Nordic AI maturity: From practice to performance

Artificial Intelligence is no longer hype—we’re seeing practical implementations in the day-to-day business operations of Nordic companies. Specifically, AI is a key part of products and services improving operational efficiencies vis-à-vis increasing productivity, enhancing worker and customer experiences, and building new synergies that were unimaginable a few years back.

Even though AI adoption in the Nordics has gained momentum, only 6% of Nordic companies can be categorized as AI Achievers (companies leveraging AI’s full potential). Only 1% of Nordic companies report that their AI experts and business leaders are working hand in hand to drive the strategic agenda of the organization.

AI maturity comes down to mastering a set of key capabilities in the right combinations—not only in data and AI, but also in organizational strategy, talent, and culture—to give companies a strong competitive advantage.

There is incentive to move quickly – Accenture estimates that AI transformation will happen much faster than digital transformation. AI-influenced revenue for Nordic companies doubled between 2019 and 2022 and is predicted to triple over the next three years.

The good news is that the groundwork has already been laid—with 78% of organizations having re-worked their existing cloud strategy to be more in sync with evolving AI strategy to achieve AI success. With more companies in the Nordics experimenting with AI, the region is well positioned to more than double the number of AI Achievers by 2025.

According to our research, only 6% of the Nordic companies (vs. 12% globally) have both the foundation and differentiated strategy to fully capitalize on the power of AI. Overall, Nordic companies resemble global AI Innovators, as they are defined by mature AI strategies but struggle to operationalize.

Nordic companies have low data management and governance maturity, which is critical to realizing the full value of AI. However, eight out of ten companies have to some extent reworked their existing cloud strategies to be more in sync with their evolving AI strategy and roadmap. In the Nordic region, companies have a clear vision to be data- and AI-driven but struggle to execute. They understand the value of AI, but they do not know how to scale. Companies across industries are conducting pilots in multiple functions, but many of them are in the early stages.

Currently, the Resources industry is leading the way in terms of AI maturity in the Nordics. Other industries such as Financial Services (FS), Health and Public Services (H&PS), Communications, Media and Technology (CMT) have fallen behind due to a lack of AI infrastructure and a shortage of AI-trained workers with an understanding of legal and compliance issues. However, these industries are expected to make significant AI advances and accelerate their AI maturity journey over the next three years.

While there is clearly a science to AI, our findings demonstrate there is an art to AI maturity. We discovered in our recent global AI research that AI Achievers are not defined by the sophistication of any one capability, but by their ability to combine strengths across strategy, processes, and people.

Here are five ways AI Achievers master their craft: