Most Nordic companies are still AI beginners

Over the past few months, most of us have experienced how generative AI can help automate and streamline manual tasks. Translations of lengthy texts, which previously took hours, can now be completed in seconds and meeting notes are written up before participants have even returned to their desks.

The primary value businesses gain from these efficiencies is increased employee capacity.

Four AI archetypes

Although the AI revolution has streamlined many daily tasks, it has so far had limited impact on companies’ overarching workflows and decision-making processes.

In PA Consulting’s recent AI survey across the Nordics, 98 percent of respondents stated they have adopted AI in the workplace. However, only 15 percent said AI is fully integrated into their processes and is genuinely changing how their organisation operates.

To explain this further, PA Consulting has defined four AI archetypes:

• Task assistants: For example, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot.
• Knowledge agents: AI agents trained on the organisation’s own data.
• Business problem solver: Advanced analytics that cannot be performed manually and provide the best possible solutions.
• Autonomous agents: Virtual or physical robots that automatically carry out tasks without human intervention, based on given instructions.

28 percent of businesses say they are currently only at the first stage, where AI is used as a task assistant and knowledge agent. 30 percent have reached stage two, but this still means that 58 percent of companies have not progressed beyond implementing general knowledge agents. 27 percent report having deployed business problem solver, while only 15 percent have moved on to stage four. This means that only a fraction of AI’s potential is being used. In other words, AI is primarily a tool used by employees to complete various tasks – not a strategic resource that organisations have actively integrated into their workflows.

From efficiency to optimisation

What can we learn from the 15 percent who have fully embraced AI? This group reports a significant improvement in productivity compared to the rest. A full 50 percent of respondents in this group say they have seen an increase in productivity of more than 15 percent – something that only applies to 25–30 percent of those in the other groups.

Organisations that have integrated AI into their operations are doing more than just making employees more efficient – they are also using AI to maximise the return on their investments. The most forward-thinking companies take a holistic approach: they have moved from improving individual functions to optimising entire value chains and are investing in AI competence across the organisation. In addition, they are making substantial investments in data governance to ensure quality and trust in their data.

This full potential is only realised when AI is used to improve Return on Capital Employed (RoCE). This happens when AI is linked to changing how work is done and how decisions are made. To unlock this potential, organisations must look beyond the generative AI hype and redesign how work is carried out and they make decisions.

Read the original article in Digi in Norwegian.