Qlik research indicates that 49% of companies in Brazil are reducing investments in Artificial Intelligence due to trust issues

A QLik, a specialist in data integration, analytics, and Artificial Intelligence (AI), announced the results of its research involving 4,200 C-Level executives and AI decision-makers, revealing what is hindering the progress of the technology worldwide and how to overcome these barriers.

A lack of AI skills, governance and regulatory issues, and insufficient resources are hindering successful AI implementation, causing many projects to stall in the planning phases. Ready-to-use solutions are the preferred way for companies in Brazil and globally to start working with AI solutions and achieve a return on investment in the technology.

AI projects are stalled in planning or being discarded

The importance of AI for achieving organizational success is not underestimated, with Qlik's research finding that 88% of global senior decision-makers feel that AI is absolutely essential or very important for achieving success – including reaching strategic objectives and increasing profits. Among executives in Brazil, 94% share the same view.

Despite this recognition, few AI projects move from the planning phase to completion or implementation, with many being discarded. In fact, 20% of global companies and 11% of Brazilian ones have between 50 and more than 100 AI projects in the scoping or planning stage, which are not yet active projects. Among global companies, 20% also had up to 50 projects that advanced to planning or beyond but needed to be paused or canceled entirely. Among companies in Brazil, the figure drops to 17%, but it is still significant.

Moving more AI projects from planning to successful implementation will be vital for businesses to see a return on their investment in the technology and better serve their customers in the face of competition. Given the effort to realize AI projects, many AI decision-makers (74% globally and 85% in Brazil) are seeing the value in “ready-to-use” solutions as a good foundation for improving AI development.

Regulatory challenges, lack of skills, data governance, budget, and trust are the culprits

Multiple factors are slowing down or completely blocking these AI projects. In Brazil, the main one involves regulatory challenges, cited by 24% of the local executives surveyed. Globally, this factor was mentioned by 20%.

Other highlights include challenges related to the lack of skills to develop AI (23% globally and 21% in Brazil) and to implement AI after development (22% globally and in Brazil), data governance challenges (23% globally and 22% in Brazil), budget constraints (21% globally and 24% in Brazil), and a lack of reliable data for AI to function (21% globally and 22% in Brazil). 

Although there is a tremendous level of understanding about the need for AI, with almost all respondents (95% globally and in Brazil) saying they know AI capabilities could be used in their businesses, a lack of trust from other parts of the business seems to be hindering the progress of some companies.

Among global AI decision-makers, 37% (25% in Brazil) say their senior managers do not trust AI. Furthermore, 42% of them feel that lower-level employees also do not trust the technology. In Brazil, this figure rises to 46%. While 21% of executives globally believe their customers also lack trust in AI, in Brazil the number rises to 24%.

Worryingly, 61% still say that this lack of trust is significantly reducing AI investment in their businesses. In Brazil, 49% of the executives surveyed share this opinion.

Better knowledge exchange between a company and its customers can help increase this trust and subsequent investments, as 74% of global leaders seek to further promote the benefits of the technology within their organizations and to their customers. This index rises to 88% in Brazil, highlighting the priority of promoting the technology's benefits.

Building trust is paramount to advancing AI implementation

Providing AI training to upskill the workforce is another way to build trust and ensure that AI projects move beyond planning and are successfully implemented.

Globally, 65% of AI decision-makers believe their country has the potential to lead the world in AI skills in the next five years. To achieve this, 76% believe their sectors need to be better at nurturing and upskilling teams for AI, and 75% think their governments need to provide more AI funding and training. In Brazil, the view is more optimistic, with 71% of executives indicating that the country has the potential to lead the world in AI skills in the next five years. Furthermore, 94% advocate for the need for more upskilling in the sectors, and 87% highlight the importance of greater government support in the country.

“We realize that the Brazilian market has great potential for adopting Artificial Intelligence, but the challenges for its implementation are still significant. With growing pressure for increased financial margins, local companies are seeking technological solutions that offer benefits without compromising security or business stability. Without proper implementation, with quality, secure, and governed data, companies run significant risks of not capturing the financial gains that AI can provide,” says Olimpio Pereira, Country Manager of Qlik Brazil.

“Business leaders know the value of AI, but they face a series of barriers that prevent them from moving from proof of concept to a technology implementation that creates value. The first step in creating an AI strategy is to identify a clear use case, with defined success goals and metrics, and use this to distinguish the necessary skills, resources, and data needed to provide support at scale. By doing this, you begin to build trust and gain management buy-in to help you succeed,” says James Fisher, Chief Strategy Officer at Qlik.

Learn more about how Qlik is supporting customers in launching their AI solutions, including the use of Qlik Answers, the self-service solution with the power of GenAI, by visiting: https://www.qlik.com/us/products/qlik-answers.