CEOs across the UK are becoming disillusioned with the short-termist attitude their boards have when it comes to digital transformation projects, new research by KPMG has concluded.

72% of the business leaders polled have grown weary of the unreasonable expectations that have been placed onto them by senior leadership and company boards in terms of the expected return on investment (ROI) from various digital transformation projects, most likely led astray by varying reports that newer technologies would give them a significant advantage over their competition.

Most CEOs, 64%, have advised their boards that realistically they should not expect to see any return on project investment in artificial intelligence before 3 years, stating it would be more like 5 years. Similarly, just over half of CEOs expected the same timeframe for other high automation technologies like robotics.

Lisa Heneghan, KPMG UK’s lead on digital transformation said “Digital transformation is no longer a choice, it’s an essential driver of revenue, profit and growth

“Business leaders need to move away from simply fulfilling client needs, in sometimes laborious ways, to using technology achieve results with more depth, efficiency, and decrease the probability of error.”

Almost all (95%), agree that AI and automation are more of an opportunity and less of a threat, but 86% are overwhelmed and under pressure to deliver progress significantly faster.

The report also revealed that half of the polled CEOs doubt the skills of their wider management team, feeling that they are ill equipped to deal with such radical change. Conversely, they displayed a degree of skepticism towards the reports stating that AI would radically alter the workforce and create mass job loss, with 71% believing that AI would create more jobs in the short term.

“While much has been said about the negative impact of AI on the job market, in the short term we expect it to create jobs in some sectors. Companies are hiring in technical experts to oversee the implementation of new systems, before they make wholescale changes to their workforce,” added Heneghan.