Generative AI usage has surged to 75% says Microsoft study

A recently commissioned Microsoft study in conjunction with IDC has revealed a continued bias for generative AI solutions by companies with usage surging to 75%.

This comes as companies are looking at driving lasting business value. The study, titled The Business Opportunity of AI also revealed that for every $1 organisations invest in generative AI, they are realising an average of $3.70 in return on investment.

According to Microsoft, more than 85% of the Fortune 500 are using their AI solutions to shape their future and the company believes that most transformation initiatives are designed to achieve one of these four business outcomes, enriching employee experience, reinventing customer engagement, reshaping business processes and bending the curve on innovation.

Enriching employee experiences, thanks to the many Microsoft partnerships

Adobe and Microsoft in March went into a collaboration to connect Adobe Experience Cloud workflows and insights with Microsoft Copilot to deliver generative AI powered capabilities that enable marketers to increase collaboration, efficiency and creativity.

Amit Ahuja, the senior vice president, digital experience business at Adobe said revealed a surge in demand for personalized content on social media platforms driving growth for generative AI solutions.

“The demand for personalized content across social media, mobile and other fast-moving channels has been exploding, pushing marketers to drive greater efficiency and productivity in their everyday work.”

Ahuja.

Microsoft, AI at work corporate vice president, Jared Spataro added that: “Microsoft and Adobe share a common goal of empowering marketers to focus on the work that is most important, creating impactful campaigns and enhancing customer experiences.”

McDonald’s China earlier in the year decided to use AI to elevate all levels of customer service, quality and operational excellence.

The fast food company partnered Microsoft and established an AI Lab with a team using Microsoft Azure AI to support a full set of intelligent solutions based on large language models, natural language interaction, generative intelligence and machine learning on the Azure cloud platform.

In terms of customer engagement, generative AI can automate content creation, ensuring there is fresh and ending materials ready to go. The study has shown that enhancing generative AI is key for organisations that want to reinvent customer engagements, stay ahead of the game and drive both innovation and efficiency.

For example, in June 2024, the Absa Group, one of Africa’s largest financial institutions made headway in embracing generative AI initiatives by adopting Microsoft Copilot.

Naomi Parsons, the Head of Digital Delivery, Absa Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) commented: “The only way to remain competitive in such a dynamic banking landscape is through the right use of technology and changing our ways of working.”

“Achieving our vision of transforming human experiences and ensuring seamless delivery can be better realized through digital tools,” added Parsons.

Generative AI reshapes business process

Transforming operations is another way generative AI is encouraging innovation and improving efficiency across various business functions and with generative AI companies not just refining their current processes but also discovering new growth opportunities.

Recently in September, Swiss International Air Line (SWISS) opted for a back-to-back migration and modernization with Azure. The company has had a 20-year history with Microsoft technology, and on this premise, it shifted its on-premise databases to Azure SQL and migrated integral legacy infrastructure to Oracle on Azure.

As a result of that migration, SWISS is set to achieve up to 30% cost savings compared to running on-premises.

“As we grow in Azure, we are projecting a 30% cost reduction compared to our on-premises cost,” said head of IT operation at SWISS, Stefano Buonaiuto.

Generative AI is revolutionizing innovation by speeding up creative processes and product development Nd it has been lauded or cutting years off research and development.

In April 2023, Suzuki Motor Corporation (Suzuki) was one of the first adopters of the Azure OpenAI Service, lauding the Microsoft solution for offering the same functions as OpenAI’s ChatGPT but with more data security.

“Using Azure based services meant we would not have to worry about data protection. Additionally, solving two additional challenges would open a path to deployment across the entire company,” said Daisuke Hata, Group Manager of the Data Analysis Promotion Group.

Generative AI is expected to become a vital part of daily work, with collaboration between humans and AI dramatically boosting productivity.