Research pick: Adopting AI in business - "Exploration and prioritisation of critical success factors in adoption of artificial intelligence: a mixed-methods study"

While discussion is ongoing regarding the definition of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the ethics of certain forms of that technology, it cannot be argued that it is transforming processes across a wide range of industries. Research in the International Journal of Business Information Systems would suggest that some businesses are facing challenges in their efforts to incorporate AI tools into their day-to-day and long-term processes.

Sam Solaimani, Reza Dabestani, Thomas Harrison-Prentice, Edward Ellis, and Michael Kerr of Nyenrode Business University in Breukelen and Abhishek Choudhury and Naser Bakhshi of Deloitte in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, have reviewed the research literature. They used a mixed-methods approach to identify the various factors associated with the integration of AI into business. The study focuses on exploration, implementation, and scaling and offers new insights into how these affect adoption of AI technology.

The team explains that during the exploration phase, the company’s culture is important in determining how AI is adopted. A clear business plan and strong support from top management are vital to a successful strategy in this area. The team emphasises how AI projects can be implemented but suggests that leaders within the company must ensure AI adoption matches the company’s goals.

In the implementation stage, it is the technical landscape that is important with problem orientation and data quality being the key parts of identifying obstacles and issues. Good planning and resource allocation are needed in this stage to make sure the deployment of AI will be successful from the technological perspective.

The team then considers the scaling phase. This area considers data governance, safeguards associated with the precision and accuracy of the algorithms used and their outputs, and, inevitably, cybersecurity. They conclude that: “[Our] contribute to the scholarly discourse on critical success factors relevant to AI adoption and help firms sharpen their focus and leverage their resources efficiently towards a more effective adoption of AI.”

Solaimani, S., Dabestani, R., Harrison-Prentice, T., Ellis, E., Kerr, M., Choudhury, A. and Bakhshi, N. (2024) ‘Exploration and prioritisation of critical success factors in adoption of artificial intelligence: a mixed-methods study’, Int. J. Business Information Systems, Vol. 45, No. 4, pp.429–453.