SA enterprises actively hiring for GenAI roles - IBM

A new study by the IBM Institute for Business Value has found that 53% of South African CEOs surveyed said they are hiring for generative AI (GenAI) roles that did not exist last year, while 43% expect to reduce or redeploy their workforce in the next 12 months because of GenAI.

The annual global study by the IBM think tank surveyed 3,000 CEOs from over 30 countries and 26 industries, including South Africa, between December 2023 and April 2024.

Around 65% of local CEOs believe their teams have the skills and knowledge to incorporate GenAI into their businesses, but few understand how GenAI adoption will impact their organization's workforce and culture.

The study found that 64% of the SA CEOs surveyed say succeeding with GenAI will depend more on people's adoption than the technology itself. However, 57% of local respondents say they are pushing their organization to adopt GenAI more quickly than some people are comfortable with.

"More South African organizations are embracing generative AI into their enterprise strategies to drive significant results and achieve sustainable impacts on their bottom line. By integrating cutting-edge AI solutions in their workflows, local companies can enhance operational efficiency and unlock new opportunities for growth and innovation," said Ria Pinto, general manager and technology leader at IBM South Africa.

Ria Pinto, general manager and technology leader at IBM South Africa. (Source: IBM)

The study found that 57% of respondents have not yet assessed the impact of generative AI on their employees despite over half of them actively hiring for generative AI roles.

Meanwhile, more than half (51%) of CEOs identified regulatory constraints as the greatest barrier to innovation in their organization.

"As more businesses digitize their business models, it is critical to understand the impact of new technologies on the workforce culture and upskill employees to grow their confidence, ensuring the company stays competitive in an ever-evolving market," Pinto added.

Last year's study from IBM also found that 50% of CEOs in SA and Egypt believed that generative AI, deep learning and machine learning would deliver the results they need over the next three years.

Skills shortages and CEO priorities

IBM found that 57% of SA CEOs said their recruiting and retention efforts deliver skills and expertise needed to achieve business objectives. Yet, 51% of respondents said they are already struggling to fill key technology roles.

CEOs surveyed said that 36% of their workforce will require retraining and reskilling over the next three years.

When it came to top priorities for CEOs, 49% of local leaders surveyed ranked product and service innovation as their highest priority for the next three years, which is higher than the global average of 37%.

This was followed by 43% of CEOs prioritizing forecast accuracy to understand the volumes of sale.

— Paula Gilbert, Editor, Connecting Africa