on this 5. To drive successful AI adoption getting clarity on ROI is vital.
⦁ Do we have metrics to evaluate the success of AI-driven projects?
⦁ How are we ensuring AI investments directly align with business goals and drive growth?
⦁ Do we have the right strategic AI partners on board to achieve these objectives?

Conclusion

To understand how AI ready your company is, start by asking questions. Whilst AI remains cloudy and uncharted territory for many, have the courage to dive in and embrace it – the risk of not doing so is increasingly exponential.