Flexential report explores AI infrastructure challenges and investment priorities

On July 23, Flexential released its 2024 State of AI Infrastructure Report, giving insight into roadmaps for AI adoption across different industries.

Data for the report comes from a survey of 350 IT leaders who reported on AI infrastructure investments and challenges. According to Flexential, the survey found IT leaders are generally optimistic about AI integration plans, but many face or expect to face challenges.

The survey shows that, among organizations with AI roadmaps, 59% say increasing IT infrastructure investments is an element of their plan; 45% said failing to meet the goals in their roadmap would affect their ability to innovate.

In a press release, Flexential CEO Chris Downie said that the stakes are high for AI infrastructure investments.

“Our survey shows that enterprise leaders are ready to execute on ambitious AI plans, with over half of leaders (53%) stating that C-level leadership is behind the pressure to rapidly adopt AI,” said Downie. “Yet, many enterprises feel held back by significant challenges in their IT infrastructure, workforce, or organization’s leadership. The findings underscore the urgency in addressing data center needs to successfully deliver on their AI roadmaps and optimize performance through strategic IT service partners.”

Networking challenges and data center scale were reported as the leading causes of AI performance issues. Labor is another challenge, with 91% of respondents reporting that they have experienced some sort of AI-related skills or staffing issue in the past year.

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