CxOs are optimistic about the economy and prospects for artificial intelligence, ready to invest and confident they can navigate emerging risks, according to a trio of surveys gauging enterprise sentiment.

Deloitte's CFO Signals survey for the fourth quarter found financial chiefs more bullish than they've been in 10 quarters about the economy. For instance, 72% of CFOs believe the North American economy will improve over the next year and 67% of respondents said it is a good time to take greater risks.

The percentage of CFOs saying it's a good time to take greater risks is the highest since 2018, said Deloitte. Meanwhile, 42% of CFOs are prioritizing risk management and 40% are focused on optimizing costs, according to Deloitte, which surveyed 200 CFOs in North America between Nov. 13 and Nov. 25.

Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in its AI Radar survey found that three quarters of 1,800 executives surveyed said they would make genAI a top-three priority for 2025. BCG said that one in three companies across all markets are planning to spend more than $25 million on AI in 2025.

BCG found the following:

  • 75% of executives rank AI and genAI as a top 3 priority, but only 25% are seeing significant returns.
  • Companies with the best AI returns are focused on an average of 3.5 use cases compared to 6.1 use cases for other enterprises.
  • 60% of companies aren't tracking AI projects with financial KPIs.
  • 67% of enterprises are considering autonomous agents as part of their AI transformation.
  • Less than 10% of executives expect a decrease in headcount due to AI automation, but 68% will get by with their existing workforce.

On the risk side of the CxO pendulum, an Allianz survey focused on enterprise risks. The Allianz Risk Barometer noted that cyber-attacks are the biggest worry for enterprises followed by business interruptions and natural disasters.

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Business Research Themes

Data to Decisions, Future of Work, New C-Suite

Roles

Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Information Officer, Chief Information Security Officer

Tags

#AI #artificialintelligence #machinelearning #ML #generativeAI, #CXO