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Almost Half of Businesses Have Implemented Machine Learning, but What Is Next for the Technology?

Bartek Roszak
STX Next

The popularity of machine learning (ML) has skyrocketed in recent years, driven largely by its ability to process data at much faster speeds than humans and produce invaluable insights to unlock business value. By 2026, Gartner predicts that over 80% of enterprises will have used GenAI APIs and models and/or deployed GenAI-enabled applications in production environments, up from less than 5% in early 2023.

Recent STX Next research found that at present, almost half of businesses have now implemented machine learning into business processes in some way, with the most common application being image detection/segmentation, followed by recommendation systems and optical character or text recognition.

Despite the growth in popularity of artificial intelligence (AI) and ML across a number of industries, there is still a huge amount of unrealized potential, with many businesses playing catch-up and still planning how ML solutions can best facilitate processes. Further progression could be limited without investment in specialized technical teams to drive development and integration.

Room for Growth

At present, STX Next data suggests that 50% of CTOs still do not have a single member of staff employed in an AI, ML or data science role at present, underlining the scale of the progress that still needs to be made. To add to this, just a quarter of companies have a separate AI/data division and 38% have between just one and five team members in a dedicated AI/ML or data science role.
Clearly, while many leaders acknowledge AI's potential, there is still a need for more investment in specialized resources to support its development. Implementing machine learning in one form or another will soon be crucial in keeping pace with changes in the industry and meeting customer expectations. As with the roll out of any new technology, its success relies on investment in time, headcount and finances.

This will no doubt become more prominent over the next year and beyond as organizations look for more ways to economically and efficiently scale their business and tackle new challenges. In many cases, leaders will need to assess the extent to which off-the-shelf ML solutions can support their businesses, and work out how much they need to invest in R&D to deliver the required level of expertise.

AI ≠ ChatGPT

AI's popularity and constant presence in headlines this year has been driven largely by the success of large language models like ChatGPT. However, AI has many use cases beyond models like these and can support many business functions that organizational leaders may not yet be aware of.

In 2024, we'll no doubt see an increase in uptake of AI and ML in other business processes. While large language models serve a valuable purpose, they are just one part of AI and ML's arsenal.
The most common applications of AI at the moment are largely unsurprising, as AI's ability to tackle repetitive processes and recognize patterns within images and text is clear and evident. What is surprising is that these are still only adopted by a quarter of businesses. AI can and will revolutionize many industries, but there is still work to be done in educating the market on its capabilities.

Striking the Balance

AI and ML's popularity shows no sign of slowing. CTOs looking to stay ahead of the curve should embrace its potential, remaining careful to balance the needs of the business with the unique needs of clients and customers.

There is also the need to balance the implementation of AI with support for existing employees. In many cases, AI can enable people to exceed in their roles and create new efficiencies, rather than replacing them altogether. Businesses that are able to leverage its potential by enhancing their skillsets will reap the rewards in 2024.

Bartek Roszak is Head of AI at STX Next

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Almost Half of Businesses Have Implemented Machine Learning, but What Is Next for the Technology?

Bartek Roszak
STX Next

The popularity of machine learning (ML) has skyrocketed in recent years, driven largely by its ability to process data at much faster speeds than humans and produce invaluable insights to unlock business value. By 2026, Gartner predicts that over 80% of enterprises will have used GenAI APIs and models and/or deployed GenAI-enabled applications in production environments, up from less than 5% in early 2023.

Recent STX Next research found that at present, almost half of businesses have now implemented machine learning into business processes in some way, with the most common application being image detection/segmentation, followed by recommendation systems and optical character or text recognition.

Despite the growth in popularity of artificial intelligence (AI) and ML across a number of industries, there is still a huge amount of unrealized potential, with many businesses playing catch-up and still planning how ML solutions can best facilitate processes. Further progression could be limited without investment in specialized technical teams to drive development and integration.

Room for Growth

At present, STX Next data suggests that 50% of CTOs still do not have a single member of staff employed in an AI, ML or data science role at present, underlining the scale of the progress that still needs to be made. To add to this, just a quarter of companies have a separate AI/data division and 38% have between just one and five team members in a dedicated AI/ML or data science role.
Clearly, while many leaders acknowledge AI's potential, there is still a need for more investment in specialized resources to support its development. Implementing machine learning in one form or another will soon be crucial in keeping pace with changes in the industry and meeting customer expectations. As with the roll out of any new technology, its success relies on investment in time, headcount and finances.

This will no doubt become more prominent over the next year and beyond as organizations look for more ways to economically and efficiently scale their business and tackle new challenges. In many cases, leaders will need to assess the extent to which off-the-shelf ML solutions can support their businesses, and work out how much they need to invest in R&D to deliver the required level of expertise.

AI ≠ ChatGPT

AI's popularity and constant presence in headlines this year has been driven largely by the success of large language models like ChatGPT. However, AI has many use cases beyond models like these and can support many business functions that organizational leaders may not yet be aware of.

In 2024, we'll no doubt see an increase in uptake of AI and ML in other business processes. While large language models serve a valuable purpose, they are just one part of AI and ML's arsenal.
The most common applications of AI at the moment are largely unsurprising, as AI's ability to tackle repetitive processes and recognize patterns within images and text is clear and evident. What is surprising is that these are still only adopted by a quarter of businesses. AI can and will revolutionize many industries, but there is still work to be done in educating the market on its capabilities.

Striking the Balance

AI and ML's popularity shows no sign of slowing. CTOs looking to stay ahead of the curve should embrace its potential, remaining careful to balance the needs of the business with the unique needs of clients and customers.

There is also the need to balance the implementation of AI with support for existing employees. In many cases, AI can enable people to exceed in their roles and create new efficiencies, rather than replacing them altogether. Businesses that are able to leverage its potential by enhancing their skillsets will reap the rewards in 2024.

Bartek Roszak is Head of AI at STX Next

Hot Topics

The Latest

As businesses increasingly rely on high-performance applications to deliver seamless user experiences, the demand for fast, reliable, and scalable data storage systems has never been greater. Redis — an open-source, in-memory data structure store — has emerged as a popular choice for use cases ranging from caching to real-time analytics. But with great performance comes the need for vigilant monitoring ...

Kubernetes was not initially designed with AI's vast resource variability in mind, and the rapid rise of AI has exposed Kubernetes limitations, particularly when it comes to cost and resource efficiency. Indeed, AI workloads differ from traditional applications in that they require a staggering amount and variety of compute resources, and their consumption is far less consistent than traditional workloads ... Considering the speed of AI innovation, teams cannot afford to be bogged down by these constant infrastructure concerns. A solution is needed ...

AI is the catalyst for significant investment in data teams as enterprises require higher-quality data to power their AI applications, according to the State of Analytics Engineering Report from dbt Labs ...

Misaligned architecture can lead to business consequences, with 93% of respondents reporting negative outcomes such as service disruptions, high operational costs and security challenges ...

A Gartner analyst recently suggested that GenAI tools could create 25% time savings for network operational teams. Where might these time savings come from? How are GenAI tools helping NetOps teams today, and what other tasks might they take on in the future as models continue improving? In general, these savings come from automating or streamlining manual NetOps tasks ...

IT and line-of-business teams are increasingly aligned in their efforts to close the data gap and drive greater collaboration to alleviate IT bottlenecks and offload growing demands on IT teams, according to The 2025 Automation Benchmark Report: Insights from IT Leaders on Enterprise Automation & the Future of AI-Driven Businesses from Jitterbit ...

A large majority (86%) of data management and AI decision makers cite protecting data privacy as a top concern, with 76% of respondents citing ROI on data privacy and AI initiatives across their organization, according to a new Harris Poll from Collibra ...

According to Gartner, Inc. the following six trends will shape the future of cloud over the next four years, ultimately resulting in new ways of working that are digital in nature and transformative in impact ...

2020 was the equivalent of a wedding with a top-shelf open bar. As businesses scrambled to adjust to remote work, digital transformation accelerated at breakneck speed. New software categories emerged overnight. Tech stacks ballooned with all sorts of SaaS apps solving ALL the problems — often with little oversight or long-term integration planning, and yes frequently a lot of duplicated functionality ... But now the music's faded. The lights are on. Everyone from the CIO to the CFO is checking the bill. Welcome to the Great SaaS Hangover ...

Regardless of OpenShift being a scalable and flexible software, it can be a pain to monitor since complete visibility into the underlying operations is not guaranteed ... To effectively monitor an OpenShift environment, IT administrators should focus on these five key elements and their associated metrics ...