According to a study by IDC, businesses are reporting a massive 3.5x return on their AI investments. The survey of global business leaders found that organizations are realizing a return on their AI investments within 14 months on average. The report also highlights that generative AI drives increased interest and investment in AI, with companies deprioritizing other initiatives to prioritize AI.
According to a study by the Oxford Internet Institute, AI skills and knowledge can increase a worker’s salary by up to 40%. The study examined over 1000 skills and 25,000 workers, finding that AI-related knowledge, such as machine learning and data science, positively impacted potential salaries. The study also suggests that AI will augment work rather than replace human workers entirely, leading to a wide-scale reskilling of workers.
According to a recent joint report by the World Economic Forum and Accenture, out of 19,000 individual tasks analyzed across nearly 900 occupations, jobs with high personal interaction and nonroutine physical tasks are expected to face the least disruption from AI. Research led by OpenAI found that 4% of workers, including painters, carpenters, and roofers, had zero tasks that AI could influence. The report also emphasizes that good-quality jobs, which provide steady work hours, upward mobility, fair compensation, and a degree of voice, are likely to come out on top in the AI revolution. The research suggests that jobs involving personal interaction and nonroutine physical tasks, such as air-conditioning installer, teacher, and hairdresser, are expected to be relatively unscathed by AI in the next five to ten years. Blue-collar jobs, in particular, are projected to be safe and could experience a job boom in industries like healthcare, green energy, high-tech manufacturing, and construction.
Three and a half times on investment is why we care about AI… but we want to note that those with AI skills will be at a premium, and there will distinctly be an impact on knowledge workers.
AI adoption can significantly enhance operational efficiencies, customer service, and cybersecurity, which are key elements of the services provided by MSPs. By investing in AI technologies and upskilling their workforce, MSPs can deliver more value to their clients, justifying the ROI these investments promise. But more importantly, helping customers leverage the technology will be the real payoff.
It’s the “which industries” that we also care about. Understanding which industries will be less affected by AI can help MSPs tailor their offerings to those sectors and adjust their strategies for industries more likely to be disrupted. Focusing on sectors that require personal interaction may yield less demand for AI-driven process automation but more for AI that enhances customer experience. It won’t be one size fits all, and we like bespoke solutions.