Indian Industries See AI As Catalyst For Revenue Streams, Can Spend More On Talent: Honeywell

Nearly a third (29%) of Indian companies have already fully launched their artificial intelligence strategy, and 27% see data as their most important asset, according to a new study by industrial automation company Honeywell.

In terms of the use cases offered by advanced technologies, 79% of Indian organisations see improved efficiency, productivity, and data availability—to help decision-making—as the most promising use cases for AI. The report also showed that 88% of Indian enterprises expect to pay more to attract the right talent pool of AI engineers.

“It's particularly encouraging that 57% of Indian respondents see AI as a catalyst for new revenue streams, significantly higher than the global average of 46%. It's clear that Indian industries are not just adopting AI, but leveraging it as a powerful growth engine,” said Ashish Modi, president, Honeywell India.

Only 17% of AI decision makers globally have fully implemented their initial AI plans; however, more than nine in ten say they are uncovering unexpected new use cases in the prototyping, launch, or scaling stages of AI implementation.

The Industrial AI Insights study, which explored the state of AI in the sector, also found that decision makers are “sold” on AI for industrial applications, with 94% of those surveyed saying they have plans to expand their utilisation of AI.

On the impact of AI on industrials, 64% of AI leaders cited efficiency and productivity gains among the most promising benefits. Sixty percent said improved cybersecurity and threat detection result from AI and 59% reported better decision making due to real-time data generation.

Respondents cited other benefits of AI for workers, including:

• Increased work flexibility (49%)

• Greater job satisfaction (45%)

• More time for skills development and creative thinking (44%)

• Increased workplace safety (39%)

“With AI training and AI as a ‘co-pilot,’ the skills of less experienced technicians can more quickly be upgraded, turning them into more elite experts that perform tasks based on enterprise knowledge and best practices. In turn, plants operations can run more safely and reliably by dramatically reducing human error,” said Lucian Boldea, president and chief executive officer of Honeywell Industrial Automation.

While decision makers are excited about AI, there are some challenges in the way of full adoption. Of the survey respondents, 37% felt their C-suite fully doesn’t understand how AI works and almost half (48%) said they have to continually justify or request resources needed to implement AI plans.

According to the study, the pace of change will be driven by use cases that can be measured in terms of improved business performance. As new solutions demonstrate benefits to workforce productivity, safety and reliability, AI adoption will increase with the potential to transform industrial operations, the study indicated.