cisco measures ai readiness in south africa navigating challenges to unlock potential

Cisco Measures Ai Readiness In South Africa Navigating Challenges To Unlock Potential

The Cisco 2024 AI Readiness Index reveals that only 18 of organisations in South Africa are fully prepared to deploy and leverage AI-powered technologies. This underscores the challenges companies face in adopting, deploying and fully leveraging AI. Given the rapid market evolution and significant impact AI is anticipated to have on business operations, this readiness gap is especially critical.

AI is reshaping the future of business on a global scale and South African business must adapt to keep pace with the global market. While AI has amplified the sophistication of threats, it also presents an unparalleled opportunity to leap forward with advanced capabilities. Businesses must address gaps in infrastructure, skills and governance to protect their assets and fully harness AIs transformative power, says Smangele Nkosi, General Manager at Cisco South Africa.

The index is based on a double-blind survey of 7 984 senior business leaders from organisations with 500 or more employees across 30 markets. These leaders are responsible for AI integration and deployment within their organisations. The AI readiness index is measured across six pillars

  1. Strategy
  2. Infrastructure
  3. Data
  4. Governance
  5. Talent
  6. Culture

Acting with urgency

AI has become a cornerstone for business strategy and there is an increasing urgency among companies to adopt and deploy AI technologies. In South Africa, nearly all 99 report an increased urgency to deploy AI in the past year, primarily driven by the CEO and leadership team. Additionally, companies are committing significant resources to AI with over 50 indicating that between 10-30 of their IT budget is allocated to AI deployments.