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

THE QLik(AI), an expert in data integration, analytics and AI, announced results from its survey of 4,200 C-Level executives and AI decision makers, revealing what is hindering technology progress around the world and how to overcome these barriers.

Lack of AI skills, governance and regulatory issues, and insufficient resources are impeding success in implementing AI, causing many projects to stand still 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 get a return on investment in technology.

AI projects are either stuck in planning or being scrapped

The importance of AI to achieve organizational success is not underestimated, with Qlik research finding that 88% of global senior decision makers feel that AI is absolutely essential or very important to achieving success & including achieving strategic goals and increasing profits.Among executives in Brazil, 94% hold the same vision.

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

Getting more AI projects moving from planning to successful implementation will be vital for businesses to see a return on investment made 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% global and 85% in Brazil) are seeing the value in”-ready “ solutions as a good foundation for improving AI development.

Regulatory challenges, lack of skills, data governance, budgeting and trust are to blame

There are multiple factors slowing down or totally blocking these AI projects. In Brazil, the main one involves regulatory challenges, remembered by 24% of local executives interviewed in the survey. Worldwide, this factor was mentioned by 20%.

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

While there is a huge level of understanding about the need for AI, with almost all respondents (95% worldwide and in Brazil) saying they know AI capabilities could be used in their business, a lack of trust from other parts of the business seems to be holding some companies back.

Among global AI decision makers, 37% (25% in Brazil) say that their senior managers do not trust AI. Still, 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 worldwide believe that their customers also do not have confidence in AI, in Brazil the number rises to 24%.

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

A better exchange of knowledge 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 technology within their organizations and for their customers. This index rises to 88% in Brazil, highlighting the priority in promoting the benefits of technology.

Building trust is paramount to advancing AI implementation

Providing AI training to improve workforce qualification is another way to build trust and ensure 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 over the next five years.To achieve this, 76% believe that their segments need to be better at nurturing and qualifying teams for AI, and 75% think their governments need to provide more AI funding and training.In Brazil, the vision is more optimistic, with 71% of executives indicating that the country has the potential to lead the world in AI skills over the next five years.In addition, 94% advocate the need for more qualification in the country segments 70.

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

“Business leaders know the value of AI, but face a number of barriers that prevent them from moving from proofs of concept to a value-creating technology implementation.The first step in creating an AI strategy is to identify a clear use case with defined goals and success metrics, and use that to distinguish the skills, resources, and data needed to provide support at scale. In doing so, 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 to launch their AI solutions, including using Qlik Answers, the self-service solution powered by GenAI, by accessing: https://www.qlik.com/us/products/qlik-answers.