Artificial Intelligence in Europe Outlook for 2019 and Beyond How 277 Major Companies Benefit from AI REPORT COMMISSIONED BY MICROSOFT AND CONDUCTED BY EY Contents Preface Foreword. 06 Executive Summary - ‘At a Glance’ . 08 Setting the Scene About this Report . 10 Rich Data . 13 Executive Perspective . 14 Participating Companies . 16 Bits & Bytes . 18 Follow the Money . 20 Case Study . 22 Experts . 23 Role of AI in European Business A Strategic Agenda . 27 Among Friends . 28 Push or Pull . 29 Ready, Set... 30 AI Maturity Curve . 32 State Your Business. 34 Case Study . 36 Business Benefits and Risks Another World . 38 AI Here, There, Everywhere. 40 Case Study . 41 Use it or Lose it . 42 Making AI simple . 44 Case Study . 47 Sector Benefits Landscape . 48 Risky Business . 51 Learn from the Leaders Capabilities . 53 AI Competency Model . 55 Advanced Analytics . 56 Data Management . 58 AI Leadership . 60 Open Culture . 62 Emerging Technology . 64 Disclaimer Agile Development . 66 This report has been prepared by Ernst & Young LLP in accordance with This report does not constitute a recommendation or endorsement by Ernst External Alliances . 68 an engagement agreement for professional services with Microsoft. Ernst & Young LLP or Microsoft to invest in, sell, or otherwise use any of the mar- Emotional Intelligence . 70 & Young LLP’s obligations to Microsoft are governed by that engagement kets or companies referred to in it. To the fullest extent permitted by law, agreement. This disclaimer applies to all other parties. Microsoft and Ernst & Young LLP and its members, employees and agents, do Case Study . 73 not accept or assume any responsibility or liability in respect of this report, or This report has been prepared for general informational purposes only and decisions based on it, to any reader of the report. Should such readers choose What’s next for you? is not intended to be relied upon as accounting, tax, or other professional to rely on this report, then they do so at their own risk. advice. Refer to your advisors for specific advice. Ernst & Young LLP and Mi- How to Get Started. 74 crosoft accept no responsibility to update this report in light of subsequent ©2018 EY LLP Limited All Rights Reserved. Who to Contact from Microsoft . 77 events or for any other reason. Contributors from EY . 79 2 3 AI will be useful wherever intelligence is useful, helping us to be more productive in nearly every field of human endeavor and leading to economic growth. — Harry Shum, Executive Vice President of Microsoft AI and Research Group & Brad Smith, President and Chief Legal Officer at Microsoft 4 5 Preface Preface Foreword Human Ingenuity The printing press, the automobile & the Internet are just a few technolog- ical achievements that have advanced our world. All were driven by human ingenuity: our innate creativity that inspires us to learn, imagine & explore. This spirit is what pushes us to challenge the boundaries of the possible to go ever forward. Today, AI is helping to amplify our human ingenuity, opening up exciting new possibilities for how intelligent technology can shape our world. At Microsoft, our goal is to democratize access to AI for everyone through in- novative & powerful platforms, & above all, we’re focused on ensuring that our AI tools & technologies are deployed responsibly & earn people’s trust. And yet, we realize that AI is one of the lesser understood modern tech- nological break-throughs. Many questions remain. How are companies applying this technology to empower employees, engage with customers, transform their business and optimize their operations? Where are they seeing benefits, and what are their blockers? To provide answers, Microsoft commissioned this study to understand the AI strategy of major companies across 7 sectors & 15 countries in Europe. It examines these companies’ readiness to adopt AI, how they rate the im- pact and benefits from AI implementations, and what they perceive as risks & keys to success. We hope you find these insights inspirational for your own journey toward adopting AI & realizing its benefits for amplifying human ingenuity. Vahé Torossian President, Microsoft Western Europe 6 7 Preface Preface At a Glance Noticeable potential for AI in many 8 key capabilities that are most transformation by articulating a vision, corporate functions important ‘to get AI right’ setting goals and securing broad buy- The most widely reported adoption When asking the respondents to rank in across the organization. of AI (47%) was in the IT/Technolo- the importance of 8 capabilities to en- gy function, followed by R&D with able AI in their businesses, ‘advanced To summarize, the challenge ahead 36%, and customer service with 24%. analytics’ and ‘data management’ appears to be as much about culture Interestingly, several functions are emerged as the most important. ‘AI and leadership as it is about data, hardly using AI at all; most notably, leadership’ and having an ‘open cul- analytics, and technology. While the hype of artificial intelligence Most impact expected from ‘opti- is almost as much as AI is expected to the procurement function, where only ture’ followed. (AI) and its potential role as a driver of mizing operations’, with ‘engaging impact the core of these companies’ cur- 4% of the companies currently use AI, transformational change to businesses customers’ as a close second rent business with 65% expecting AI to followed by HR with 7% and product When self-assessing the capabilities and industries is pervasive, there are have a high or a very high impact on the 89% of the respondents expect AI to management with 9%. This is perhaps where the companies are least com- limited insights into what companies core business. With AI presumably push- generate business benefits by optimiz- surprising, given the many use cases petent, they point to emotional intel- are actually doing to reap its benefits. ing companies into totally new domains ing their companies’ operations in the and applicable solutions in these func- ligence and AI leadership - defined This report aims at getting a deeper in the future, it is perhaps not surprising future. This is followed by 74% that ex- tional areas. as the (lack of) ability to lead an AI understanding of how companies cur- pect AI to be key to engaging custom- that AI is receiving attention as a key rently manage their AI activities, and ers by enhancing the user experience, topic for executive management. how they address the current challeng- tailoring content, increasing response es and opportunities ahead. speed, adding sentiment, creating Very few of the 277 companies con- experiences, anticipating needs, etc. sider themselves “advanced” with AI To get to the heart of this agenda, we Despite the apparent sizable impact that received input from AI leaders in 277 C-suite respondents scored ‘engaging companies expect from AI, only a very What sets the most ‘AI mature’ companies apart? companies, across 7 sectors and 15 customers’ highest of the AI benefit small proportion of companies, consti- countries in Europe, via surveys and/or areas. Noticeably, 100% of the most ad- tuting 4% of the total sample, self-re- They expect AI will be beneficial in ‘empowering employees’ (76% of ‘more mature’ companies vs. 42% of ‘less interviews. Below is the brief summary vanced* companies expect AI will help port that AI is actively contributing to mature’ companies)*. of what they had to say. them engage customers, compared to ‘many processes in the company and only 63% of the less mature companies. enabling quite advanced tasks today’ They report using a combination of structured and unstructured data for AI (65% of ‘more mature’ companies vs. AI is a “hot topic” - but more so on Using AI to ‘transform products and (referred to as ‘most advanced’ in this 15% of ‘less mature’ companies), and data from both internal and external sources (68% of ‘more mature’ compa- C-level than in daily operations services’ comes out slightly lower with report). nies vs. 16% of ‘less mature’ companies). 71% of the companies respond that 65%, and ‘empowering employees’ AI is considered an important topic the lowest with 60% of the companies Another 28% are in the ‘released’ stage They expect AI will help them ‘engage customers’ (85% of ‘more mature’ companies vs. on the executive management level. expecting AI-generated benefits in where they have put AI selectively to ac- 59% of ‘less mature’ companies). This is significantly higher than on that area. tive use in one or a few processes in the the non-managerial / employee level company. The majority, 51% of compa- They see AI predominately being driven from a combination of technology push and business pull (61% of ‘more where AI is only considered an impor- AI is expected to impact entirely nies, are still only planning for AI or are mature’ companies vs. 32% of ‘less mature’ companies). tant topic in 28% of the companies. new business areas in the future in early stage pilots. 7% of companies Interestingly, Board of Directors also 57% of the companies expect AI to are self-rated as least mature, indicating * ‘More mature’ defined as companies that self-ranked as 4 or 5 on the maturity 5-scale, and ‘less mature’ came out lower with ‘only’ 38% of have a high impact or a very high im- that they are not yet thinking about AI at defined as companies that self-ranked as 1 or 2. respondees reporting that AI is impor- pact on business areas that are “entirely this stage. tant to their board. unknown to the company today”. This Percentage of companies Share of companies that use that are still only in the Only 71% 57% acquisitions as a way to 80% 4% planning or piloting stages: of the companies of the companies obtain AI capabilities: of the most mature of the companies are actively respond that AI is considered expect AI to have a high impact companies expect that AI using AI in ‘many processes ‘an important topic’ on the on ‘business areas that are will be beneficial by and to enable advanced tasks’ 61% executive management level entirely unknown today’ 10% only ‘empowering employees’ 8 9 Setting the Scene Setting the Scene About this Report What’s new? Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not new.