Generative AI, a catalyst for change: Accenture

Accenture predicts AI remains a catalyst for change in the reinventions of businesses and companies.

According to Accenture, “this generative tool has the capability to materially impact numerous aspects of companies introducing talents” and an “improved way of working.”

In Accenture’s report, generative AI is “unique in its ability to impact the entire value chain and to drive productivity and growth” pursuing it as a “strategy for success in turbulent times”.

Accenture conducted a survey consisting of 1516 C-suite executives during November 2022 and another 1500 C-suite executives in October-November 2023.

This survey was conducted in 10 countries and represented 19 industries. These findings support Accenture’s idea of AI services reinventing “every aspect of their enterprise”.

“This technology has the power to reinvent every facet of an organization”, Accenture claims.

“We predict that over the coming 12-24 months there will be a significant uptick in companies who embrace generative AI as a catalyst for reinvention”.

The report has identified nine percent of 'reinventors', organisations who have already used AI to reinvent themselves [pdf].

Accenture claims that this small group has made “swift progress in executing their strategy and setting out to define a new performance frontier” asserting the use of technology at the core of their “reinvention journey”.

Accenture said that AI has proved to have many benefits once in action, for example one of the few 'reinventors', a government agency, has used this “latest technology to deliver automation at speed scale saving three million operational hours”.

As well as this, the report believes that AI can boost finance within a business with a “potential to increase revenues by 10 percent”.

Accenture believes that generative AI has the “ability to impact the entire value chain” by “creating a talent strategy that identifies how work will change, documents the impact to roles and assesses what skills are needed for every generative AI use case.”

However, actions will be needed to “drive value while mitigating risks, including bias and harm, liability and compliance, unreliable outputs” and “confidentiality and security”, the report found.

Accenture has responded to these identified issues with “five imperatives for the age of generative AI”.

The five imperatives are to provide “clear opportunities to accelerate reinvention” that the “C-suite must address to reinvent how their businesses operate” with AI.

Its first rule of thumb is to “lead with value”, Accenture’s call is to “be value-led in every business capability you choose to reinvent with generative AI”.

The second is to “understand and develop an AI-enabled, secure digital core” as Accenture said companies need to “elevate IT for the age of generative AI”.

Accenture’s third imperative, “Reinvent talent and ways of working”, an emphasis to “reshape the workforce”, and “prepare workers for the generative AI world.

“Close the gap on responsible AI”, Accenture says in order to implement AI into the workforce, we must, “conduct AI risk assessments”, “agree and adopt responsible AI principles”, and comply with, “laws, sustainability and privacy and security programs across enterprise”.

“Drive continuous reinventions”, Accenture’s final imperative addresses adaptability by stating, “companies must constantly build their organisational ability” and represent a “cultural and operational mindset for continuous change.”

Accenture believes it's “industry-specific diagnostics help organisations shape a blueprint for successful reinvention”.

The report poses that “AI navigator for enterprise, a generative AI-based platform”, to help organisations on their ‘reinvention journey’ as they “drive value responsibly”.