AI maturity: Why it matters Figure 1: We project that AI transformation will take less time than digital transformation There is a growing consensus that AI is absolutely essential to competitive advantage. So, it’s no surprise that in 2021, 46% The companies leading the way are of CEOs (of the world’s 2,000 largest already seeing the results—42% said that companies by market capitalization) the return on their AI initiatives exceeded 2 mentioned AI on their earnings calls. their expectations, while only 1% said the return didn’t meet expectations. Our survey of over 1,600 C-suite executives and data-science leaders AI, accelerated from the world’s largest organizations found that nearly 75% of companies have integrated AI into their business strategies With early successes building confidence and reworked their cloud plans to achieve in AI as a value-driver, we estimate that AI AI success. transformation will happen much faster than digital transformation—on average, And companies are putting those plans 16 months faster (Figure 1). Source: Accenture Research into practice: Nearly a third (30%) of Note: Our estimate is derived from a natural language processing analysis of investor calls of all AI pilot initiatives are subsequently the world’s 2,000 largest companies (by market cap), from 2010 to 2021, that referenced “AI” scaled to deliver wide-ranging outcomes, and “Digital” in tandem with “business transformation,” respectively. Data was sourced from S&P from accelerating R&D timelines for earnings transcripts. new products to enhancing customer experiences. The art of AI maturity—Advancing from practice to performance 6