AI agents might finally be breaking out of the pilot phase.
Full AI implementation is up year over year, from 11% to 42%, according to a survey of 200 CIOs from Salesforce released today. Budgets dedicated to AI have nearly doubled, and 61% of CIOs reported feeling ahead of competitors on their deployments. (View Highlight)
And amid the hype of automation, agents are the industry’s It Girl, with CIOs earmarking 30% of their budget to agentic AI alone. Around 96% of CIOs reported that they are currently using or plan to use agentic AI in the next two years. (View Highlight)
As agentic AI comes to the fore, it’s caused a shift in the kinds of work that actual humans are doing.
• 94% of CIOs say AI agent adoption will require them to expand their skillsets, focusing on soft skills instead of technical duties.
• Around 61% reported a desire to improve leadership skills, 57% reported improving storytelling skills, and 55% reported improving change management and communication. (View Highlight)
But despite shifting priorities and increased momentum, there are still bumps in the road: While 81% acknowledge that this kind of adoption requires collaboration between teams, less than half are actually doing this.
And as investments in these deployments increase and companies become eager for returns, getting employees to trust, use and continuously integrate this tech is crucial: 93% reported that successful deployments hinge on integrations into “everyday work.” (View Highlight)
“A huge part of my job has become about enabling employees and having them understand that AI can complement the work they do, and isn’t here to just replace them,” said Daniel Schmitt, CIO of Salesforce, in a call with reporters.
The other major concern is data. While organizations have come a long way in cleaning up their data, trust still remains a major bottleneck in deployment. Only 23% of CIOs reported that they are confident they are investing in AI with built-in data governance. (View Highlight)
