Generative AI gold rush drives IT spending — with payoff in question

AI promises cost savings, productivity improvements, and better customer experiences, but CIOs need to figure out how to calculate the ROI, McDonald said. “The question then becomes, ‘What am I going to get from this?’” he added. “That investment is not necessarily trivial.”

While enterprises look to adopt AI, many software vendors will be flooding the market with AI-based products in the next two years, Lovelock suggested. AI-based email and collaboration tools, content services, and CRM are already here, and AI-based security software, supply chain management, app development, and ERP are coming or have come this year, he noted. Many AI apps will become commonplace in the next year or two.

“If [vendors are] looking for a first-mover advantage, this is a one-year window in many software areas, two at the most,” he said. “If you allow your competition to have a gen AI product and you didn’t, you’re going to lose market share. Gen AI systems will be coming into every product and service.”