Data softwarae company ActiveOps has released a new report on the potential impact of artificial intelligence in financial services moving forward.

The study, Ready or Not AI is Here, shows that almost half (46%) of UK businesses are only beginning to use AI tools, with a further 12% not using AI yet. That’s despite 72% of business leaders saying they thought that operational performance would benefit from AI.

Among the reported top priorities of UK financial service firms are increasing business resilience, growing revenues, and improving sustainability, but with 1 in 3 currently unable to access data to make real-time decisions, meeting these targets can prove difficult.

For 73% of financial services operations leaders, access to trusted, accurate operational data in real time would let them make better decisions, the report shows.

The majority also told ActiveOps that customer experience (75%), operational performance (72%), and cost control (72%) could be bolstered by AI analysis of real time data, compared to their current performance.

The research, which surveyed over 850 chief operations officers, chief financial officers, and senior heads of operations around the world, found that 91% of firms have to use some effort to gain any insights from their data, with only 6% managing this in real time.

By integrating AI into their workflow, the companies expect to reap major benefits, with 92% of leaders believing that AI can help them to plug gaps in their organisations, and 40% looking for AI to tell them what to do based on predicitve insights. Notably, 36% said they wanted AI to take action on their behalf within a years time.

Kuljit Bawa, managing director of EMEIA at ActiveOps, said: “Four out of five leaders are aware of the advantages that AI can bring, especially when it comes to managing and overseeing large scale operations, and that really is half the battle.

Recommended reading

• 75% of Enterprises Push Ahead With AI, Despite Data Governance Concerns
• 64% of People Don’t Want Companies to Use AI in Customer Service
• Comment | What AI Adopters in Scotland Can Learn From the dot-com Bubble

“There are high hopes for the value that AI can bring to businesses. Not only in the impact that it will have, but what operations leaders want AI to give them, such as providing suggested actions, predictions that will offer direction for decision making and insights into the current state of play within their department and beyond.”

A report from Workday Inc earlier this summer found that a potential £119 billion windfall in productivity for UK enterprises may be unlocked thanks to AI, with business leaders saving around 140 working days annually if it was used to its full potential, while employees could save the equivalent of 92 working days.