AI Adoption Is Outpacing Workforce Readiness, SAP-Sponsored Research Finds
AI adoption is moving faster than the workforce, processes and capabilities needed to support it, according to new research from Economist Enterprise sponsored by SAP. The findings are based on a survey of 2,015 C-suite executives at midsize organizations across the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific.
- The survey covers 2,015 C-suite executives at midsize organizations.
- Sixty-six percent of CFOs say AI adoption is ahead of workforce transformation.
- Only 47% of midsize-company operations leaders report measurable AI value.
- Fifty-four percent of CHROs identify workforce skills as least prepared for AI transformation.
Finance leaders see AI as a competitive tool
The research covers midsize organizations with revenues of $50 million to $1 billion and examines how finance, HR, supply chain and operations leaders are responding to AI. Across all three areas, the central challenge has shifted from deciding whether to adopt AI to preparing the organization to use it effectively.
For finance leaders, capital availability and financing costs are among the most pressing concerns, cited by 41% of respondents. AI is therefore being considered as a way for midsize companies to compete with organizations that have historically had deeper resources.
Reducing labor costs ranks last among CFOs’ AI objectives, at 16%. Their leading priorities are improving operational efficiency, cited by 41%, accelerating innovation, at 31%, and modernizing legacy systems, at 30%. However, 66% of CFOs say AI adoption is moving ahead of workforce transformation efforts.
Operations leaders face a combined efficiency and resilience challenge
Nearly half of C-suite executives rank supply chain, procurement and operations among their organization’s three most influential functions. The research places these areas on par with finance and behind only sales and technology.
Operations leaders are contending with disruption and resilience pressures as they expand their use of AI. Supply chain disruption is a top concern for 43% of them, while 38% identify operational resilience. Two in five say balancing efficiency and resilience is their defining challenge. That share rises to 48% in manufacturing organizations.
Only 47% of operations leaders at midsize companies report measurable value from AI investments, compared with 62% at organizations with revenues exceeding US$1 billion. Just 4% say AI and workforce transformation are advancing as fully integrated initiatives, while 59% say AI adoption is moving ahead of workforce change.
HR is under pressure to prepare the workforce
HR leaders report the fastest change among the functions covered. Nearly 74% of CHROs say their function is significantly more involved in workforce transformation than it was three years ago.
At the same time, 54% of CHROs identify workforce skills as the area least prepared for AI transformation. CHROs are more than four times as likely as their executive peers to identify skills shortages as requiring immediate attention.
SAP says the research points to an AI readiness gap that is also an opportunity, particularly for growing companies. Midsize organizations may be able to align technology, people and processes more quickly because they often have flatter structures and greater agility. The findings suggest that measurable value will depend less on the amount invested in AI than on how effectively companies connect AI initiatives with workforce transformation and business process change.
