McKinsey: 1% of Leaders say Their AI Strategy is 'Mature'

Research from McKinsey finds that 92% of companies are planning to increase their AI investments in the next three years. 

Despite this, only 1% of business leaders say they would call their companies mature on the deployment spectrum – meaning that AI has been fully integrated into workflows to drive “substantial” business outcomes. 

To achieve this, McKinsey suggests that businesses empower their employees to use the technology through their leadership strategy and upskilling programmes. 

Treating AI as a core business function 

McKinsey recommends that businesses need to use their leadership teams to deploy AI use cases at scale among their employees. 

According to Aiman Ezzat, CEO of Capgemini, the best way to achieve this is by treating AI as a business function, rather than an isolated technological feature. 

In conversation with Fortune, Aiman said that AI as a whole “is about transforming the business. It cannot just be used to keep the house running”.

This means ensuring leadership is focused on the strategic direction of AI tools, and making smart investments that meet employees' current needs. 

He said: “The question you [the CEO] have to focus on is: ‘how can your business be significantly disrupted by AI’, not ‘how is your finance team going to become more efficient?’ I’m sure your CFO will deal with that at the end of the day.”

Developing a leadership strategy for AI-enabled businesses

McKinsey’s research finds that half of business leaders believe the development and release of Gen AI tools is too slow in their organisations, citing talent skills gaps and resourcing constraints. 

This mirrors findings from PwC, which found in its Global CEO survey that only 12% of CEOs report that AI has delivered both cost savings and revenue benefits in the last year. 

While the research finds that many leaders are trying to speed this up through AI investments, McKinsey suggests that taking a more purposeful approach will deliver better results.

According to McKinsey, this means leaders must develop a Gen AI roadmap and identify revenue-generating use cases for the technology – with just 12% of C-suite respondents saying they are ready to implement value generating Gen AI use cases in their businesses.

An investment in employees

As businesses scale up their AI use cases, the report finds that investing in employee training could make a significant difference to adoption rates. 

Nearly half of workers surveyed say that formal Gen AI training from their organisation would make them more likely to increase their day-to-day AI usage. 

Despite this, 22% of employees reported that they have received minimal to no support in AI, slowing the spread of the technology within organisations. 

Respondents said that having access to AI tools in the form of betas or pilots would help them develop their AI skills, and suggested that businesses offering recognition or rewards for employees using AI in their workflow would likely improve adoption. 

Many businesses are now investing in AI upskilling programmes to facilitate this switch – such as Allianz, which won an International Brilliance Award for its ‘Global AI Run’ initiative. 

This programme was developed by the company to develop AI skills in its global workforce through webinars, role-based learning pathways and the opportunity to practically apply the technology. It has now helped more than 144,000 employees improve their ability to use the technology. 

Bettina Dietsche, Group Chief People and Culture Officer of Allianz, says of the Initiative on LinkedIn:  “This recognition reflects what the Global AI Run stands for at Allianz: making AI real. Not theoretical. Not exclusive. But practical, inclusive and impact driven. 

“The programme empowers colleagues to use AI with confidence, accelerates the adoption of our AI tools and enables teams to develop concrete solutions that improve their day-to-day work."