A study shows that the majority of companies do not yet have an AI strategy and it is difficult to find skilled talent, making it challenging to invest in AI.

Although almost five in ten (46%) of Belgian companies say they do not yet have a clear idea of ​​how they can use AI, the majority are convinced that this technology enables faster (92%) and cheaper (82%) . can become.

This comes from a study by OutSystems, which surveyed more than 100 Belgian executives and managers with an IT background in companies with 100 or more employees about the impact they expect the implementation of AI to have on their company. Creativity (39%) as well as strategic (44%) and critical thinking (34%) are identified as the most important skills to accelerate the implementation of AI in their company.

AI is slowly finding its way into companies

One in five respondents (18%) say their management already has a clear vision of what AI can do for their company, and six percent say AI is already an important technology that is already being used. Almost a third (31%) say they have initial ideas about how this technology can help their company grow further.

A fifth (20%) are already talking about it, but don’t immediately see how they can use AI.

AI enables faster software development

In a world where digitalization plays a central role and the company expects IT to pivot quickly to meet changing customer expectations, AI can provide a solution to avoid long backlogs. Nine out of ten (92%) respondents are convinced that AI will accelerate software development. Opinions vary about how much faster it will be.

Almost a quarter (24%) of Belgian respondents believe that ten times faster is realistic. Almost a fifth (18%) even think that things will be up to twenty times faster thanks to AI. Roughly the same number (20%) are even more optimistic, predicting that the pace of development will increase at least 50 times.

AI ensures cost savings

Belgian companies are convinced that implementing AI will reduce costs at the corporate level but also within the IT department. Around a fifth (18%) of respondents do not yet know exactly how much savings their company will achieve.

For seventeen percent, a saving of five to ten percent seems realistic. Sixteen percent scales the savings to eleven to fifteen percent and the same group expects sixteen to twenty percent less spending.

Benefits of AI

Many (71%) think a clear regulatory framework around AI would be helpful. This would significantly speed up implementation. But despite the lack of regulation, respondents see the benefits of AI.

The most frequently cited reasons are that employees will be able to concentrate better on more complex issues because AI will take over many repetitive tasks (48%), employees will gain faster and more accurate insights through AI-supported analyzes (35%) and they will be able to concentrate better strategic initiatives and innovation (35%).