PAC INNOVATION RADAR creates transparency in AI-related services in Europe

Munich/Paris, September 18, 2024 – Artificial intelligence and, more recently, generative AI are in high demand. Companies around the world use AI platforms and solutions to automate their business processes, enhance customer interaction, and transform their businesses. The market research and strategic consulting firm PAC has analyzed more than 25 providers in terms of their ability to support companies on their AI and GenAI journey. The results have been published in the PAC INNOVATION RADAR series on “AI-related Services in Europe, France, and Germany 2024”.

PAC has analyzed the portfolios and capabilities of service providers in eleven individual PAC RADARs. The service providers analyzed range from global consulting firms and system integrators to local consulting firms and AI specialists. The PAC RADARs assess their ability to support customers with consulting, system integration, and operation services, among other things. The relevant criteria in the PAC RADAR assessments also include the service providers’ ability to deploy customer projects locally and globally and add their own IP assets, methods, or vertical extensions to the service portfolio. According to PAC’s evaluations, companies such as Accenture, Adesso, Keyrus, Materna, Orange Business, Sopra Steria and T-Systems were rated Best in Class in various RADARs.

“The use of AI in the corporate context has left the experimental stage and is entering a stage in which AI must deliver added value for companies’ operational efficiency or business models. To achieve this, companies need service partners with in-depth AI knowledge and the necessary skills and experience to reliably implement mission-critical projects and take them to the operational stage” says Valérie Delage, Advisory Manager at PAC in Paris. “The PAC INNOVATION RADAR series on AI-related services in Europe, France, and Germany can support user companies in the selection of providers.” adds Joachim Hackmann, Principal Analyst at PAC in Munich.

GenAI resources are being built

ChatGPT is currently in great demand for service support. Nearly all companies are gaining their first experiences with the chatbot from OpenAI or with other generic AI models in areas such as automating customer service processes. In response, providers have significantly expanded their consulting capabilities in this field. They mainly resort to training their own consultants to implement GenAI projects.

“When analyzing the information provided by the vendors, we noted very few acquisitions that helped service providers expand their skills and resources in the GenAI environment. It is also striking that many of the participating providers aim to train almost the entire workforce to enable them to use GenAI and AI solutions in their daily tasks”, says Iulia Sandut, Analyst at PAC in Bucharest.

Local providers can make their mark

Another interesting finding is the relative strength of local providers. PAC took a closer look at the provider landscapes in France and Germany as part of the RADAR evaluation and gained some remarkable insights. In both countries, especially in France, local service providers can leverage their advantage in supporting user organizations and compete against global providers. AI and GenAI have not yet reached full maturity.

Also, many customer organizations lack experience in implementing and integrating them into their business models. Local providers benefit from inherent strengths such as customer proximity, an understanding of local and company-specific characteristics, and regulatory knowledge. Global providers, on the other hand, score particularly well when it comes to international projects and global delivery, as well as aspects like homogeneous coverage of technologies and solutions or investment in assets and IP.

The analysis of the lighthouse projects submitted by the participating service providers shows that the use of AI is especially pronounced in manufacturing, for example, in autonomous driving, analyzing IoT data to avoid supply bottlenecks, and quality control in production.

The providers also mentioned many lighthouse projects for verticals such as financial services, retail, and transportation. The projects are characterized by a broad scope and great diversity, with many of them addressing improvements in sales planning, warehousing, customer interfaces, and the automated evaluation of documents and data. In many cases, service providers can support the projects with their own IP assets, such as preconfigured use cases, dashboards, and integration frameworks.

The different PAC INNOVATION RADARs on AI-related services focus on a region, i.e., Europe, France, or Germany, on specific business processes, e.g., AI-related services for digital customer experience, or on specific topics, such as GenAI-related services in Europe or AI-related services for the German Mittelstand (medium-sized businesses).

Figure: PAC INNOVATION RADAR “Leaders in AI-related Services in Europe 2024″

About the PAC RADAR series

The PAC INNOVATION RADAR is an effective tool for the holistic evaluation and visual positioning of software vendors and IT service providers in local markets. Using predefined criteria, PAC evaluates and compares providers’ strategies, development, and market position, as well as their performance and competencies within specific market segments.

The PAC INNOVATION RADAR is supplemented by a dynamic tool for user organizations. Organizations that are looking for a suitable services partner for their AI journey can customize the evaluation results to their individual needs by weighting the considered criteria.

Find out more about our PAC INNOVATION RADAR series on “AI-related Services in Europe, France, and Germany 2024”: https://www.pac-radar.com/ai-related-services-europe