Research highlights UK innovation limitations

Pure Storage, in partnership with independent research firm Vanson Bourne, has released a new report on the current trends and challenges shaping UK business innovation.

Key findings of the research include confirmation of the emergence of AI as a key avenue for UK innovation, while the need for critical infrastructure upgrades, along with other challenges, is hampering progress in that regard. Interestingly, the research also revealed that cyber defence spending is a significant impediment to innovation, with leaders opining that budgets spent protecting their business could be better spent elsewhere.

The report, “The Innovation Race: Reducing Risk and Navigating the AI Frontier for Future Success,” features the unique insights and perspectives of UK Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and senior IT leaders, and is distilled from a larger global report.

Industry Significance:

As the UK continues to grapple with the cost of living crisis, CIOs and other senior IT leaders face significant economic pressures. Despite these challenges, driving innovation remains imperative for enterprises, with AI rapidly emerging as a key technology for business improvement. However, navigating the complexities of AI integrations is putting a damper on the AI ‘gold rush’.

Survey Highlights:

The future is firmly rooted in AI for UK businesses:

UK IT leaders (91%) recognise AI as a substantial opportunity for transforming their organisation

Almost all UK businesses are already planning or adopting AI, with 42% even developing an AI-first strategy (where AI is considered for every new use case)

Improving efficiencies and automating repetitive tasks is seen as AI’s biggest potential (53%), followed by personalising customer experience (49%) and driving decision-making with the use of customer data (45%)

Acute infrastructure challenges in the UK are limiting AI’s potential:

Almost half of IT budgets and 53% of the IT department’s time is predicted to be spent on AI efforts in the next year

Almost nine in 10 (88%) business leaders predict that their AI-generated data will soon outgrow their organisation’s current data centres

Consequently, 78% are worried their infrastructure can’t keep up with AI

UK businesses feel the pressure of the cost-of-living-crisis at a time when innovation is key to driving economic growth:

A third of UK businesses see rising energy costs as a threat to their ability to innovate, a challenge felt more acutely in the UK than globally

Some 34% say technology debt is a real challenge

UK IT teams are struggling to keep up the pace of innovation, with 56% focused on keeping on the lights and firefighting - the highest among countries in the global report

The UK’s growing tech talent shortage is compounding the struggle, with 37% saying it’s one of the greatest risks impacting their ability to innovate

Cyber threats remain a worry and an obstacle to innovation:

UK IT leaders (49%) see cyber attacks as the biggest threat to innovation

Frustration is mounting at the high cost of cyber attacks, with 87% expressing that the budget and time dedicated to preventing and dealing with cyber threats would be better spent on innovation

To mitigate these challenges, IT leaders must understand all the risks to their business beyond the obvious cyber threats. Developing comprehensive pre-, during-, and post-attack plans and simplifying the IT estate can reduce technical debt and enhance security, thereby freeing up resources for innovation.