Execs cheer AI but underinvest
A new PR release argues many leaders champion AI publicly while underfunding workforce upskilling and governance, creating a skills‑and‑oversight gap that undermines returns. That mismatch is already shaping vendor choices and internal proposals for training and compliance tooling. (prnewswire.com)
Economist Impact’s new briefing, sponsored by Kyocera Document Solutions, surveyed 639 senior executives across London, New York, Tokyo, Sydney and Singapore to map organisational readiness for AI. (prnewswire.com)) Eighty‑eight percent of respondents said AI is a source of competitive advantage, yet only 38% reported sufficient budgets for AI training and just 4% said their organisations have realised repeatable, scalable business value from AI. (prnewswire.com)) Ninety‑nine percent claim companies are building AI skills, but most rely on mentorship (54%) and self‑directed learning (52%), with just 16% running structured internal programmes and almost half of training initiatives reaching under 10% of employees. (prnewswire.com)) Governance shortfalls are stark: only 8% of organisations have enforceable AI frameworks (dropping to 2% in small firms), while 96% say cybersecurity is essential for AI yet only 20% believe their workforce is proficient. (prnewswire.com)) Executive‑update framework: present three baselines on slide one—training coverage (<10% reach where training exists), governance maturity (8% enforceable frameworks), and pilot‑to‑scale conversion (4% repeatable value)—then model a 12–24 month target for each to justify a concrete budget request. (prnewswire.com)) In leadership reviews, surface the middle‑management bottleneck with two metrics—60% leadership alignment on AI talent versus 48% reporting managers have only minimal responsibility for team upskilling—and attach a one‑page RACI that assigns measurable manager KPIs. (prnewswire.com)) When pitching engineering investments, tie each vendor or training ask to an adoption plan and a reach goal (for example, move training reach from <10% to 50% within 12 months) and quantify how that uplift addresses the 20% cybersecurity proficiency shortfall cited by executives. (prnewswire.com))
