Global cloud computing platform Vultr has unveiled a comprehensive industry report titled ‘The New Battleground: Unlocking the Power of AI Maturity with Multi-Model AI.’ This pioneering study establishes a strong link between an organization’s AI maturity and its capacity to achieve superior business outcomes, surpassing competitors in revenue growth, market share, customer satisfaction, and operational efficiency.
Commissioned by Vultr and executed by S&P Global Market Intelligence, the research surveyed over 1,000 US-based enterprise IT and digital transformation decision-makers responsible for their organization’s AI strategy across various sectors, including healthcare, life sciences, government, retail, manufacturing, and financial services.
Among the respondents, nearly three-quarters (72%) exhibited higher levels of AI maturity. The report also provides qualitative insights through in-depth interviews with AI decision-makers and practitioners across the United States.
Kevin Cochrane, CMO of Vultr’s parent company, Constant, emphasized the significance of AI maturity in the current competitive landscape. “As organizations worldwide capitalize on strategic investments in AI, we wanted to examine the state of AI maturity. What we’ve found is that transformational organizations are winning the hearts, minds, and share of wallets while also improving their operating margins. AI maturity is the new competitive weapon, and businesses must invest now to accelerate AI models, training, and scaling in production.”
Companies with Advanced AI Practices
The study would underscore the importance of a multi-model AI approach, where the number of models actively used within an organization serves as a reliable measure of its AI capabilities and overall maturity. On average, organizations would currently operate 158 distinct AI models, with projections indicating this number will rise to 176 within the next year. This growth underscores the rapid acceleration in AI adoption, with 89% of organizations expecting advanced AI utilization within two years.
AI is set to become pervasive across enterprises, with 80% adoption anticipated across all business functions within 24 months. This widespread integration will have a profound impact on enterprise-wide performance. According to the report commissioned by Vultr, companies with advanced AI practices are significantly outperforming their peers. Specifically, 50% of these transformational companies are performing ‘significantly better’ than their industry peers, with substantial improvements reported in customer satisfaction (90%), revenue (91%), cost reduction/margin expansion (88%), risk management (87%), marketing (89%), and market share (89%).
Mr. Cochrane highlighted AI’s transformative impact on businesses, stating, “AI’s transformative impact is undeniable – it’s devouring industries and becoming ubiquitous in every facet of business operations. This necessitates a new era of technology, underpinned by a composable stack and platform engineering to effectively scale these innovations.”
The report commissioned by Vultr also indicates that AI spending is expected to outpace traditional IT expenditure. To fully leverage AI’s potential, 88% of surveyed enterprises plan to increase their AI spending by 2025, with 49% anticipating moderate to significant increases. Key findings related to infrastructure, partner, and implementation strategies include:
- Two-thirds of organizations are custom-building their models or using open-source models for cloud-native applications
- By 2025, the AI infrastructure stack will be hybrid cloud, with 35% of inference taking place on-premises and 38% in the cloud/multi-cloud environments
- Due to a shortage of skilled personnel, 47% of enterprises are partnering with external experts for AI strategy, implementation, and large-scale deployment. Only 15% rely on hyperscalers such as AWS, GCP, or Azure
- The top attributes of cloud platforms for scaling AI across organizations include being open, secure, and compliant
Hyperscalers and AI
Kevin Cochrane noted the shift in the infrastructure market, stating, “For years the hyperscalers have dominated the infrastructure market, relying on scale, resources, and technological expertise, but that is all about to change. Over the next decade, everything will be rebuilt with AI at the core, with organizations integrating the principles of cloud engineering into their operations. As a result, we will see the rise of AI specialists and independents as they empower organizations to do transformative work and gain a competitive edge.”
The report also identifies significant challenges to scaling AI across enterprises. Budget limitations, obtaining AI algorithms, a lack of skilled personnel, and data quality are among the top hurdles organizations must address to advance their AI maturity. For those at a transformational level, governance may become a critical issue, while company culture can be a larger challenge for those still in the accelerating stage.
