Despite 76 percent of professionals craving Artificial Intelligence (AI), only 37 percent of organisations are currently using it in contracts, according to a new global report from WorldCC.
The ‘AI in Contracting: From Untapped Revolution to Emerging Evolution’ report, produced in partnership with Icertis, explores how far the AI revolution has progressed while asking: are organisations truly embracing AI-powered solutions or are they still hesitant to take the leap?
Based on input from 513 global organisations, the comprehensive report discovered that AI adoption should be surging ahead but isn’t, despite a rich list of potential benefits.
The findings reveal a range of concerns and perceived risks that are creating barriers to implementation, including privacy and security (57 percent), data output quality (46 percent), general lack of trust (46 percent) and uncertain ROI (37 percent).
A growing divide between organisational and personal perceptions of AI is indicated by the data, with personal enthusiasm outpacing organisational readiness to adopt or use.
However, between June 2023 and January 2024, there was a large reduction in organisations who are ‘unsure’ (60 percent to 29 percent).
This reduction has translated to an increase in enthusiasm (26 percent to 37 percent) but, at the same time, an increase in organisations who claim to be ‘sceptical’ (11 percent to 28 percent).
On the personal end of the scale, those who were ‘unsure’ dropped significantly (55 percent to 6 percent), meaning enthusiasm soared far beyond that of the organisations surveyed (36 percent to 76 percent).
Reflecting the organisational results, scepticism in this category also increased slightly (8 percent to 16 percent).
From a regional perspective, Oceania showed the highest global rate of employee enthusiasm towards AI in contracting on a scale of 1 to 5 (4.1), but is at the bottom of the pile globally when it comes to organisations implementing AI in any part of the contracting process (11 percent).
Asia leads the way (36 percent), followed by North America (30 percent), Europe (22 percent) and the Middle East (16 percent).
WorldCC said, “AI in procurement, legal and contract management streamlines transactional tasks through automation, enhances strategic contracting through analytics, optimises risk assessment and improves decision-making by analysing vast data sets, leading to more efficient and informed contract negotiations and compliance monitoring.
“AI has potential to transform the process and value of contracting, but we are in the early stages of a journey. There is considerable scepticism to be overcome and even early adopters are reassessing their initial expectations and optimism.”
To find out more, download the full report here.
