Although 87 percent of Benelux organizations plan to invest in generative AI (GenAI), only 6 percent have fully integrated it into their processes, putting the region far behind other world leaders such as the US and China.

A SAS market survey conducted by Coleman Parkes Research shows that the adoption of generative AI (GenAI) is lagging in the Benelux region. While 87 percent of organizations say they plan to invest in GenAI in the next year, only 6 percent of companies have fully integrated this technology into their regular processes. This is in stark contrast to the US, where 24 percent of companies have achieved full GenAI integration, followed by China with 19 percent and the UK with 11 percent.

The study, which surveyed 1,600 decision makers worldwide, shows that only 18 percent of respondents in the Benelux use GenAI on a daily basis. In contrast, a third (34%) of Benelux organizations are still in the testing or experimentation phase of GenAI, and 40% of respondents say they plan to start using this technology within one to two years.

Benefits and challenges of GenAI

Organizations in the Benelux that are using or experimenting with GenAI report several benefits. 100 percent of these companies see improvements in customer satisfaction and loyalty. Other reported benefits include improvements in risk management and compliance (88%), increased efficiency in processing large amounts of data (82%), and time savings with lower operational costs (71%).

Despite these benefits, there are also significant obstacles. Effectively leveraging both public and proprietary data sets is seen as the biggest challenge by 62 percent of organizations, followed by developing GenAI from concept to practice (56%) and integrating it into existing systems and processes (56%). In addition, 84 percent of respondents consider data privacy to be a major challenge, closely followed by data security (82%).

Governance and Compliance

An important aspect of GenAI implementation is governance and compliance. Only 52 percent of Benelux organizations have a policy in place that dictates how employees can use GenAI. This is lower than other regions such as APAC (71%), North America (63%) and Northern Europe (58%). Only 44 percent of companies in the Benelux are prepared for current and future regulations on GenAI and only 9 percent have a comprehensive governance framework in place.

Technological limitations (31%), the lack of clear guidelines (22%) and a lack of transparency and accountability (18%) are cited as the main obstacles to effective GenAI governance. Despite the lag in implementation, 92 percent of Benelux respondents who plan to invest in GenAI have also reserved a budget for it.

Diploma

SAS concludes that the Benelux needs to catch up to catch up with major powers such as the US and China in the GenAI space. The region recognizes the benefits of this technology and plans to invest in it within one to two years. It is important that the Benelux develop an advanced strategy and invest in technologies that enable the integration, control and explainability of GenAI to remain globally competitive.