Companies Race to Deploy GenAI for Efficiency, Innovation

Global adoption of generative AI is growing rapidly, placing pressure on enterprises to invest in the technology to remain competitive, according to a new research report published today by Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory firm.

The 2024 ISG Provider Lens™ global Generative AI Services report, the first of its kind from ISG, finds that a growing number of organizations are identifying ways to use GenAI to streamline their operations and accelerate innovation. The automation and efficiencies offered by GenAI allow companies to cut costs, carry out tasks faster and more accurately and foster the creation of new products and services for additional revenue streams.

"Enterprises are finding uses for GenAI that will deliver a clear ROI and help them reach their long-term objectives,” said Steve Hall, president and chief AI officer of ISG. "Working with service providers, they are choosing adaptable AI technologies that can evolve as the business grows.”

Enterprise GenAI projects, ranging from proofs of concept to full-scale deployments, have proliferated over the past 12 months, ISG says. The most rapid development is happening on text-based applications, primarily due to relatively simple interfaces, rapid ROI and broad usefulness. Companies have been especially aggressive in implementing chatbots powered by large language models (LLMs), which can provide personalized assistance, customer support and automated communication on a massive scale.

However, most organizations have yet to tap GenAI’s potential for applications based on images, audio, video and data, the report says. Multimodal GenAI is still evolving toward mainstream adoption, but use cases are rapidly emerging, and with ongoing advances in neural networks and deep learning, they are expected to become highly integrated and sophisticated soon.

GenAI application development is making a major shift from fine-tuning of LLMs to smaller models that serve specific industries, such as healthcare, finance and manufacturing, ISG says. Enterprises and service providers increasingly recognize that customized, domain-specific AI models offer significant advantages in terms of cost, scalability and performance. The need for privacy and security, specialization of tasks and integration of AI into existing operations is contributing to this trend. While focusing on customization, many organizations are using existing AI platforms, toolsets and accelerators to carry it out.

Some companies that rely on IoT devices at the edges of networks are beginning to implement GenAI models on them, the report says. Techniques such as model compression and optimization can reduce software size and computational requirements without compromising performance.

"GenAI is branching out to a wide range of locations and use cases,” said Jan Erik Aase, partner and global leader, ISG Provider Lens Research. "Providers can help clients make it fit both applications and hardware requirements.”

The report also explores other enterprise GenAI trends, including the growing interest in agentic workflows that let AI systems act as autonomous agents and the use of low-code/no-code tools to develop GenAI models.

For more insights into the GenAI-related challenges enterprises face, as well as ISG’s advice for charting a path forward, see the ISG Provider Lens™ Focal Points briefing here.

The 2024 ISG Provider Lens™ global Generative AI Services report evaluates the capabilities of 79 providers across six quadrants: Strategy and Consulting Services — Large Providers, Strategy and Consulting Services — Midsize Providers, Strategy and Consulting Services — Specialists, Development and Deployment Services — Large Providers, Development and Deployment Services — Midsize Providers and Development and Deployment Services — Specialists.

The report names Accenture, Apexion, Ascendion, Birlasoft, Brillio, Capgemini, Cognizant, DXC Technology, EXL, Fractal, GlobalLogic, HARMAN, Hexaware, IBM, Infosys, Leeway Hertz, Mathco, Network Science, NTT DATA, Persistent Systems, Quantiphi, Sagility, TCS, Tiger Analytics, Tredence, Unisys, UST, Version 1, Virtusa, Wipro and WNS Analytics as Leaders in two quadrants each. It names Deloitte, HCLTech and Trigent as Leaders in one quadrant each.

In addition, HTC Global Services and Sigmoid are named as Rising Stars — companies with a "promising portfolio” and "high future potential” by ISG’s definition — in two quadrants each. HCLTech and Tech Mahindra are named as Rising Stars in one quadrant each.

In the area of customer experience, HCLTech is named the global ISG CX Star Performer for 2024 among providers of generative AI services. HCLTech earned the highest customer satisfaction scores in ISG's Voice of the Customer survey, part of the ISG Star of Excellence™ program, the premier quality recognition for the technology and business services industry.

Customized versions of the report are available from EXL, GlobalLogic, Navikenz, Persistent Systems, Trigent, Unisys, Version 1, Virtusa and WNS.

The 2024 ISG Provider Lens™ global Generative AI Services report is available to subscribers or for one-time purchase on this webpage.

About ISG Provider Lens™ Research

The ISG Provider Lens™ Quadrant research series is the only service provider evaluation of its kind to combine empirical, data-driven research and market analysis with the real-world experience and observations of ISG's global advisory team. Enterprises will find a wealth of detailed data and market analysis to help guide their selection of appropriate sourcing partners, while ISG advisors use the reports to validate their own market knowledge and make recommendations to ISG's enterprise clients. The research currently covers providers offering their services globally, across Europe, as well as in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the U.K., France, Benelux, Germany, Switzerland, the Nordics, Australia and Singapore/Malaysia, with additional markets to be added in the future. For more information about ISG Provider Lens research, please visit this webpage.

About ISG

ISG (Information Services Group) (Nasdaq: III) is a leading global technology research and advisory firm. A trusted business partner to more than 900 clients, including more than 75 of the world’s top 100 enterprises, ISG is committed to helping corporations, public sector organizations, and service and technology providers achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm specializes in digital transformation services, including AI, cloud and data analytics; sourcing advisory; managed governance and risk services; network carrier services; strategy and operations design; change management; market intelligence and technology research and analysis. Founded in 2006, and based in Stamford, Conn., ISG employs more than 1,600 digital-ready professionals operating in more than 20 countries—a global team known for its innovative thinking, market influence, deep industry and technology expertise, and world-class research and analytical capabilities based on the industry’s most comprehensive marketplace data. For more information, visit www.isg-one.com.

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