AI Adoption and Investment: What does it mean for marketing?
A blog post by Ryan Fabian, Consultant at tml Partners, a senior marketing and commercial recruitment firm.
In recent years we have seen the increased integration of AI into various organisational functions, notably marketing, across almost all sectors. While this presents immense opportunities, it also poses challenges. As AI adoption becomes increasingly prevalent, there’s a critical need to upskill existing marketing talent and adapt marketing recruitment tactics to harness its potential effectively and infuse AI-driven initiatives with a human touch.
Governments worldwide recognise AI’s pivotal role, exemplified by substantial investments. The UK, for instance, has announced a £500 million infusion over two years into AI, underscoring its commitment to making AI a cornerstone of economic growth across various sectors.
What does AI Investment look like moving forward?
The current investment landscape in Artificial Intelligence (AI) is marked by a substantial influx of funds showcasing widespread recognition of AI’s transformative potential. Venture capital is fuelling the growth of AI start-ups, emphasising the agility and disruptive capabilities of smaller, specialised teams across industries such as healthcare, finance, and cybersecurity. Established corporations are actively investing in AI research, development, and strategic partnerships, viewing AI as a fundamental enabler for digital transformation and operational optimisation. Governments globally are channelling resources into AI initiatives to foster innovation, economic growth, and address societal challenges.
Major areas attracting significant AI investment include natural language processing, computer vision, machine learning, and robotics, with applications ranging from healthcare diagnostics to autonomous vehicles. Despite the remarkable growth, ethical considerations and responsible deployment of AI technologies remain key concerns. Investors and companies are increasingly focused on ensuring that AI applications align with ethical standards and regulatory frameworks. As AI continues to evolve, the impact of these investments is poised to shape the future of technology, business, and society.
“The majority of investment right now seems to me to be focused externally on how companies can leverage to drive greater revenue and lacks time and effort focused on how AI can help companies perform better with an internal lens. The majority of employees across all orgs I have worked for cite poor internal systems as a major inhibitor to productivity so how can AI help that? Imagine the impact on productivity and employee engagement if successful” commented Andy Barraclough, Head of Marketing at SAP
What is stopping organisations adopting AI?
High costs, uncertain ROI, and a lack of in-house expertise hinder widespread AI adoption in organisations. Data privacy concerns, resistance to change, and potential job displacement fears contribute to internal barriers. The dynamic nature of AI technology requires continuous training, and this also poses challenges. Overcoming these hurdles demands strategic investment, education, and fostering an innovation-friendly culture to leverage AI effectively and continue learning as AI evolves.
“If an AI enabled solution can help me better understand and respond to customers, and help me deliver more effective marketing, more efficiently for my business, then, in a competitive and free market, I’m buying. It’s inevitable that everyone else will too.
My questions for now are: What problem is AI going to solve for us?, can we trust it? and does the potential upside for the business outweigh the risk of it going wrong? There’s nothing new about managing innovation and change. We’ve been testing, rejecting and rolling out new solutions and ways of working in the marketing space for a very long time” commented Peter Chadwick, most recently Director Global Campaigns at Sage
Will AI replace marketer’s jobs?
While AI is transforming the marketing landscape by automating certain tasks and enhancing efficiency, it is not poised to replace marketing jobs entirely. Instead, AI serves as a valuable tool for marketers, automating routine processes such as data analysis, segmentation, and even content creation. This allows marketing professionals to focus on strategic thinking, creativity, and building meaningful connections with their audience. AI’s role is more complementary, augmenting human capabilities rather than replacing them. The human touch, emotional intelligence, and the ability to understand complex social and cultural nuances in marketing strategies remain indispensable.
tml Partners recently hosted an AI roundtable for B2B Marketing leaders, discussing how AI will affect the B2B marketing landscape. Individuals from organisations such as Microsoft, Elsevier, Pulsant, and Hogan Lovells amongst others, were in agreement that a human touch is needed to get the best out of AI, and upskilling your team will enable businesses to leverage AI’s capabilities, gaining a deeper understanding of their target audiences and further optimising their campaigns.
However, as AI evolves, it is likely to reshape job roles, necessitating a shift in skill sets with the potential for specialist roles to come to the market. This could make the executive search process more valuable in the future, as the landscape of marketing recruitment becomes more competitive and cutting edge.
“AI has been around for longer than we might think, but with the recent developments in Generative AI, in particular, businesses have clear opportunity to leverage AI tools and technologies in many ways. Rather than fearing that AI will replace jobs, we should be looking at how it can make our jobs, and our lives, easier and more productive. Understanding the benefits that AI technology can bring, and, more importantly, understanding how to weave it into your business strategy, is going to be key for business and marketing leaders. In my view, the role of the CMO, who will likely bear the burden of how to integrate AI into their MarTech stacks, is going to become increasingly expected to be able to do so.” commented Alex Stone, Founder and CEO of The Capstone Partnership, Delivering AI-powered Growth
Conclusion
AI will continue to be a huge topic moving forward into 2024 and there are still many uncertainties as to what scale AI will be implemented. Education and training around AI will be a necessity to allow organisations to fully reap the benefits, to first of all decide on how they adopt it internally, secondly to execute it and use it as a tool to achieve higher ROI. AI will continue to attract VC & PE funding and I believe we will see a high demand for marketing talent who have experience in AI moving forward.
Who are tml Partners?
tml Partners are specialist senior marketing headhunters with access to a global network of marketing, communications, brand, and commercial leaders. Our B2B, Technology and Consultancy team work with businesses ranging from fast-growing startups to large enterprises.
Whether you’re seeking interim or permanent solutions, our team has the expertise to support across various locations.
To learn how tml Partners can help you, get in touch with Ryan Fabian.
