New Accenture Research Finds that Companies with AI-Led Processes Outperform Peers

New research from Accenture (NYSE: ACN) found that three-in-four (74%) organizations have seen investments in generative AI and automation meet or exceed expectations, with 63% planning to increase their efforts and further strengthen these capabilities by 2026.

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According to the report, “Reinventing Enterprise Operations with Gen AI,” the number of companies that have fully modernized, AI-led processes has nearly doubled from 9% in 2023 to 16% in 2024. Compared to peers, these organizations achieve 2.5x higher revenue growth, 2.4x greater productivity and 3.3x greater success at scaling generative AI use cases. (Photo: Business Wire)

According to the report, “Reinventing Enterprise Operations with Gen AI,” the number of companies that have fully modernized, AI-led processes has nearly doubled from 9% in 2023 to 16% in 2024. Compared to peers, these organizations achieve 2.5x higher revenue growth, 2.4x greater productivity and 3.3x greater success at scaling generative AI use cases.

Findings also assessed that these “reinvention-ready” companies are moving faster and are amplifying the impact of generative AI across the business. Enabled by a digital core, these organizations have already developed generative AI use cases in IT (75%), marketing (64%), customer service (59%), finance (58%), R&D (34%) and other core functions.

While the research indicates that some companies have moved to the highest level of operations maturity, nearly two thirds (64%) still struggle to change the way they operate. For example, they lag behind on building a robust data foundation: 61% report that their data assets are not ready for generative AI yet and 70% find it hard to scale projects that use proprietary data.

The deep dependency on people is often overlooked: 82% of companies at the early stage of operations maturity have not applied a talent reinvention strategy, planned to meet workforce needs, or acquired new talent or training to prepare workers for generative AI-led workflows. In fact, many executives (78%) indicate that AI and generative AI are advancing too fast for their organization’s training efforts to keep pace.

“Most executives understand the urgency of reinventing with generative AI, but in many cases their enterprise operations are not ready to support large scale transformation,” said Arundhati Chakraborty, group chief executive of Accenture Operations. “Generative AI is more than the technology. It is a driver of a mindset change that impacts the entire enterprise. It requires organizations to have a strong digital core, data strategy and a well-defined roadmap to change the way they operate. Additionally, an end-to-end perspective leveraging talent, leading practices and effective collaboration between business and technology teams is essential for intelligent operations.”