AI skills matter more than technology

A new study by Seagate has revealed that APAC organisations are warming up to artificial intelligence (AI), but a significant number have not invested in the data and technical solutions required to support the technology fully.

According to the study, 96% of senior IT professionals across the region believe AI applications will drive productivity and business performance. However, an almost equal number of respondents (95%) believe further investments in their IT infrastructure are required to enable them to support their use of AI.

Over the next one year, nearly nine in 10 organisations plan to implement AI in areas including IT, supply chain logistics, product innovation and R&D, as well as finance and customer support.

However, two-thirds admitted that they struggled to know where to start. Plus, it doesn’t help that 31% of them don’t think enough is being invested in the necessary infrastructure to support AI initiatives.

In fact, one in five organisations said they weren’t ready or able to handle the increasing data streams from AI applications. Further, while almost all believe there is an increasing need for robust data storage solutions with growing AI applications, 15% said they have not invested sufficiently in data storage to be ready for AI now or in the future.

While it is in the interest of Seagate to highlight attitudes towards storage and infrastructure in the context of AI, the biggest barrier to the success of any AI initiative is the shortage of skills and expertise.

Today, most enterprises are faced with fragmented data without a holistic view of the customer. They have data silos, with no efficient way to put it together, or don’t know how to find the necessary data.

With software and data underpinning the success of AI initiatives, it is far more important for organisations to build up their skills to manage the data science workflow, from data preparation and processing to data modelling.

Most of the technology tools and platforms to support AI applications are already here. The question is whether organisations have the right skills to use them to their full potential – even with all the infrastructure in place.