Achieve Higher Performance with Data and AI

Data and AI Guide- Gen AI - Data Strategy

In brief:

With disruption on the rise, reinvention is now the go-to strategy for success in challenging times.
Reinvention is yielding results, as those embracing it are surging ahead, pushing others to follow.
Generative AI offers a powerful path to accelerate reinvention and reduce the performance gap.
Five imperatives are critical for the C-suite to drive reinvention in the generative AI era.

Reinvention as the path to success

In the next 12-24 months, industry experts expect a notable rise in companies leveraging generative AI to drive reinvention.

What sets generative AI apart from other recent technological innovations? This technology has the transformative power to reinvent every part of an organization. This is unprecedented. From our work, we see clear evidence that this shift is already underway, with generative AI quickly reshaping industries across the board.

Disruption finds Its match

Organizations continue to navigate an unpredictable landscape. The annual Accenture Pulse of Change Index reveals that the pace of change impacting businesses has climbed steadily since 2019 — increasing by 183% over the past four years. In response, 83% of organizations have accelerated their transformation efforts since last year.

Disruption is up 33% year-on-year

Accenture Pulse of Change: 2024 Index

The reinvention landscape

Many organizations are eager to reinvent, though some have progressed further in this journey than others.

A small group of “Reinventors” (9%) have reached a high standard, developing the ability to reinvent continuously. These organizations are advancing rapidly, executing their strategies with agility and aiming to set a new performance benchmark with technology at the center of their reinvention efforts.

Among the largest companies, particularly those with revenues over US$50 billion, the number of Reinventors has quadrupled in the past year. Industry leaders are moving swiftly. Unlike the digital revolution, these major players are taking an early lead, leveraging significant investments in digital infrastructure and talent. Two sectors, in particular, have seen double-digit growth in Reinventors: the software and platforms sector increased by 34 percentage points to 43%, and life sciences rose by 13 percentage points to 20%.

Most organizations remain at the start of their reinvention journeys, with only a few reinventing at scale today. As with last year, the majority (81%) are “Transformers.” These organizations are making steady strides toward reinvention, yet they often lack the sustainable capabilities needed for continuous reinvention and may miss out on speed and cost efficiencies from a cohesive reinvention strategy. The financial performance gap between Reinventors and others continues to widen. The remaining 10% of organizations, “Optimizers,” are those where reinvention is not currently a priority.

Reinventors are creating a compelling call for others to take action.

We expect Reinventors to expand this value gap significantly in the next three years.

Why generative AI shouldn’t be underestimated

In recent decades, no other technology has shown the potential to profoundly impact every aspect of a company — which is why generative AI and reinvention are so closely linked. To unlock the full potential of generative AI, companies must commit to reinventing processes and talent, managing this technology with a new capability known as responsible AI, and building a digital core powered by data and generative AI.

Generative AI has become a powerful driver of reinvention, accelerating organizations’ journey toward a new level of performance. Some recognize this potential and are taking steps forward. We see this among Reinventors and a group of Transformers who may soon surpass today’s leaders by integrating generative AI more intensively.

What Reinventors understand:

Generative AI is uniquely positioned to impact the entire value chain, boosting productivity and growth and setting a new standard for performance.
Achieving reinvention with generative AI requires building end-to-end business capabilities, rather than focusing on individual use cases within isolated functions.
Developing these end-to-end capabilities demands substantial, coordinated transformations across processes, people, and technology. Processes must be redefined, people need reskilling, and a robust data and generative AI foundation must be embedded within the digital core.

Generative AI in action

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Decrease in operational expenses in back office functions, funds freed for growth.

Faster data-driven insights accelerating time-to-insight by tenfold

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Revenue growth by reimagining insurance claims processing with generative AI

Transforming today to lead tomorrow

Generative AI presents a powerful opportunity to fast-track reinvention. Drawing from over 700 generative AI client engagements and extensive research, we’ve identified five critical imperatives the C-suite must tackle to reshape business operations. In this exploration, we highlight these imperatives, backed by client examples that bring each to life.

Lead with strategic value

Shift the focus from isolated use cases to prioritizing integrated business capabilities across the entire value chain, grounded in an objective assessment of business cases, organizational readiness, and expected return on investment. Companies can approach generative AI investments in two key ways: “no regrets” investments that drive productivity gains and “strategic bets” that deliver unique competitive advantages, potentially redefining industry standards.

Action 1
Assess the potential to transform your entire value chain and build comprehensive, generative AI-powered capabilities that enable new, efficient ways of working.
Action 2
Take a value-driven approach for each business capability chosen for reinvention with generative AI.
Action 3
Pinpoint strategic opportunities where generative AI generates unique value that competitors cannot easily replicate.
Action 4
Shift your organization from isolated functions to integrated, end-to-end capabilities by implementing a unified data architecture and fostering cross-functional teamwork.

Elevating IT for the generative AI era

Companies must adapt IT to meet generative AI demands, integrating diverse data sets and technologies through an AI-driven, secure digital core. Generative AI calls for a reimagined enterprise architecture where data flows more fluidly, and the role of unstructured and synthetic data grows in importance. It imposes greater demands on infrastructure, requiring shifts in IT operating models. Reinventors focus on strengthening their digital core as a central capability.

Action 1
Define what a “digital core” means for your organization and evaluate your technology landscape to understand where your digital foundation stands — both within your industry and in terms of generative AI readiness.
Action 2
Identify the new capabilities essential for establishing a robust data and generative AI backbone and determine what it will take to develop these capabilities.
Action 3
Make sure your CIO integrates cybersecurity practices from the outset across technologies, fostering a security-conscious culture that prioritizes resilience.
Action 4
Evaluate your existing technology and advisory ecosystem, and update your strategy to collaborate effectively, accelerating the reinvention cycle.
Action 5
Consistently track progress to ensure that over 50% of your technology investments are dedicated to building for the future.

Leading through the generative AI revolution

To succeed in this technological transformation, leaders must define a vision that reimagines work, reshapes the workforce, and prepares employees for a generative AI-driven future. Companies need a clear approach to redesigning roles and workforce structures. This demands skills-focused HR and continuous learning at all levels, including the C-suite. Success hinges on putting people at the center of change, with leaders and employees alike developing new skills tailored to the generative AI era. Equipped with these skills, leaders can effectively drive reinvention across value chains and business processes.

Action 1
Develop a talent strategy that clarifies how work will evolve, outlines role impacts, and identifies skill requirements for every generative AI initiative.
Action 2
Establish robust, people-centered change capabilities across all functions and processes to thoroughly understand how generative AI affects employees and their experiences.
Action 3
Build continuous learning capabilities, either in-house or through partnerships, to support reinvention. Engage employees actively in the change process, ensuring they acquire market-relevant skills.
Action 4
Evaluate HR’s readiness and invest in the skills and technology necessary to support the vision of reinvention. HR should be an integral part of the business strategy.
Action 5
Examine your employee value proposition, ensuring it leaves employees feeling Net Better Off and aligns your generative AI use with company commitments.

Driving value with responsible AI

Design, deploy, and utilize AI to create value while actively managing risks such as bias, liability, compliance issues, unreliable outputs, confidentiality breaches, sustainability concerns, and workforce transitions. With generative AI advancing rapidly, addressing these risks now is essential to prevent future challenges, including regulatory costs. While 96% of organizations favor some level of AI regulation, only 2% have fully operationalized responsible AI practices. Bridging this gap calls for a shift from commitment and frameworks to concrete actions.

Action 1
Establish and implement responsible AI principles with clear accountability and governance for the design, deployment, and use of AI.
Action 2
Conduct comprehensive AI risk assessments. Use both qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate risks within your organization’s current AI applications and systems.
Action 3
Regularly test AI for fairness, explainability, transparency, accuracy, and safety with the best available tools, and enable mitigation measures as needed.
Action 4
Implement ongoing monitoring of AI systems, maintaining oversight on responsible AI initiatives while executing necessary compliance and mitigation actions.
Action 5
Collaborate across functions to address workforce impact, legal compliance, sustainability, and privacy and security measures throughout the organization.

Embracing perpetual reinvention

Change is a constant, making reinvention an ongoing journey rather than an occasional effort. Leaders must move beyond periodic transformations and establish the capability for continuous reinvention. The organizations that not only withstand disruption but thrive are those in perpetual motion, continuously building agility. This shift requires a cultural and operational mindset open to continuous change, enabled by a flexible digital core that powers generative AI at scale and speed.