By Abhijit Banerjee, MD India and SAARC, SolarWinds
The IT sector in India is experiencing significant growth and transformation. Traditional businesses are rapidly digitising at an unprecedented pace and scale, evolving the ecosystem and making it more complex, yet also more susceptible to disruptions – good and bad. AI is increasingly stepping into IT frameworks to fill the voids left by limited resources, budgets, or time by automating mundane and error-prone processes and delivering real-time and predictive insights. It is expected that the AI market in India will reach $8 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of over 40% from 2020 to 2025. IT teams across the globe are adopting AI to best optimise their systems and deliver better services. The new 2024 SolarWinds IT Trends Report suggests AI adoption is off to the races: nearly nine in 10 companies already adopted AI or have plans to. What’s more, 56% of IT professionals want their companies to invest more in AI, and 46% wish their organisations would implement AI faster.
Cautious optimism on adoption
Integrating AI is not just about filling gaps with new technology but also understanding how it can align with existing workflows. While many organisations are utilising AI-powered tools, they’re still working toward being able to rely on their efficacy and reliability. AI-powered solutions have substantial benefits such as improved data analytics, automated routine tasks, and increased efficiency and productivity.
However, IT professionals need to approach AI integration with cautious optimism and implement robust metrics and clear policies for evaluating AI’s performance. By doing so, they can continuously monitor its effectiveness, helping ensure that AI integration not only supports but also advances their business objectives.
Privacy and security concerns are the top barrier to AI adoption.
In the realm of IT, security no longer just leads the conversation—it is the conversation. Privacy and security concerns are expected to increase with the deployment of AI in IT systems, posing significant trust issues and acting as a barrier to AI integration. IT professionals are looking for AI solutions to not only deliver exceptional performance but also provide robust security features like end-to-end data protection, secure data storage, and encryption capabilities to ensure sensitive information is not compromised.
The importance of an AI framework for secure and ethical IT innovation
In order to get AI adoption right, it’s crucial to bring together teams from different areas of the organisation to formulate thorough policies that address ethical issues, data privacy, and compliance. Many organisations have developed internal guidelines and principles to address the challenges of AI implementation. However, many still lack these critical frameworks. This is where frameworks like AI by Design come in, to ensure the ethical and secure development of advanced AI technologies. AI by Design is built on four guiding principles that shape the integration of artificial intelligence into IT systems, positioning AI as a trusted partner in enhancing the productivity, efficiency, and innovation capabilities of IT professionals.
First and foremost, AI frameworks should prioritise privacy and security with the goal of ensuring data safety that IT professionals—and their customers—can rely on. Second, a framework should focus on accountability and fairness to mitigate biases, making AI a more equitable tool. Third, the framework should underscore transparency and trust, critical for fostering confidence in the outcomes generated by AI-driven processes. Lastly, it needs to emphasise simplicity and accessibility, helping ensure that AI systems seamlessly integrate into and facilitate regular workflows.
Together, these principles guide an approach to AI systems that act as a valued partner to IT professionals in their everyday lives and reimagine the productivity, efficiency, and innovation they’re capable of. By aligning AI systems with business objectives and consistently reviewing their performance, organisations can supercharge their productivity and increase teams’ confidence in the advantages of AI, enabling them to push the envelope of innovation even further.
