What companies do now will determine their future in the Intelligent Age

Two years after 2023, a “breakout year” for generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), organizations and their leaders face a critical juncture. Taking swift action will be necessary to survive – and ultimately thrive – in the Intelligent Age.

The consensus is that participation in the Intelligent Age will prove necessary for long-term success. MIT Technology Review Insights found that 95% of surveyed organizations already use AI and nearly all (99%) expect to in the future. According to Accenture research, 92% of C-suite leaders acknowledge that generative GenAI is necessary to reinvent their organization at scale and speed.

However, this increasingly tech-driven future brings new and expanded considerations for companies and their leaders. In guiding an organization forward, there is urgency to focus on AI adoption, then extend to talent, reskilling and business transformation.

Companies without an AI strategy are already behind, and many risk stalling in pilot mode. According to Everest Group’s Peter Bendor-Samuel, around 90% of GenAI proof of concept pilots will not transition to production any time soon. Now is the time for companies to execute their strategy, while continuing to innovate, or they will be at a severe disadvantage in the Intelligent Age.

It is important to distinguish the different types of GenAI solutions available. For instance, personal AI productivity assistants are great tools to familiarize employees with GenAI and enhance their personal productivity on a smaller scale. But a company’s AI strategy cannot revolve around chatbots in the Intelligent Age. Organization-wide results demand more advanced AI technologies that cut across silos, such as enterprise-grade AI agents and the agentic process automation currently accelerating in availability and adoption.

A South American energy company and early adopter of AI, for example, saw the technology’s potential to reshape internal processes and facilitate its transition to sustainable forms of energy. It began by executing an AI strategy in the tax department, ultimately realizing $120 million in savings in just three weeks – freeing up capital to invest in renewable energy development. The company is continuing to innovate across other departments and functions to drive additional savings.

Jobs, and the skills required to perform them, will change in the Intelligent Age. Fifty percent of those surveyed in the 2023 World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report expect that AI will create job growth, while 25% expect it will lead to job losses. Whether jobs are created or lost largely depends on organizational decision-making, as business leaders determine a path forward with technologies like agentic process automation, and how employees are reskilled and redeployed to meet business needs. Research by the World Economic Forum and PwC suggests that investments in global workforce reskilling and upskilling could increase GDP by $6.5 trillion by 2030.

Recent Accenture surveys have cast light on how prepared – or rather, underprepared – many organizations are to proceed with these decisions. Ninety percent of C-suite leaders surveyed said that significant adjustments or a total transformation of their reskilling strategy would be required to account for GenAI. In fact, 82% of companies in the early stages of their intelligent operations journey do not have a talent reinvention strategy. Organizations will need to do more, and do better, to enhance employee experience through GenAI, create professional opportunities for their workforce and position people at the centre of the Intelligent Age.

For example, one multinational electronics company responded to recent tech advancements by initiating a citizen development programme, helping to future-proof its organization by training employees to build technology skills. It kickstarted these efforts with a rigorous three-day training regimen, with plans to expand its reach across the organization.

Another consulting and technology company developed an inclusive training programme to help participants gain technical, social and automation skills to stand out in the job market. The programme has attracted more than 4,000 subscribers in five years and trained over 85 professionals with 100% job placement, including 50% that were hired by the company itself.

Once an organization has adopted AI and prioritized employee development, it is time to revisit the work itself. How can the business model evolve to make the most of this technology for the benefit of customers in the Intelligent Age? How can the company’s AI strategy be refined, or expanded, to drive further cost and time savings, enhance existing offerings, or enable new solutions?

Consider a multinational mining organization that needed to prepare for a surge in purchase volume on the horizon. To streamline its operations and prevent team overwhelm and burnout, the company used AI to analyse employee actions and identify patterns and trends. The efficiencies and automation that emerged from this process saved more than 120,000 hours and $5 million annually, positioning its workforce for success as its business ramped up.

In another example, a wealth management firm aspired to use GenAI and automation to reduce the administrative workload of its financial professionals. By automating nearly 60 processes and 88,000 transactions annually, the company freed up its financial professionals’ time to focus on growing the business and building client relationships.

These real-world cases are an early look at how business will transform in the Intelligent Age. Such stories underscore how rapidly things have changed across multiple industries in a two-year period. There is a common thread to these examples as well: the value of human potential.

Organizations that aren’t taking action will fall further and further behind as businesses – and competitors – continue to innovate and evolve at speed to thrive and grow. What companies do now will determine their future in the Intelligent Age.