Zapata Computing’s global survey reveals surprising enterprise plans & expectations for quantum computing

(Forbes) Zapata Computing recently commissioned a comprehensive global survey designed to determine how enterprise plans to integrate quantum computing into business. IQT-News here summarizes the recent article by Paul Smith-Goodson of Moor Insights & Strategies about the report and the implications of the findings.
The Zapata study contained good news for the entire quantum ecosystem. It revealed that quantum computing has become an enterprise priority. The survey shows that 74% of surveyed executives agreed that failure to adopt quantum computing will result in a company falling behind.
Zapata was surprised that almost 70% of the surveyed executives had already adopted quantum computing or plan to adopt it in the next year in some way.

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Zapata surveyed 300 CIOs, CTOs, and other VP-level and above executives of large global enterprises with estimated 2021 revenues greater than $250 million and estimated computing budgets over $1M.
Zapata’s resulting global survey, “The First Annual Report on Enterprise Quantum Computing Adoption,” is available as a free download on Zapata’s website.
Zapata’s survey shows that many companies are already far along the planning path to incorporate quantum at a future date. Quantum is not a plug-and-play technology. Integrating it into a company’s computing infrastructure is a long-term, complex effort. It will take years for an organization to hire and train a quantum workforce. Then the quantum team must identify applications that will benefit from quantum and integrate the technology into the business IT. For those reasons, companies must begin planning for quantum now in order to compete in the future.
From a sales and marketing standpoint, companies like Zapata Computing need to understand how enterprise clients and data executives see the evolving intersection of classical computing and quantum over the next two to five years. It can also help IT executives understand and monitor where their company is positioned relative to other companies and quantum trends.
Dr. Chris Savoie, CEO of Zapata, explained that he needed a specific type of enterprise study involving high-level executives with an awareness of quantum’s capabilities.
“There are generalized surveys out there from the consulting world that ask questions of CIOs and digital transformation people. But these people are incentivized to say yes in order to get more budget. That’s a very different thing from turning the tide [in quantum], as we’ve done with big data and AI and machine learning. We need the line of business owners and C-suite people who are taking notice of quantum and feeling it has to be part of the business solutions portfolio for the enterprise. Zapata’s goal is to work with business users so that quantum has a practical impact on business, instead of just developing a proof of concept.