Generative AI Delivering New Business Value and Increasing ROI
In This InfoBrief
According to IDC’s Worldwide Artificial Intelligence IT Spending Forecast, 2024–2028 (October 2024), which tracks AI software, hardware, and services across industries and use cases, enterprises worldwide are expected to invest $246 billion in AI solutions in 2024. This spending is expected to grow to $749 billion at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32.8% for 2023–2028. Enterprises worldwide are expected to invest $44 billion in GenAI solutions in 2024, significantly more than the $19 billion spent in 2023. GenAI spending is expected to exceed $304 billion by 2028 at a CAGR of 74%+ for 2023–2028.
Organizations are transitioning to a more strategic AI approach, aligning investments across applications, platforms, data, and infrastructure. The aim is to enhance the value of AI initiatives through advanced automation, greater model and data reuse, and efficient, cost-effective inference delivery from network to edge to the individual device.
IDC conducted a global study that provides unique insights into the business value of AI.
- IDC surveyed over 4,000 business leaders and decision-makers from around the world who are responsible for bringing AI transformation to life within their organizations.
- IDC also interviewed eight large enterprises about their AI strategies and use of AI within their businesses. This research provides unique insights into the business value of AI.
Key Findings
- Generative AI usage jumped from 55% in 2023 to 75% in 2024.
- On a worldwide level, the two top business outcomes organizations are trying to achieve using AI are employee productivity and top line growth.
- The primary way in which organizations are monetizing AI today is through productivity use cases. In the next 24 months, a greater focus will be placed on functional and industry use cases.
- For every $1 a company invests in GenAI, the ROI is 3.7x across industries and similar across regions.
- The ROI of GenAI is highest in financial services, followed by media and telco. Overall, GenAI is generating higher ROI across industries than traditional AI.
- The top challenge around the world is a lack of employees with the necessary skills and capabilities to utilize AI.
- Those organizations considered leaders in AI are seeing their investments pay off at a significantly higher rate than the average, particularly when compared with organizations considered laggards. Top leaders using generative AI are realizing a 10.3x return on their investment.
- Within 24 months, most organizations plan to expand beyond pre-built AI solutions to advanced AI workloads that are customized or custom-built.
