By Kelly Ducourty, Chief Customer Officer at UiPath 

AI has become ubiquitous, driving companies to explore its applications for revenue growth, enhanced customer experiences, improved employee experiences, and competitive advantage. 

In the workplace, the rise of Generative AI tools has ushered in new processes by which employees can more efficiently conduct research, craft communications, or summarize vast amounts of data.

Although there is real enthusiasm for the technology, most businesses are unprepared to leverage AI to its fullest extent. Recent research from McKinsey revealed that an estimated 45% of organizations have no AI at scale. As a result, both return on investment and innovation that can be derived from AI are stifled, limiting business potential. 

According to new research from UiPath and Bain & Company, only a small number of companies are successfully applying AI to improve their business operations and create new value in their markets. For example, the report found only slightly more than half of organizations (53%) have adopted some form of Generative AI into their operations.

The research indicates that modern enterprises understand the potential of AI-powered automation, with 70% of senior executives saying they view AI-driven automation as "very important" or "critical" to their business objectives and 74% expecting a positive return on investment from these projects. Specifically, they believe AI-powered technologies will offer operational enhancements and facilitate new revenue streams by enabling new product or service offerings (58%) or options for data monetization (52%). 

AI-powered automation can help organizations boost productivity by eliminating manual tasks and improving the employee experience. By combining specialized AI — purpose-built solutions trained on a company's own data — and generative AI, with the agility and speed of enterprise automation, businesses can vastly improve processes, eliminate errors, and achieve faster results. Indeed, organizations can expect productivity boosts of up to 20%.

Two notable examples of successful AI-powered automation for increased productivity are Cathay Pacific and British Airways, which both offer AI and automation to every  business unit — from the back end to customer-facing roles — to empower their workforce. With AI-powered automation, Cathay Pacific has given more than 200,000 hours a year back to the organization and its employees, and British Airways is expecting to save more than 300,000 hours per year.

Another example is Intel, a leading global semiconductor company that is using AI and automation to classify international shipments – a process that historically required many hours of manual processing. By applying AI-powered automation to this process, Intel was able to classify more than 56,000 products in just four months with over 99% accuracy. 

Why AI needs automation to deliver on its promise

AI initiatives must be part of a larger business strategy in an organization, and they must be governed, trusted, and actionable to be scalable and truly deliver value in the workplace. 

To make AI work, organizations need automation. By merging context with action, AI-powered automation sets a new bar for what businesses can accomplish. If AI is the brain, automation is the body, taking the insights from AI to create actual business value.

Companies should first establish a structured value framework that identifies key value incentives, such as increased efficiency or customer satisfaction. This helps align objectives with organizational goals, ensuring AI-powered projects deliver on expectations. 

A value framework should:Define how AI supports business goals: Align AI projects with organizational goals by identifying key value incentives, such as increased efficiency or customer satisfaction.Focus on cost efficiency: Conduct strategic resource planning and review end-to-end processes and streamlining activities to identify areas for resource adjustments.Prioritize governance in action: Demand governance from AI providers, ensuring alignment with ethical guidelines and compliance protocols. This includes transparency in data usage, lifecycle management, security, and integrity. Elevate the human element in scaling AI: Acknowledge the intrinsic value of the workforce by fostering a culture of innovation and continuous learning. Upskilling and reskilling initiatives are vital to prepare the workforce for AI integration. 

The next great technological revolution is here, and with it comes new ways of working, collaborating, and creating. The good news is that every enterprise will be able to take advantage and achieve untold new potential. With higher workforce capacity and newfound agility, businesses everywhere and of every size can execute whatever ideas and innovations they can imagine. 

Discover more about how UiPath brings the transformative force of AI to life in the enterprise through automation.

This post was created by UiPath with Insider Studios.