Other barriers to implementing emerging technologies include:

Interdependency: Nearly all executives believe blockchain will deliver benefits, particularly gains in efficiency for financial services firms, consumer goods and logistics. However, businesses still have questions about whether it is right for them and, if so, how they should proceed. In fact, blockchain has a 24% adoption rate currently and, of those, 58% have built or will build their own blockchain infrastructure and applications. Among the implementation challenges cited by more than half of executives is that they see blockchain as being interdependent on other technologies like AI and IoT.

Reality vs. perception: With the growing buzz surrounding quantum computing, the study found a significant disconnect between the reality and perception. Nearly all respondents (94%) plan to adopt it and most (61%) plan to do so within three years. But that timeline will be for very specific industry use cases given the fact that the technology is still being developed and is not in widespread use yet. A staggering 80% of executives say they don’t fully understand quantum computing or its potential uses and benefits. Even so, they believe the technology will impact many areas including data analytics, forecasting, pattern recognition and security such as for cyberattack hunting.

Security and privacy: The study also shows that nearly all executives have implemented or plan to implement conversational AI with nearly half intending to use it to troubleshoot IT issues. Conversational AI has a 32% adoption rate, and nearly 50% of businesses are conducting trials with the technology. The main concern expressed by executives regarding conversational AI is security and privacy. An additional security and privacy issue raised by executives in the survey was around digital ethics. More than 80% say they lack complete confidence that their organisations are prepared to address ethical issues related to AI and other technologies that could jeopardise customer and employee trust.

Geographies covered in the research included Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.