Accenture recently announced a $3B investment in AI to help companies build a strong technology foundation and advance the skills needed to achieve greater growth, efficiency, and future resilience. I met with Muqsit Ashraf, lead for Accenture Strategy, to discuss his take on how generative and other AI will permanently transform the C-suite – at a time when the technology itself is changing rapidly – and what business leaders need to do to maximize the value of their investments.
Gary Drenik: Muqsit, in your role overseeing Accenture Strategy, you work with boards, CEOs and C-suite executives to define and address their most pressing challenges in areas such as technology, data and AI-powered reinvention and transformation. What are the most common questions you’re hearing from CEOs about AI?
Muqsit Ashraf: In every conversation I’ve had with CEOs this last year, technology – and AI specifically – has come up in every discussion, which is a significant shift from even pre-pandemic levels.
Generative AI remains among the top priorities for CEOs. This was echoed in our June survey of over 2,300 C-suite leaders: nearly all (97%) believe generative AI will be transformative and a game-changer for their company and industry. Right now, 44% are making big investments.
Why? They need to change faster than ever before in today’s environment. This is backed by the Accenture Global Disruption Index that found levels of disruption have increased 200% in the last five years.
Against this backdrop, CEOs are asking how they can accelerate their business strategies to improve performance. They’re wary of repeating the mistakes of earlier digital transformations, where too many companies got caught up in strict experimentation rather than execution. In the case of generative AI, we’re fielding questions from them on getting started, how to get data right, where to focus their investments and moving faster to value.
Drenik: We often hear about AI as the differentiator, while cloud acts as the enabler and data as the driver. Walk me through what this means for executives looking to supercharge their strategy with technology.
Ashraf: In our latest research, we looked at what these levels of disruption and the current macroeconomic environment has meant for companies and their business strategy. Whereas historically strategy development had always been about making hard choices, today it’s about making even harder choices in a condensed timeline.
Yet, when we did an analysis of 1,600+ companies across 18 industries, we found that only one in five (21%) were fully integrating technology into their strategy development. This small group of tech-forward companies is treating technology as a critical input in shaping their business strategy. And it pays off – tech-forward companies were 2.3x more likely to outperform their peers on revenue growth.
I often use the term “supercharge” because at a time when leaders are constantly thinking about the next step – whether it be increasing performance or creating a more diverse workforce, for instance – the focus is on taking what they’re already doing to the next level and doing so at speed. Supercharge is about prioritizing investments in technology, building talent teams with the skills to address today and future challenges, and – as leaders’ access more real-time data – having the foresight and willingness to continuously re-evaluate strategy.
Drenik: For a long time, it was accepted that roles like Chief Information Officers and Chief Technology Officers were expected to know more than their peers about up-and-coming technology. But data suggests that the vast majority of US adults aren’t even aware of the latest advancements in technology. According to a recent Prosper Insights & Analytics survey, 40% of respondents 18+ hadn’t heard of ChatGPT.
Nearly 50% reported not understanding what the Metaverse is. Does this current inflection point with AI change how CEOs should think about this or even the responsibility they have – as CEO – in ensuring AI is practiced responsibly?
Ashraf: For years, the Chief Information Officer was viewed as the sole proprietor of technology, and assessing the strategic application of emerging technology, for instance, was much more siloed. Now, it’s become a strategic imperative requiring the entire C-suite to be tech-fluent.
When we look at tech-forward companies, three-quarters of them have both a tech-fluent CEO and a tech-fluent C-suite (17% more than other organizations). This need to be tech-fluent is even more critical in the context of practicing AI responsibly. As generative AI becomes more prevalent in the workforce, it’s essential for companies to establish responsible AI programs and processes to address ethical concerns, and this starts at the top with the CEO.
Like other technologies, we know AI has its limitations as well – such as being only as good as the data and assumptions on which they’re based. At its core, AI needs good data. Rather than measuring data quality across thousands of data points that a business may house, companies should consider the relevancy of their data and align it to specific use cases across lines of business needs.
All of this, however, relies on the assumption that organizations are designing and deploying AI responsibly from the start. Otherwise, executives can risk the trust they’ve built with customers, employees, businesses and society at large.
Drenik: How have these changes impacted the relationship between business and technology leaders?
Ashraf: The current environment should strengthen the relationship between business and technology leaders. Our research suggests generative AI has the potential to transform 40% of all working hours. Going back to my earlier point, fluency in technology is a must, and by effectively speaking the same language, leaders across the C-suite can break down pre-existing siloes and move beyond a transactional relationship.
Drenik: If you could give one piece of advice to CEOs that are looking at the current wave of AI spending and thinking, “what do I need to do,” what would that be?
Ashraf: Start by assessing AI’s value potential in the context of your business and your industries. Ensure AI is a true differentiator that enables productivity, customer experience, capital efficiency, business resilience and more – not just technology in search of a use case.
CEOs that want to profitably invest in AI, and technologies like generative AI, must:
- Focus the AI agenda on select projects (rather than numerous proofs of concept).
- Prioritize based on impact and ease of adoption. Impact should follow the most complex processes in the organization, and ease of adoption should consider technology maturity, enterprise readiness and cost.
- Rethink how ways of working are fundamentally changing with AI. Encourage teams to experiment quickly and have the flexibility to pivot investments if needed.
- Personally identify and engage (CEO-to-CEO) with a strategic ecosystem of partners committed to shared success.
Ultimately, go beyond the hype of how peers or competitors are using technology, and instead ground your AI strategy in value and a desire and commitment to fundamentally rethink the way work is done.
Drenik: Fascinating, and really speaks to the importance of AI and technology as a differentiator across all dimensions of the business. Thank you, Muqsit, for sharing your insights on the integration of AI, technology, and data and how critical it is to enterprise success. We appreciate your time here today.
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