63% of Indian firms to invest in automation, genAI in 2024: Report

New Delhi: About 63 per cent of Indian enterprises are proactively directing investments towards Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) for the automation of their business processes in the forthcoming 12 months, witnessing 85 per cent growth in AI investments since last year, a new report said on Wednesday.

According to the global software company Automation Anywhere, 33 per cent of these enterprises are strategically planning to adopt Generative AI as a driving force for growth, reflecting a forward-looking approach towards innovative technologies in pursuit of business optimisation and transformation.

“Productivity is foundational to economic growth and the world’s next level of evolution. Intelligent automation, including AI and generative AI, are proving crucial to solving the massive productivity crisis unfolding in front of us,” said Ankur Kothari, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Automation Anywhere.

Despite the widespread recognition of AI's value in Indian enterprises, deployment challenges persist. About 39 per cent of respondents mentioned data challenges and regulatory/ethical concerns as the primary obstacles to adopting AI technologies.

Around 52 per cent said technical complexities and data security are the challenges/barriers they feel in adopting and using AI.

Despite these concerns, 33 per cent of Indian enterprises express confidence in implementing robust security measures and privacy protocols to mitigate potential risks associated with AI technologies, the report noted.

"We see significant scaling up of investments in Automation and AI/ML at our customers with generative AI driving the identification of new use cases and improving business outcomes," said Satyen Makhija, Partner, Head - Automation and Platforms, KPMG.

"Organisations are increasingly moving up the value chain from automating only rule-based, large volume transactions to providing real-time business insights supporting strategic goals," he added.

Moreover, the report mentioned that 80 per cent of Indian enterprises are planning to determine the impact of Intelligent automation based on business ROI, however, over 70 per cent said they measure the success of Intelligent automation based on customer and employee satisfaction levels.

Around 63 per cent plan to use industry-specific intelligent automation to solve their specialised requirements.