As a preview during the Assises de la Data at the Ministry of the Economy, and even before the publication of the study, the BCG delivered the main lessons of its study devoted to data & AI and the maturity of organizations in the world.
The subject of artificial intelligence is on everyone’s mind at the start of the year, even the most refractory. A renewed interest – for a theme that was not lacking – powered by ChatGPT.
A significant gap between ChatGPT and business reality
But beyond the buzz, where do companies really stand in terms of adoption of these technologies and the uses they allow? Of the sample of over 600 top global companies, 12% rank at the top of the mountain at AI Driven status.
On the other hand, 37% are still in the discovery phase and 35% at stage two of maturity, that of construction. “We have a fairly large gap between the reality of technologies (…) and the reality in companies. Adoption (…) is still limited”, comments Nicolas de Bellefonds, senior associate director and global director of BCG X. AI.
As for France, it is not positioned at the forefront of nations, observes the study. However, it is not for lack of the talents of Data and artificial intelligence – even if they are also highly coveted by employers, in particular startups and tech giants.
For Nicolas de Bellefonds, the French “delay” is explained above all by two main levers: strategy and change management. He therefore comes to consider that French companies suffer above all from a managerial brake.
Tools, responsible AI, governance… France is on a par with, and sometimes even ahead of, its foreign counterparts. On the other hand, “today, in many companies, we are not sure that AI is a real subject or the direction to take”, analyzes the BCG representative.
France penalized by strategy and currency
Investments, priorities… The leaders of large companies continue to grope and question themselves. But the most “critical” subject is perhaps that of change management, however.
“In my experience, this is the aspect on which we are the worst. We perceive artificial intelligence as one more tool to deploy, as we would deploy the latest version of SAP.”
It is a fault of appreciation, judges the part of the cabinet. And it needs to be fixed. But not anyhow. “There is no artificial intelligence without a radical change in the ways of operating and deciding in a company”, he underlines.
Within Carrefour, this change management is underway, as testified by Elodie Perthuisot, Executive Director E-Commerce, Data and Digital Transformation, as well as Sébastien Rozanes, Global Chief Data & Analytics Officer.
Data demand from businesses is rising at Carrefour
The response provided by the distributor is based in particular on the creation of a Data Factory and a new profession, that of Data Translator. Transformation also involves training and acculturation, both of experts and of each employee. And the results are there, believe its representatives.
“For a year, the real difference has been that everyone has been asking me for data in the company. Previously, it was more about explaining what it could be used for,” reacts Elodie Perthuisot.
She explains it by useful and used Data products. This adoption contributes to acculturation and encourages new uses. To trigger this movement, “it has to work and it has to be seen in the company”, she warns.
In addition, “and even if it’s slow, we have moved the culture. This helps to create demand”, welcomes the manager, who also highlights concrete uses on retail media and the alternative basket for the e-commerce.