AI taking over critical marketing activities, generating value for businesses: study

Fluency in this tech is expected to boost CMOs' decision-making leverage
AI taking over critical marketing activities, generating value for businesses: study

AI is being utilized in critical marketing activities and is generating value for businesses, according to the Infosys CMO Radar 2024 global report. 

Thirty percent of marketing leaders confirmed that they used AI in the seven key marketing activities. Moreover, AI deployment in marketing brought business value to 52 percent of respondents. 

As a result, 62 percent of CMOs are expected to gain more leverage in strategic corporate decisions. 

“The findings of the Infosys CMO Radar 2024 report point to how forward-thinking marketing leaders are adjusting to this new landscape. Central to this transformation is the reimagining of marketing end to end, embracing a holistic approach to innovation. By focusing on disintermediation for agility, businesses can swiftly adapt to changes and enhance their competitive edge,” Infosys EVP and Chief Delivery Officer Satish H C said in a press release

The study revealed that AI-fluent CMOs applied predictive technology to determine customer needs, customize and maximize campaigns, and improve marketing performance. These executives also used generative AI to collate the value from data, industry expertise, and creative execution to bolster internal capabilities. 

Marketing leaders anticipated that AI would create considerable value within the next 18 months, particularly in productivity (15 percentage points), cost savings (13 percentage points), and speed to market (11 percentage points). 

“CMOs face the dual challenge of fueling growth in the short-term while articulating the value of their brand investments in the medium term. They recognize AI's, especially generative AI's, potential to help them rewire marketing for greater effectiveness. They know it can also be a key amplifier of marketing impact to the business and its influence within the C-Suite,” Infosys EVP and Global Chief Marketing Officer Sumit Virmani said. 

The report identified the following four strategies applied by AI-fluent leaders to generate value from AI marketing deployments: 

  • Integrating AI solutions into business and marketing processes, with teams equipped to change tactics quickly based on real-time insights into data during implementation 
  • Aligning AI strategies with business and marketing objectives 
  • Incorporating risk management into AI marketing solutions 
  • Ensuring the scalability of MarTech stacks and their optimization for AI use 

The Infosys CMO Radar 2024 was conducted by Infosys's research arm, Infosys Knowledge Institute. The organization surveyed 2,600 marketing executives in Australia, Germany, the Nordics, the UK, and the US.  

The respondents worked across the automotive, CPG, energy, mining, utilities, financial services, healthcare, high tech, insurance, life sciences, logistics, manufacturing, professional services, retail, travel and hospitality, and telecom industries. Global CMOs were interviewed as well.