Updated December 9, 2024: The number of individuals Microsoft has helped train and certify over the past year has been updated to 23 million and includes initiatives across Microsoft.
By 2024, generative artificial intelligence has emerged as a key driver of business outcomes across all industries. Already this new generation of AI is have an incredible effect on our world – yet companies and industries are just scratching the surface of what is possible as they continue to develop new use cases across every role and function.
To help guide organizations on their AI transformation journey, Microsoft recently commissioned a new study through IDC, The business opportunity of AI. IDC’s findings show that when organizations truly commit to and invest in artificial intelligence, the potential for return on investment (ROI) grows significantly.
According to IDC, the survey results reflect an inflection point as AI gains momentum across industries. As companies around the world go deeper with artificial intelligence, Microsoft customers continue to implement innovative new solutions and discover how tools like Copilot can transform their daily work. In telecommunications, Lumen Technologies estimates that Copilot saves sales reps an average of four hours per week, which equates to $50 million annually. In healthcare, doctors at Chi Mei Medical Center now spend 15 minutes instead of an hour writing medical reports, and nurses can document patient information in under five minutes. Pharmacists are now able to double the number of patients they see per day. In retail, AI models help Coles predict the flow of 20,000 stock units into 850 stores with remarkable accuracy, generating 1.6 billion predictions daily.
IDC’s 2024 top 5 trends for AI
IDC’s findings align with what Microsoft is seeing as we work with companies across industries to implement AI. We’ve highlighted more than 200 of our best AI customer stories to show a sampling of how AI is already driving impact today. Below is a look at the key trends we see in IDC’s survey and the impact of those trends on organizations working with artificial intelligence today.
#1 Improved productivity has become tabletop gaming. Employee productivity is the no. 1 business outcome that companies are trying to achieve with AI. The study shows that 92% of AI users surveyed are using AI for productivity, and 43% say productivity use cases have provided the greatest ROI. While productivity is a top goal, generative AI use cases that are close behind include customer engagement, top-line growth, cost management, and product or service innovation—and nearly half of companies surveyed expect AI to have a high impact on all these areas over the next 24 months.
Customer Snapshot:
At global marketing and advertising agency dentsu, employees are already saving 15 to 30 minutes a day by using Copilot for tasks such as summarizing chats, generating presentations and building executive summaries.
“Copilot has transformed the way we deliver creative concepts to our clients, enabling real-time collaboration. Agility, security and uniqueness are critical, but our goal is to lead this transformation across the entire business, from top to bottom.”
— Takuya Kodama, Business Strategy Manager at dentsu
#2 Companies gravitate towards more advanced AI solutions. Over the next 24 months, more companies expect to build custom AI solutions tailored directly to industry needs and business processes, including customized co-pilots and AI agents. This shows a growing maturity in AI fluency as companies realize the value of out-of-the-box use cases and expand to more advanced scenarios.
Customer Snapshot:
Siemens has developed Siemens Industrial Copilot, which has eased the challenges caused by increasing complexity and labor shortages for dozens of customers in various industries.
“In fully understanding GenAI’s transformational potential, it is important to remember that production does not have an ‘undo’ button. It takes diligence and effort to mature AI to industrial quality. Siemens Industrial Copilot for Engineering significantly eases our customers’ workload and solves the pressing challenges of skills shortages and increasing complexity in industrial automation. This AI-powered solution is a game-changer for our industry with over 50 customers already using it to increase efficiency and tackle labor shortages.”
— Boris Scharinger, AI Strategist at Siemens Digital Industries
#3 Generative AI adoption and value is growing across industries. Although relatively new to the market, generative AI adoption is expanding rapidly – 75% of respondents report current usage up from 55% in 2023. ROI of generative AI is highest in Financial Services, followed by Media & Teleco, Mobility, Retail and consumer goods, energy, manufacturing, healthcare and education. In general, generative AI generates higher ROI across industries.
Customer Snapshot:
Providence has leveraged AI to expand and improve patient care, streamline processes and workflows, and improve the efficiency of nursing staff.
“Whether we’re partnering with organizations at the forefront of this technology – like Microsoft – and building tailored solutions through Azure OpenAI Service, advancing clinical research to help cancer patients receive personalized and precise treatments faster, or “pressing the easy button ” and by using established technologies such as Microsoft 365 Copilot or DAX Copilot, we have successfully stayed at the forefront of this technological revolution. For example, doctors using DAX save Copilot, an average of 5.33 minutes per visit, and 80% of physicians reported lower cognitive load after using DAX Copilot.”
— Sarah Vaezy, EVP, Chief Strategy and Digital Officer at Providence
#4 AI leaders experience greater returns and accelerated innovation. While companies using generative AI average $3.7x ROI, senior executives using generative AI realize significantly higher returns with an average ROI of $10.3. In addition to the increased business value, managers are also on an accelerated path to building and implementing new solutions – 29% of managers implement AI in less than 3 months versus 6% of companies in the laggard category.
Customer Snapshot:
Södra is an international forest industry group that processes forest products from 52,000 owners into renewable, climate-smart products for the international market. Every day, Södra collects and interprets climate impact data to make thousands of decisions for every part of the value chain.
“With innovative AI technology from Microsoft, our business experts and data scientists have been able to help make us more sustainable while significantly improving revenue.”
— Cristian Brolin, Chief Digital Officer at Södra
#5 Looking ahead: Skill remains a top challenge. 30 percent of respondents indicated a lack of specialized AI skills in-house, and 26 percent say they lack employees with the necessary skills to learn and work with AI. This is related to results from Microsoft and LinkedIn 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Reportwhich found that 55 percent of business leaders are concerned about having enough skilled talent to fill roles.
That’s why over the past year we’ve helped train and certify over 23 million people in more than 200 countries in digital skills. And we are committed to working in partnership with governments, education institutions, industry and civil society to help millions more learn to use artificial intelligence.
Customer Snapshot:
The University of South Florida (USF) is partnering with Microsoft to streamline processes and improve innovation for all aspects of university operations with AI.
“We’re giving students a leg up to do amazing things with artificial intelligence as part of tomorrow’s workforce. Our focus on generative AI not only drives operational efficiency, but also empowers our community to unlock new levels of creativity and impact, which further positions USF as a leader in AI adoption, which includes being among the first universities in the country to form a college dedicated to AI, cybersecurity and computing.”
— Sidney Fernandes, CIO & VP of Digital Experiences at the University of South Florida
AI’s growing economic impact
While companies today are largely implementing out-of-the-box generative AI solutions and seeing significant ROI, more than half of respondents expect to build custom industry and line of business applications over the next 24 months – showing that today’s ROI is quickly becoming tomorrow’s competitive advantage.
“We are at an inflection point in the development of autonomous agents, beginning an evolution from using only off-the-shelf assistants and co-pilots that support knowledge discovery and content generation to customized AI agents to perform complex, multi-step workflows across a digital world.” says Ritu Jyoti, GVP/GM, AI and Data Research at IDC. “With responsible technology use and workplace transformation, IDC predicts that business spending to adopt artificial intelligence will have a cumulative global economic impact of $19.9 trillion through 2030 and drive 3.5% of global GDP in 2030.”
Key findings from IDC’s The Business Opportunity of AI study include:
- Generative AI use increased from 55% in 2023 to 75% in 2024.
- For every $1 a company invests in generative AI, the ROI is $3.7x.
- Top executives using generative AI achieve an ROI of $10.3.
- On average, AI implementations take less than 8 months, and organizations realize value within 13 months.
- Within 24 months, most organizations plan to expand beyond pre-built AI solutions to advanced AI workloads that are customized or custom-built.
- The ROI of generative AI is highest in financial services, followed by media and telecommunications, mobility, retail and consumer goods, energy, manufacturing, healthcare and education.
- 43% say productivity use has provided the greatest return on investment.
- The primary way organizations monetize AI today is through productivity use. In the next 24 months, greater focus will be placed on functional and industry use cases.
- The top barrier to implementing AI is the lack of both technical and day-to-day AI skills.
Learn how to fuel your AI journey
IDC’s survey, which included more than 4,000 business leaders and AI decision makers around the world, also identifies the biggest barriers organizations face when implementing AI. As companies integrate new solutions, they navigate important considerations such as data protection, responsible use, and the need for investment in both technology and skills.
Wherever you are in your cloud and AI transformation journey, Microsoft can help. To learn more about how customers across industries are shaping their AI transformation with Microsoft, visit Microsoft’s AI in Action page. For more on how to get started on your AI transformation journey, visit Microsoft AI.
IDC InfoBrief: Sponsored by Microsoft, 2024 Business Opportunity of AI, IDC# US52699124, November 2024