Generative Ai Adoption Enterprise Survey Writer Com
Generative Ai Adoption Enterprise Survey Writer Com
Generative AI
adoption in
the enterprise
How to break down silos, navigate tension, and activate
champions to unlock the transformative potential of AI at work
Table of contents
Voices of AI adopters 3
Key findings 7
Widespread AI optimism
9
Generative AI adoption challenges
13
Strategies to maximize the
potential of generative AI 21
Traits of supportive technology partners
30
The path to AI transformation 32
Enterprise AI
at a crossroads
For the last four years at Writer, we’ve The themes explored in this report
worked alongside some of the world’s surface the very real challenges we
biggest companies, like Accenture, see every day as organizations
L'Oreal, Mars, and Vanguard, helping undergo this wholesale shift:
them figure out what it really takes to misalignment, power struggles, and
make AI work at scale.
stalled ROI. Leaders are making big
The companies pulling ahead aren’t bets, but the payoff is slow. AI tools
just using AI to do the same work, are rolling out, but employees aren’t
faster. They’re using it to unlock new equipped, aligned, or sometimes even
value and empower their employees willing to use them. Power struggles
to push boundaries, think bigger,
over who owns decisions are creating
and work in entirely new ways. This friction instead of momentum.
people-first approach isn’t just a And yet, the energy is there. People
differentiator. It's the defining factor
want AI to work. They want it to drive
in whether enterprises successfully something bigger in their roles. It’s
navigate the transition to become
not enthusiasm that’s stalling adoption,
AI-first.
it’s the lack of a real strategy, the right
But most enterprises aren’t there
tools to empower teams, and a partner
yet. Change at this scale is hard, that can actually make it work at scale.
challenges.
experimentation to full-scale
into view.
power them.
May Habib
CEO & Co-Founder
Voices of AI
adopters
To better understand the The C-suite audience included C-level
workers across the U.S., including 800 to be working in the finance, HR,
employees.
support functions at their
organization.
broad view of generative AI, all of the The companies involved in the survey
that permits the use of these tools. By pharmaceuticals, and life sciences.
workplace.
December 2024.
Company size
38%
100-999
38%
1,000-4,999
employees employees
11%
10,000+
13%
5,000-9,999
employees employees
Sales 16%
Finance 16%
Legal 14%
Marketing 1% 13%
Seniority
21%
Manager /
50%
C-suite
Team lead
29%
Employee /
Individual contributor
Industry
Technology 27%
Healthcare, pharma,
life sciences 23%
Retail and 18%
consumer goods
46%
4-9 applications
10%
10+ applications
1%
Not sure
37%
1-2 applications
6%
0 applications
19%
More than
41%
1-6 months
12 months
40%
7-12 months
2
range of use cases.
Challenges with adoption
Despite the clear benefits of generative AI tools, 72% of the C-suite say
their company has faced at least one challenge on their journey to AI
adoption, and 42% say the process of adopting generative AI is tearing
3
their company apart.
Power struggles
Organizations are especially struggling with internal alignment. 71% of
the C-suite say AI applications are being created in a silo, and around
two-thirds say the adoption process has created tension or division
4
within their organization.
Disconnects between workers and employers
Employees and executives aren’t seeing eye-to-eye regarding AI
implementation. For example, just 45% of employees — versus 75% of
the C-suite — feel their company has been very successful in adopting
5
and using generative AI over the past 12 months.
Employee retaliation
41% of Millennial and Gen Z employees admit they’re sabotaging their
company’s AI strategy, for example by refusing to use AI tools or
outputs. The reasons for this range from fears about AI taking over their
job to concerns about the quality of AI tools, pointing to the need for a
better change management process.
6 Employees are so unhappy with their employer’s tools that 35% are
paying out-of-pocket for the generative AI tools they use at work. This is
8 Among employees using AI, 77% are AI champions or have the potential
taking steps that can support a better implementation process for their
entire organization.
9 Not only are AI champions eager to be advocates, but many also want
10 According to 98% of the C-suite, vendors should help set the vision for
AI at work. Yet most vendors are letting companies down, with 94% of
In this report, we’ll explore our survey findings and describe how organizations
can overcome obstacles they might encounter when implementing AI. We’ll
also describe how vendors should be supporting the adoption process for
employers.
Customer 47%
support 40%
Knowledge 46%
management 35%
Automating 42%
complex tasks 28%
Automating 41%
repetitive tasks 33%
Content 39%
generation 29%
Personalized 37%
communication 34%
The vast majority of both audiences — way, noting that these tools have
C-suite Employees
on strategy
41%
50%
Ability to make data-
opportunities 24%
Less time on
28%
administrative tasks
39%
3%
My job has not
changed
12%
The majority of employees (81%) and most notably, 35% of employees and
the C-suite (97%) say if they were 59% of the C-suite report that they’re
looking for a new job, it would be actively looking for a new job with a
72% of the C-suite say their company these challenges and explore steps
1
Lack of generative AI skills / knowledge
72% 2
of organizations
4
Security issues
have faced
challenges during 5
In-house development challenges
the generative AI
6
Unrealistic expectations
adoption process,
71%
of the C-suite say generative
AI applications are being
created in a silo at their
company.
67%
43%
35%
29%
15%
7%
3% 1%
Employees C-suite
Employees and leaders aren’t seeing that their company has a generative
Feel their company’s approach Think their company has been very
57%
Employees
89%
C-suite
33%
Employees
64%
C-suite
comprehension.
73%
generative AI technology annually?
<$100k 3%
$100k - $500k 11%
$500k - $1m 15% of companies are
investing at least
$1m - $5m 28% $1 million each year
in generative AI
$5m - $10m 25% technology, but just
1% one third have seen
$10m - $100m 16% significant ROI.
>$100m 4%
AI is adding to my 24%
workload
9% < $25/month
12% $25–$49/month
65%
I’m not paying
35%
for any tools
8% $50–$74/month
4% $75–$99/month
3% $100+/month
35%
of employees are paying out-of-
pocket for the generative AI tools
they use at work.
95%
of the C-suite admit their
company needs to improve
the generative AI adoption
process.
More AI engineering
talent
46%
More collaboration
with IT teams
43%
More communication
about AI initiatives
42%
Gradual
implementation
31%
Incentivizing
adoption
29%
>$100m 94%
$10m - $100m 85%
$5m - $10m 77%
$500k - $1m 73%
$100k - $500k 61%
<$100k 1% 54%
40
pp gap
When it comes to successfully adopting generative AI,
there’s a 40 percentage-point gap between companies
who invest the most and those who invest the least.
Another way employers can move the company. Among employees using AI,
28% 48%
Completely Somewhat
6%
Not at all
18% 77%
of employees are
Very little
either already AI
The Writer advantage champions or have
Employees who use Writer are the potential to
nearly 2X more likely to be AI become AI
champions, compared to champions within
those who do not use Writer. their organization.
champions are taking key steps that stability (42%), they’re more respected
can support a better adoption and at work (37%), and they’ve gotten
In addition, nearly all (94%) of the AI outcome that offers clear benefits to
Identifying generative
AI opportunities for
57%
my organization
Demonstrating the
value of generative AI 52%
Developing a strong
understanding of
generative AI and
50%
AI trends
Empowering and
educating others
48%
Leveraging and
experimenting with 45%
generative AI tools
Building cross-
38%
functional relationships
59% 39% 2%
Yes No, but I
No, and I’m
would like to not interested
98%
of AI champions have
helped build generative AI
tools for their company or
would like to do so.
70%
Significant role
28%
Moderate role
2%
Small role
How important are the How would you rate the generative AI
following factors in a solutions your company currently
generative AI solution? uses, with respect to these factors?
noting that this is “very” important. that they routinely receive information
and adopt generative AI. Yet nearly all vendors could improve their offerings
Customize AI tools
1
53% of the C-suite say vendors are letting them down when it comes
prioritizing use cases for their business needs. They expect vendors to
work closely with them to identify high-value applications for their tools
they’d also like vendors to offer training or certification programs for users.
3 50% of executives want vendors to provide more support for the cultural
offering a pilot phase allows employees to experiment with new tools and
enterprise is the final (and most exciting) phase of the adoption process.
Yet 45% of the C-suite say their vendors could be doing more to support
unlock the full potential of generative support, both of which are essential
security, reliability, and flexibility success stories can help with the