What: A review of the blocking factors in the adoption of AI, two years after a first survey on the topic.

Why it is important: Gone are the days when geeks could impress with their ability to talk in a technological way: in order to convince top executives, they need now to produce easy tools that are thought to be simple to consume and accessible from any device, including mobile phones.

In the recent past, Artificial Intelligence has become a topic on its own and not "just" a technology supporting the changes the retail industry needs. RSR conducted a research in 2020 and decided to update it, in order to compare the results and understand where the topic lies now.

In a nutshell, the more retailers understand AI, the lower their expectations as they also understand better what stands in their way from fully embracing this tech, which is mostly about the physical and intellectual capabilities needed:

-    Lack of understanding on how to practically use AI,

-    Being properly equipped in terms of analysis tool, data and analysis technique, talents, budget,

-    Difficulties to quantify ROI.

As a consequence, teams report that their management in increasingly skeptical, from 20% in 2020 to 33% today.

Somehow making a connection with a comment from tech analyst Benedict Evans, the number one challenge is to understand how the new data can be used (for instance: what to do with a sentiment expressed on Facebook when Meta itself is struggling to make sense of it?).

In addition, RSR remarks that, in order to overcome organizational inhibitor, it is all about passing simple and clear messages. In order to make sure top executives will use AI in the future to make decisions, they need two elements: easiness of use and consumption, and mobile access to the tool.

Reflecting on Artificial Intelligence