Adoption of Artificial Intelligence and Base Technologies of Industry 4.0: A Way to Improve Business Processes

Abstract

Our article examines selected technologies associated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (specifically the so-called base technologies) and their extent of utilization within business processes. The research was conducted on a sample of companies operating in the Slovak Republic. Based on data from 180 companies, we assessed the extent of implementation of these technologies. The results of our study show that some Industry 4.0 technologies have already been successfully implemented in most of the surveyed companies (in particular cloud computing for data storage, cloud networks for remote access to resources, and the Internet of Things). An especially positive finding is that cybersecurity measures have been implemented to the greatest extent, which is crucial for the successful and sustainable functioning of the entire Industry 4.0, with the importance of this area continuing to grow each year. On the other hand, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning are not widely used in most companies, nor do companies currently plan to adopt them. This field, however, provides significant potential for productivity growth and process optimization, and in recent years we have also observed a marked increase in the adoption of artificial intelligence within the general population. At present, only 14% of companies have successfully implemented these technologies. According to our findings, companies that do employ artificial intelligence and machine learning use them primarily in business processes to facilitate the analysis and evaluation of large datasets.