On the Journey to AI Maturity: Understanding the Role of Enterprise Artificial Intelligence Service

Abstract

In recent years, it has become conventional wisdom that artificial intelligence (AI) will be a game-changer in business. However, it remains challenging to adopt enterprise AI, i.e., enterprise software that incorporates AI techniques, into firms’ core and overall data strategies. In this study, we investigate the path to AI maturity and enterprise-wide adoption from a service provider perspective. Wecollect secondary data from 66white papers published by leading AI service providers in the past five years anduse topic modeling to understand the current themes in AI implementation. Thereafter, we analyze pertinent challengesthrough the lens of the classi-cal technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework. Our results demonstrate that, even though AI service providers have successfully addressed—at least in part—major questions faced by clients, there still exists a gap between the features demanded by end-users and the skills possessed and focused on by the AI service providers. For example, a vendor thinks his user does not have a clear vision on AI adoption, whereas the user finds it difficult to align the provided AI solution with the firm’s vision. We then argue that a holistic review of all TOE contexts is critical for closing the gap on the journey to AI maturity.