The majority of C-suite leaders (86%) plan to increase their investment in generative AI in 2025, but 58% of employees say they are not fully prepared to respond to advancements in technological innovation this year, according to a new survey report.
While confidence is higher amongst those in leadership positions, concern remains. Half of executives say their organisation is not fully prepared to respond to technological changes this year despite enthusiasm to increase investment, Accenture’s Pulse of Change report found.
For leaders, the main barrier to tech adoption is “limitations with data or technology infrastructure” (28%), closely followed by lack of clarity on their return on investment (26%), the report said. The main reason employees feel unprepared for technological changes this year relates to a lack of comprehensive training and clear guidelines (55%).
Accenture surveyed 3,450 C-suite leaders and 3,000 employees from outside the C-suite in the world’s largest organisations (with revenues greater than $500 million) across 20 countries. Data was collected between October and December last year.
C-suite leaders feel more confident than employees that their organisation is prepared to use these tools, but uncertainty amongst employees is slowing down implementation.
Ninety-two per cent of leaders surveyed said their employees are prepared, compared with 72% of employees who said the same. This training gap means many employees are not using these tools in their workflows to improve their proficiency.
Employees’ reasons for not using generative AI tools at work include a lack of resources for training and support (25%), accuracy concerns (23%), and difficulty integrating those tools into day-to-day tasks (22%).
This disconnect between leaders and employees also means that optimism is higher for the former. Eighty-three per cent of leaders claim their experience with generative AI over the past year allowed them to see “greater potential for positive business impact”, compared with 70% of employees.
Leaders in the C-suite were also more likely to attribute this investment to potential business outcomes, such as capitalising on advancements in technology (28%), maintaining competitiveness (20%), and increasing confidence in managing risks (20%) — ahead of improving the skills of their workforce (12%).
Consequently, only 35% of employees have a clear understanding of generative AI’s potential value across their organisations, compared with 54% of leaders in the C-suite, the report said.
— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Steph Brown at Stephanie.Brown@aicpa-cima.com.
