Research: Governance and training lag AI adoption among Australian organisations

83% of Australian organisations have adopted artificial intelligence in at least one area, yet only 21% have a formal AI governance or policy framework in place, according to new research from Konica Minolta Australia.

The research, based on a survey of 305 IT and business decision-makers across Australia, found just 17% of organisations provide structured AI training or data literacy programmes - a gap Konica Minolta said creates risk for organisations moving quickly on AI without the information management foundations to support it.

The report - The Information Readiness Gap: Data governance, digital transformation, and AI readiness - is the second in a three-part digital workplace research series developed in partnership with global analyst firm Omdia.

Organisations who took part in the research said they are already using AI across analytics and reporting, search and knowledge management, workflow automation, customer engagement and document processing, but fragmented information, integration challenges and gaps in governance and training remain persistent obstacles.

Information fragmentation was identified as the single biggest challenge, with 40% of respondents citing information spread across platforms and departments. Omdia estimated that employees spend between one and five hours each week searching for information - equivalent to approximately two to four working weeks per employee each year.

Privacy and security concerns are the most commonly cited barriers to AI adoption, at 49%, followed by integration with existing systems.

Despite those barriers, organisations said they see clear upside in getting information management right; 57% expect improvements to reduce operating costs, while 51% anticipate productivity gains.

"Many organisations have moved quickly to adopt AI; however, the information governance foundations needed to support it have not always developed at the same pace," said Giovanni Forero, intelligent information management team lead at Konica Minolta Australia.

"That gap creates risk because AI depends on information that is accurate, accessible, appropriately governed, and used by people who understand how to work with it safely and effectively."

Trevor Clarke, chief analyst at Omdia, said every AI project is also a data project.

"Organisations need to be able to find, integrate, govern, and securely access the information that sits underneath these tools," Clarke said.

"The research also shows a gap around AI and data literacy training. Organisations need to support technology adoption with change management and training, particularly when new tools change the way people work."