Biometrics investment growing, AI exploding, Deloitte reports

More than half of senior executives in the UK plan to invest in biometrics by 2020, according to Deloitte’s “Digital Disruption Index.”

The report, released Monday, shows artificial intelligence is the hottest area of digital technology investment, with 85 percent planning to invest in AI, up from 22 percent currently invested.

Other digital technologies expected by senior executives to receive major investment include robotics (73 percent), augmented and virtual reality (63 percent), wearables (62 percent), biometrics (54 percent) and blockchain (43 percent).

Over half of respondents told Deloitte that they plan to invest more than £10 million annually in the above fields by 2020, up from 30 percent this year. The majority of IT functions, however, have budgets over £20 million, according to the report.

This lack of aggressive investment is one possible reason why only 9 percent of executives surveyed say UK companies are world leaders in exploring and implementing digital technologies. Another contributing factor may be that only 20 percent believe the labour market is adding enough workers with the appropriate digital skills and experience.

“The first edition of the index shows that few UK businesses are successfully exploiting digital technologies and ways of working,” Paul Thompson, UK digital transformation leader at Deloitte. “Strategies are not coherent, investment levels are modest and the relevant skills are in short supply. As a result, the UK isn’t living up to its digital potential.”

Article Topics

artificial intelligence  |  biometrics  |  Deloitte  |  investment