AI and automation come with opportunities and risks, says IBM

They made the remarks during the event “AI for Business: Accelerate Automation and Optimise Cloud Cost” at Hyatt Regency Bangkok Sukhumvit on Wednesday (November 27).

Anothai Wettayakorn, president and country general manager of IBM Thailand, noted that AI and automation has the potential to boost business efficiency and growth, but could pose risks to the organisation at the same time.

Though those technologies could pose a risk to your organisation, doing nothing is not an option, he said.

According to IBM’s survey, more than two-thirds of CEOs see the potential for gains from AI and automation, and are willing to take a significant risk. 

Some 52% of CEOs are more willing to take an even higher risk to maintain the competitive edge, while 59% of them agree that they could have a competitive advantage if they could optimise the best benefits of AI and automation.

Some 43% of CEOs said that they were going to increase the tempo of internal organisation transformation, while 19% of them may slow it down.

Some CEOs, however, have decided to stop their organisational transformation due to risks to their operational excellence, such as technology costs and uncertainty over the transformation outcome.

Anothai urged CEOs to continue adopting AI and automation in their businesses, saying that those technologies would play a crucial role in the future.

“CEOs need to let go of what has always worked for their business and start rocking on innovation,” he said, adding that IBM is ready to take them to the right direction on organisational transformation.

Tarun Kumar Kalra, vice president and head of sales for Asia-Pacific at Apptio, said it is important to understand and derive the value of technology investment to ensure maximum benefits and cope with risk.

Most organisations invest in digital transformation to boost efficiency, scalability and lower costs, but they expressed concerns over profitability, performance measurement and cost recovery.

According to an IBM survey, 15-20% of organisations have invested in cloud for their business, but only 3-5% of them have achieved success.

Kalra confirmed that technology investment benefits are very diverse, covering cybersecurity, sustainability and organisational resilience. He advised organisations to make decisions on technology investment in a timely manner.

“You need to make sure you are relevant to your customers and employees by giving them the right technology and the access,” he said, adding that they would be able to realise benefits within the first three to four months after adoption.

Apptio is offering tools to enable organisations to identify and articulate the value of technology investment, including data processing, billing information, resource and business management.

CEOs should discuss with their technology experts on how they can benefit from technologies amid rapid digital transformation, Kalra added.