From Hype to Habit: Microsoft Report Highlights Best Practices for GenAI Adoption by Industry Leaders
IT News Online Staff
2024-11-28
According to new research released by Microsoft, generative AI (GenAI) is now being used in nearly every large organization across Australia and New Zealand (ANZ).
The findings indicate a pivotal moment, with 100 percent of survey respondents reporting personal time savings at work due to GenAI. They also report a range of other benefits, leading business leaders to examine value beyond personal productivity gains.
From hype to habit: Exploring the value of generative AI at work is based on a YouGov survey of 471 decision makers from organizations across Australia and New Zealand that employ more than 300 people. The report also features insights from interviews with leaders from more than 20 organizations that have been early adopters of Microsoft 365 (M365) Copilot, including Bank of Queensland, Endeavour Energy, TAL, Telstra and UNSW. These insights reveal best practice approaches to articulating value and return on investment (ROI), skills development, driving adoption and fostering the right culture.
Saving time and finding new areas of value
51 percent of surveyed respondents say GenAI saves employees over an hour a day, while 21 percent report time savings of more than two hours a day.
Time saved was named as an important baseline measure of success for organizations, with 43 percent of respondents saying they measure ROI by looking at the time they save by using GenAI to complete certain tasks.
The research also explores what employees are doing with their newfound time and capacity. The top areas include being able to focus more time on their core responsibilities and tasks, researching industry trends and best practices, being more creative and innovative, and seeking new business opportunities.
71 percent of respondents also say they have seen their organization's customer satisfaction levels rise since they started using generative AI.
In addition, the research shows many decision makers are taking a wider view of GenAI's value beyond personal productivity gains. This includes how the technology is enabling improved quality of work and articulating what people can do now that they couldn't before.
"Our research shows that GenAI is here to stay. As AI adoption accelerates, the conversation is shifting from personal productivity gains to broader business value. Organizations are looking at what time saved on tasks and processes means for real business outcomes, spanning everything from additional revenue and customer satisfaction to improved employee wellbeing," said Lucy Debono, Modern Work Business Group Leader, Microsoft ANZ.
Culture and change management are crucial to adoption
The survey found that IT departments have the greatest responsibility for generative AI implementation (36 percent of organizations), followed by data science and analytics (13 percent) and executive leadership (11 percent).
A clear trend emerged when speaking to several of the organizations most advanced in their M365 Copilot implementation. Those with the greatest AI adoption rates attributed their success to appointing change managers to partner with IT to drive adoption of GenAI across their organization.
This was reinforced in the survey, with 32 percent of respondents saying they have noticed more hands-on training and change management actions with GenAI adoption, compared to other technologies.
Business leaders also pointed to the evolving role of leadership to embrace adaptive leadership principles; to show employees they use AI themselves and model AI adoption from the top.
The research reinforces the value of role-specific training, while still allowing time for employees to experiment, share and innovate. Even so, only 32 percent of respondents feel their organizations adequately train employees in GenAI. Meanwhile 43 percent say their organization wants employees to become more familiar with GenAI tools and actively encourages them to use these tools.
A range of interesting cultural issues also surfaced throughout the research. For example, 19 percent of respondents feel like they are 'cheating' when they use AI to produce a final output. This suggests organizations need to do more to remove guilt around AI, which again can be achieved through leadership advocacy, a change-led focus and empowerment to experiment.
The survey found that 96 percent of respondents have faced data security and access challenges in adopting GenAI for work. Several M365 Copilot customers noted how security and data challenges surfaced issues that they were aware of but yet to act on; with their adoption of GenAI helping them to accelerate their data governance and privacy efforts.
Surprisingly, 25 percent of respondents say they use public GenAI tools at work. This highlights the importance of ensuring that organizations' technology environments have the right guardrails in place to ensure employees are aware of the risks of using public AI tools at work, and how they can enable safe and secure adoption of AI.
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