Duncan Clark, Europe Lead at Canva, discusses the strategies CIOs can put in place to thrive with the evolution of AI. “This year presents an opportunity for CIOs to become agents of change by implementing efficient technology powered by AI for the benefit of their teams,” he says.
Can you outline your role at the company and what this looks like?
My role at Canva is two-fold: I oversee the Europe region and manage our data visualisation products – both in the Canva platform, and through Flourish, the product I co-founded and which Canva acquired in 2021.
In my role as Canva’s Europe Lead, I look after the day-to-day business operations across our European markets and offices, from working with our sales team to engage potential enterprise clients to planning strategic events with our marketing team.
Canva’s international presence has grown rapidly, and Europe has become one of our most important regions. In May 2023 we unveiled our new European headquarters in London, and our team across the continent has since grown significantly, with over 130 employees in the UK and a further 130 team members across the rest of Europe.
What advice would you give to CIOs planning to increase their budgets to make investments in AI to ensure a pragmatic adoption?
This year presents an opportunity for CIOs to become agents of change by implementing efficient technology powered by AI for the benefit of their teams. Our research highlights that there is an appetite for AI tools within the workplace with the majority of UK CIOs (91%) planning to increase their AI budget. More than a third – 36% – are set to boost budgets by more than half.
Over the past year we’ve seen heaps of new AI products roll out, resulting in a saturated landscape with an abundance of apps and software, and new challenges for CIOs. This apparent cornucopia is a mixed blessing; it can overwhelm decision makers who are under pressure to implement the best technology solutions for their teams.
CIOs must clearly define the business objectives and outcomes they hope to achieve with any AI implementation. This will help identify the areas where these new technologies have the most potential to add value.
It’s also crucial for CIOs to assess their current tech capabilities and infrastructure to determine if they have the right foundations in place to support AI initiatives. This includes upgrading existing systems and processes, leveraging more staff to train employees or using multi-functional platforms which require minimal training.
What were some standout insights from the report from European IT leaders and decision-makers?
Whilst global CIOs are set to increase their spend on AI tools, 84% of CIOs say there are too many AI tools in the market. This is an issue amongst UK CIOs, in particular, more of whom (77%) are concerned about application sprawl compared to their global counterparts (72%). This proves that AI adoption within the workplace has become increasingly prominent, yet many business leaders are overwhelmed with the fragmented marketplace and find it hard to know where to start. It was interesting to see that of all the European countries surveyed, Spanish CIOs ranked highest (97%) when it came to investing in AI this year, with German CIOs ranking the lowest (88%).
It’s refreshing to see such enthusiasm from CIOs across Europe who clearly understand the need to implement AI tools within their organisation to avoid falling behind. Investment in the right technology helps their organisation have a greater impact, consolidates cost and reduces complexity for their teams – so it’s good to see CIOs doing that enthusiastically across countries like the UK, Spain, Germany and France.
How can organisations navigate the challenges of identifying the right tools due to the abundance and overlap of options from application sprawl?
The sprawl of AI-powered technologies can cause confusion and resistance amongst employees. CIOs have the opportunity to navigate a fragmented landscape by investing in platforms that are easy-to-use and feature-rich.
With 69% of CIOs expecting to adopt between 30 and 60 new apps in 2024 and a further 83% concerned that there are already too many AI tools in the market, business leaders should concentrate on the adoption of all-in-one platforms that align best with their objectives. To work across different tools for every function can be expensive and difficult to manage.
An array of apps can also result in the need to train more employees – another distraction from precious work time. Fewer internal systems can help overcome this challenge, and our research shows over two-thirds (68%) of CIOs feel they don’t have enough staff to train employees on new apps, including around safe and proper usage. It’s clear there’s a desire for a more streamlined approach.
What strategies can CIOs put in place to avoid overwhelming IT teams when introducing new AI applications?
To educate IT teams on new AI applications is critical to encourage efficient and effective use. As we’ve seen with any new technology, continuous learning is key to understanding its full potential. At Canva, we run AI and Machine Learning workshops to equip our team of over 4,000, no matter their level of expertise. Effective training will encourage a culture of learning, curiosity and help make people feel comfortable to adopt new tools.
Can you provide more insights into how Canva’s Magic Studio addresses the deep fragmentation of AI-powered tools within the design and creative ecosystem?
Our research shows that rather than suppressing creativity, AI is serving as a driving force for innovation and the creative process. In the face of stringent deadlines and limited budgets, AI has proven to empower marketers and creatives to swiftly and efficiently produce large volumes of content. However, as we saw 10 years ago, the design ecosystem is fragmented; our recent AI report on marketing and creative professionals showed that over half (59%) of UK marketing and creative leads feel overwhelmed by the learning curve of AI applications.
We launched Magic Studio in October last year to tackle this issue not only for creatives, but for all professionals across any industry and organisation. Magic Studio is a suite of AI tools, built on the basis of making complex design technology simple and easy to use. It’s an all-in-one platform that supercharges design for 99% of office workers, without any training required. Since launching it, we’ve seen an increase of enterprises adopting our platform for their workforce; over two million teams were added to Canva in the last 12 months.
How does Canva’s Magic Studio align with the aspirations of CIOs to streamline costs and reduce complexity in the face of application sprawl?
Magic Design was built to simplify and consolidate the best AI-powered design tools into one secure platform. We’ve brought the best of AI into one place; Magic Studio streamlines costs and reduces unnecessary complications. We know that CIOs and other business leaders yearn for less complexity and fewer tools to manage, and Magic Studio allows workers to achieve more with less.
Our all-in-one design solution covers a range of worksuite tools from documents, whiteboards, presentations to social media posts, videos, websites and more, enabling businesses to easily and efficiently manage their brand and assets, design at scale, collaborate with teams and agencies seamlessly and in real-time. Our platform enables anyone to effortlessly create beautifully designed content – without moving between various systems or applications, making it easier to work independently and collaboratively.
There’s also more to Magic Studio than just consolidating apps and simplifying design tools: with Canva being used by over 90% of Fortune 500 companies, security, safety and privacy were also at the forefront when this suite of tools was developed. With the introduction of Canva Shield alongside Magic Studio, users benefit from an industry-leading trust and safety programme of indemnification for enterprise, robust trust and safety tools, and strict privacy at no extra cost which reduces complexities.
How can companies collaborate with technology providers and industry stakeholders to create a supportive environment for CIOs navigating these challenges, while ensuring responsible and safe use of AI technologies?
Collaboration between technology providers and industry stakeholders is crucial to build a supportive environment for CIOs to implement AI technologies responsibly. It’s important to forge partnerships and share information on evolving policies, conduct training programmes to enhance general understanding of AI technology, or share best practices – CIOs require access to support and guidelines for responsible AI deployment.
At Canva, we’re in constant engagements with business decision makers to understand their needs, especially when it comes to AI. Our teams take on board feedback which enables us to understand what works and what we may need to adapt. Our research team has done a brilliant job of understanding usage and feeding back internally to teams who manage our products, and conversations with CIOs and other stakeholders play an important part in the process.
How do you see the evolution of AI applications and technology influencing organisations over the next five years and how will this impact Canva?
There’s no doubt AI will continue to shape how we work. We’ll see more and more business leaders adopt AI-based tools. CIOs will rethink their tech stack and move towards less fragmented apps and products for their employees, and creative teams will benefit from leaving mundane tasks to automated tools so that they can maximise their creative work.
As for Canva, we know there’s a real demand for AI tools within the workplace to boost productivity and efficiency, and streamline tasks. That presents a huge opportunity for us to put our suite of efficient, collaborative and easy-to-use design and collaboration tools in front of more business leaders. We’re doubling down on our investment in AI, and we continue to launch products that’ll have a greater impact on the future workplace.
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