96 pc of Indian midmarket firms prioritising Gen AI, faster than the world

NEW DELHI: About 96 per cent of Indian organisations (between 250 and 1,500 employees) are prioritising generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), compared to 91 per cent in the rest of the world, a report showed on Friday.

Adopting GenAI (66 per cent) only trails preparing for cybersecurity threats (67 per cent) as Indian mid-market businesses’ strongest organisational priority in 2024, and ahead of making business operations more environmentally sustainable (65 per cent).

Organisations in India place higher priority on AI to transform business than rest of the world, according to the report by SAP India.

Manish Prasad, President and Managing Director of SAP Indian Subcontinent, said that India’s midmarket businesses are the backbone of the nation’s economy. “AI is a game-changer for these companies, offering agility, actionable insights, and helping them thrive in a digital economy,” he mentioned.

Over half of Indian mid-market businesses surveyed place a high priority on AI to transform privacy and security (55 per cent) and improve decision-making (52 per cent), ahead of business from the rest of the world (50 per cent and 49 per cent, respectively).

According to the report, Indian mid-market businesses are also putting a high priority on AI to improve training and skills development, customer experience and to optimise supply chains and logistics.

The biggest risk Indian midmarket businesses see when it comes to the use of AI is finding, attracting, and retaining talent with AI skills.

Data is the next biggest risk, with lack of transparency behind AI results, acting upon incorrect information and insufficient data size and quality for AI models among the other risks identified.

Rajeev Singh, Vice President and Head of Midmarket, SAP Indian Subcontinent, said that AI has the potential to empower organisations with intelligent insights, automation, and tools, allowing them to compete on a global scale.