Over 90% CIOs plan to increase investment in AI apps: Report

While company leaders believe that artificial intelligence tools can improve experience, they cite hurdles from adopting it at scale. A recent study by online graphic design tool Canva has found that over 90% of the chief innovation officers it surveyed agreed that their own roles and their employees’ experience can ‘dramatically improve’ with AI integration. Further, 93% of the CIOs plan to increase their budget to make investments in AI apps, with over half of them planning a 50% raise. On the flip side, however, over 50% of the respondents said that access to IT talent, data security were the two main challenges in integrating AI. 

“Navigating the avalanche of new technologies designed to make business easier is proving to be harder than ever. The balancing act CIOs face is unenviable: innovate with AI but don’t contribute to app sprawl,” said Cameron Adams, co-founder and chief product officer, Canva. “Our findings reinforce that CIOs in India want to be agents of change and innovation, by choosing technology that helps their organisations have a greater impact while consolidating cost and reducing complexity.”

To be sure, the study by Canva was done by interviewing 1,360 CIOs across India, the US, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, and Australia.

Another study by Gartner in October showed that over 50% of the surveyed CIOs said that they would be deploying generative AI solutions in next 24 months, with less than 10% having already deployed such solutions. 

The Gartner study, for which over 2,400 CIOs were surveyed in 84 countries and across industries, also found cybersecurity, data analytics, and cloud platforms to be top areas of investment in 2024. Close to 50% of the CIOs are also beginning to work with CXO peers to bring IT and business area staff together to co-lead digital delivery on an enterprise-wide scale.