2024 Generative AI Planning: How are IT Organizations Preparing?
How are CIOs and IT leaders approaching 2024 planning and budgeting to account for Generative AI (GenAI) adoption within their IT organizations?
One minute insights:
Most respondent IT organizations are still in the research phase and have not yet integrated GenAI into processes
Among those planning GenAI adoption, almost half envision starting with internal use cases as opposed to external/commercial use cases
In the next 24 months, IT leaders say their organizations are most likely to rely on vendors to help implement GenAI for customer service, resource automation or software development
IT organizations are primarily engaged in GenAI research, with process integration yet to be widely implemented
While IT organizations are experimenting with Generative AI, a majority of respondents (41%) say their organization has only conducted initial research. Only 16% of respondents say GenAI has been integrated into some processes.
Which of the following best describes your IT organization's engagement with GenAI?
n = 125
Respondents who answered “Not currently exploring GenAI, and we have no plans to” were eliminated from the survey.
A majority of IT organizations adopting GenAI apply it to both internal and external use cases
Among those who say their IT organizations have already adopted GenAI (n = 59), a majority (56%) say their current use cases include both internal workflow optimization and external/commercial use.
For those who haven’t adopted both use cases, 27% say their use cases are focused solely on optimizing internal workflow, while 15% say they’re focusing solely on external/commercial use.
Which of the following high-level use cases best describes how your IT organization is currently using GenAI?
Don’t know 0%
n = 59
Question shown only to leaders who answered “Experimented in isolated projects,” “Integrated into some processes” or “Fully integrated across operations” to the question “Which of the following best describes your IT organization's engagement with GenAI?”
Resource automation (86%) and software development (76%) are the most common focus areas among surveyed leaders at IT organizations using GenAI for internal workflow optimization (n = 49).
Which of the following best describes the way your. IT organization is currently using GenAI for optimizing internal workflows? Select all that apply.
n = 49
Other 0%
Respondents who answered “Optimizing internal workflow” or “Both” to the question “Which of the following high-level use cases best describes how your IT organization is currently using GenAI?”
Customer service (65%) and personalized content (60%) are the leading external/commercial use cases for leaders who say their IT organizations are employing GenAI in this way (n = 40).
Which of the following best describes the way your IT organization is currently using GenAI for external/commercial use? Select all that apply.
Other 0%
n = 40
Respondents who answered “External/commercial use" or "Both" to the question “Which of the following best describes your IT organization's engagement with GenAI?”; Excluding those who selected "We're not using GenAI for external/commercial use"
Nearly half of those considering GenAI adoption are prioritizing internal use cases to start
For those leaders who say their IT organization hasn’t yet adopted GenAI but plans to (n = 66), nearly half (48%) expect they’ll begin with optimizing internal workflows.
n = 66
Don’t know 0%
Note: May not add up to 100% due to rounding
Question shown only to leaders who answered “Conducted initial research, and plan to implement findings” or “Not currently exploring GenAI, but we plan to” to the question “Which of the following best describes your IT organization's engagement with GenAI?”
Generative AI use cases for IT
Question: Can you briefly describe one of the ways your IT organization has actively adopted GenAI?
[We are] exploring use in internal tooling to consolidate/summarize data in projects for summary reviews.
We are using it for chatbots [to help] our end-users/customers answer questions or get content they need for everyday questions.
We're using it for our IT help desk first line of response and also using it in our commercial SaaS product o erings to provide reports and surveys.
IT leaders anticipate a noticeable increase in GenAI adoption; more than half expect to increase spending in 2024
Looking ahead to 2024, 87% of all surveyed IT leaders (n = 125) anticipate their GenAI strategy will change, with 44% expecting minor strategic tweaks and 37% foreseeing significant strategic adjustments. Only 10% say their strategy will remain mostly unchanged
To what extent do you personally expect your IT organization's GenAI strategy will change in 2024?
Nearly half (49%) say they expect a noticeable increase in their IT organization’s adoption of GenAI a year from now, while 14% indicate they expect a substantial expansion in adoption.
A year from now how do you expect your IT organization’s adoption of GenAI will have changed?
n = 125
81% of respondents expect their organization's IT spending on GenAI to increase in 2024, with 22% anticipating an increase of more than 10%, while 33% foresee a moderate increase ranging from 5% to 10%. Another 26% expect an increase of less than 5%.
Based on your personal knowledge of your IT organization’s budget, do you expect your IT spend will increase in 2024 specifically related to GenAI?
Decrease of 5-10% 0% | Decrease of more than 10% 0%
n = 125
Question: Do you have any final thoughts to share on how your IT organization is thinking about the use of Generative AI?
Generative AI is a strategic imperative for our organization and there is a significant amount of excitement within senior leadership to adopt Generative AI.
There is a great deal of discussion and concern about how and when to move forward. I expect a clearer path will be in place within the next 12 months.
Vendors will play a key role in GenAI adoption for many IT organizations, especially in customer service, resource automation, and software development
Vendors are expected to play a significant part in GenAI adoption among IT organizations. While 45% of respondents say their organization is planning for a balanced mix of in-house and vendor solutions, 36% expect to lean more toward vendor-supplied options, and only 14% expect to prioritize in-house solutions.
In the context of GenAI integration, what balance between in-house and vendor-supplied solutions do you expect your IT organization will adopt for various application areas in the next 24 months?
Not sure 0%
n = 125
Note: May not add up to 100% due to rounding
When it comes to specific GenAI use cases, respondent IT organizations are more likely to rely on vendors for customer service (56%), resource automation (55%), or software development (54%).
Fewer respondents say their organization is likely to rely on vendors for use cases that involve personalized content (37%), supply chain (30%), and product offerings (22%), indicating a greater willingness among surveyed leaders to manage these aspects in-house.
Which of the following GenAI use cases is your IT organization more likely to rely on a vendor for? Select all that apply.
n = 125
Question: Do you have any final thoughts to share on how your IT organization is thinking about the use of Generative AI?
We are starting to develop a plan to leverage some of our enterprise licensing with Microsoft to start with a service desk project.
While we are in the process of deploying generative AI with our existing vendor, it is not performing up to our expectations and what we need and so we are exploring additional options with existing vendors such as AWS Bedrock to reduce gaps.
Want more insights like this from leaders like yourself?
Click here to explore the revamped, retooled and reimagined Gartner Peer Community. You'll get access to synthesized insights and engaging discussions from a community of your peers.
