65% of companies in the world are already investing in robotics and automation initiatives, and almost the same, or 64%, are already investing in artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics solutions, according to EY’s new technology implementation study “EY Reimagining Industry Futures Study 2023”.
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Likewise, another 14% and 16%, respectively, plan to invest in these technological directions already next year, strengthening robotics, automation and artificial intelligence under the leadership of the popularity of new technologies. The EY study was conducted in all regions of the world, including Eastern Europe.
“What we are currently observing in the business environment is an “arms race” between automation and artificial intelligence. Namely, entrepreneurs in Latvia should take into account that artificial intelligence, automation solutions, the Internet of Things, 5G and other “emerging” technologies dramatically change the competitiveness of companies, creating a new product and service offerings and by reducing the costs of existing product portfolios. Accordingly, if the company does not use these new technologies, it will most likely lose its market position in the next few years. This also explains the high proportion of investments in the range of new technologies,” says Nauris Kļava, partner of EY in the Baltic States.
Another 45% of entrepreneurs in the EY study note that they are already investing in the so-called Edge Computing in solutions, which is a computing concept that involves processing information closer to information sources, which provides faster data processing and user service and user experience. For example, good Edge Computing an example is POS payment card terminals or smartphones that do their own computing, communicate with data centers and provide instant communication with the user. It should be noted that three quarters of respondents to the EY study admit that they need more understanding of this Edge Computing implementation of opportunities.
On the other hand, 38% of companies are currently investing in Internet of Things solutions and another 24% plan to do so within a year, while 21% of companies are investing in 5G solutions. But it is 5G that has the largest proportion of companies that plan to start investments within the year – 31%. Another 18% of companies are investing in virtual reality solutions and the same amount in blockchain initiatives.
“New technologies also have an important dimension of environmental sustainability, which in the future will allow companies to more effectively achieve the goals of their environmental, social and governance (ESG) agendas. Namely, 54% of entrepreneurs in our study acknowledged that new technologies such as artificial intelligence, 5G or the Internet of Things , can make a significant contribution to ensuring sustainable operation. Entrepreneurs see the biggest sustainability impact from the use of new technologies in reducing the amount of energy used (46% of entrepreneurs think so), and they also believe that technology will help better plan and predict the company’s sustainable operation (39%). Also a significant part of entrepreneurs (39%) expects that the new technologies will make it possible to reduce the amount of generated waste,” continues Kļava.
