New Research Shows AI Vision to Action Gap
Today, WE Communications (WE) released its latest Brands in Motion global study, “Bridging the AI Expectation Gap,” which surveyed business executives across the globe. The report reveals a growing opportunity for business leaders to turn their AI vision into action — beginning with articulating that vision across both internal and external stakeholders.
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“Successful AI initiatives must align with the real-world challenges that an organization has to navigate,” said Tiffany Cook, president of client development at WE Communications. “Having an effective communications plan directly addressing AI in real-world terms will be essential to maximize AI’s business impact.”
The study points out that proactively sharing leadership’s point of view is one of the most significant ways to build momentum for AI initiatives — yet few businesses have plans in place for implementing and communicating AI integration.
Key findings:
- 83% of business leaders are optimistic about the benefits AI will bring to their organization.
- 37% actively talk about AI’s benefits within their organization.
- 92% have at least some concerns around the greater adoption of AI in their organization.
- 54% have no current investment in AI training.
There is broad recognition about the opportunity for AI to drive significant impact across a range of business functions. The leaders polled identify customer service, marketing and communications, and product development as the top three areas that would benefit most from greater adoption of AI in the workplace.
Key Strategies to Turn AI Vision Into Action
According to WE, clear consistent communication will be key for aligning all stakeholders around a company’s AI vision. The study recommends four strategies that can lay the communications foundation for AI initiatives:
- Build the AI employee engagement strategy: Audit employee sentiment and optimize to address gaps and areas of interest and exploration in the build out and implementation of the organization’s AI content and engagement strategy.
- Link to the company’s transformation journey: Modernize the company narrative and messaging to account for how AI is advancing the overall transformational journey, showing the potential to drive growth, change and innovation in ways that are most relevant and specific to the organization.
- Employ executive communications and thought leadership: C-level and company leadership messaging and platforms need to go beyond topline proclamations to spotlight consistent examples, AI progress updates and the specific behaviors and change management needed to fully harness AI.
- Update crisis and issues preparedness plans: Conduct risk assessments and scenario planning on the potential AI-related issues and considerations for your business, incorporating these into overall preparedness plans.
The study recommends greater transparency across stakeholders as a cornerstone for AI efforts: 74% of the study’s participants believe their organization should be more or equally transparent about its use of AI compared with their vendors, partner businesses and customers.
“With today’s business leaders bullish on the benefits of AI, the true leadership challenge is not whether executives will embrace AI but rather how adeptly they’ll bring their organizations, stakeholders and customers along on what promises to be among the world’s most transformative tech innovations,” Cook said.
ABOUT BRANDS IN MOTION
Now in its eighth year, WE Communications has conducted Brands in Motion global research, surveying more than 100,000+ consumers and business decision-makers to understand the impact of how perceptions shift over time. Because we believe everything is in constant motion, our job as communicators is to help our clients navigate.
Partnering with Sapio Research, WE surveyed more than 2,900 global technology executives in eight markets including the United States to understand their perspectives on the evolving AI landscape.
ABOUT WE
WE is one of the largest independent communications agencies in the world. We’re all about people — both our clients and employees — and we believe in the power of communications to move audiences to positive action. Women-founded, women-led, and fiercely independent, WE has spent more than four decades helping world-class brands tell technology-led transformation stories that shift perceptions and change behavior.
Our global reach includes a presence in more than 24 cities, partner networks that expand our footprint and client capabilities, and a team of more than 1,400 media and content strategists, creatives and data scientists across our technology, health and consumer sectors. Our work with global brands like Microsoft, McDonald’s and Volvo has been recognized by Cannes Lions, PRovoke Media SABRE Awards and PRWeek Awards, just to name a few.
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