- 11 minutes ago
Most large organizations have experimented with AI. Far fewer have fundamentally changed how they operate because of it. As the initial wave of excitement gives way to tougher questions around execution, companies are being forced to confront a new reality: AI value is harder to scale than expected. In this masterclass, leaders from PwC explore what separates companies generating tangible outcomes from those still stuck in fragmented AI initiatives. Drawing on real-world examples across industries, the session will explore why some AI programs successfully scale into core business capabilities and provide a practical roadmap for leaders navigating the next phase of AI adoption.
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00:07so thank you thank you and welcome to our yeah what is it it's a it's a workshop I think
00:14well
00:14I don't know whether that's really the good name but welcome to our workshop it's around AI of
00:19course and I'm here together with Pete good morning I'm Pete Brown lovely to be with you
00:25thank you for joining us yeah so my name is Agnes I'm the global chief commercial officer of PwC
00:31and we want to talk to you about AI of course so AI we all have been investing in it
00:39we have given
00:40tools in the hands of our colleagues but the real question is so what about the returns from AI so
00:48the ROI on AI and I think that's a question that a lot of our clients have it's a question
00:55that
00:55we have ourselves so we have done a research into what distinguishes organizations that do
01:03really well from the ones that are lagging behind and that's what we want to talk about in the next
01:09well 25 minutes or so Pete yeah no and I think if the genesis of this study the AI performance
01:17study
01:17was some research the CEO survey that we launched in Davos every year and that's where CEOs were
01:23telling us to Agnes's point record investments in AI what leaders were being reported on as it was
01:29high adoption yet they were all scratching their heads and saying well we're not actually seeing
01:33that return I think was only 12% of organizations were seeing both a growth and an efficiency gain
01:39from AI 56% was seeing absolutely nothing so so was born the AI performance study because we wanted to
01:45look at what the data is telling us the actual evidence coming from company reports as opposed to making
01:52speculation of which there's so much in in the world of AI so we we looked as you can see
01:57the numbers
01:58there at around 1200 organizations we looked at what how they were actually using AI to generate
02:06growth not how many licenses they've got what tools they were using but actually how were they
02:12implementing and what were the characteristics of those that are getting ahead and I guess the headline
02:17findings are just a feature is that uh you know 20% 20 20 of the organizations of all the
02:23ones we
02:24surveyed are capturing 74 percent of the value and that that that gap is getting wider what this chart
02:32doesn't show you is the bottom quintile their investments in AI are actually causing destruction of
02:37value in their businesses right and so we were looking okay what's going on in terms of the the the
02:42what are the organizations that are getting ahead doing that are reaping productivity benefits
02:46and that and that sort of growth um first and foremost as you'd expect they're getting the
02:52foundations right around technology data and governance right those those things that they're getting in
02:57place what they're also doing is being very deliberate around where they're focusing their efforts in AI
03:04as opposed to having lots of pilot projects going on and often in a fairly uncoordinated manner
03:09being very deliberate around why they're using AI what they're trying to solve for um and thirdly um
03:16they are they're they're really developing on the leaders in the organization and the broader workforce
03:23how do you equip people how do you get the right skills and ultimately how do you get AI and
03:29and your
03:30workforce working in concert um with the growth agenda at the center of that as opposed to an efficiency play
03:40so 7.2 times like the top 20 percent that pete was referring to they are capturing so much more
03:49value so seven point times more value than the rest of come of the organizations that are using AI and
03:56what
03:56is and what is then uh the performance at one what is it it's not only around reducing costs those
04:04companies are also able to grab revenues so growth out of AI so like pete was saying the bottom quantile
04:13scores negatively and i think what this really shows is like you were saying really deliberately working
04:19and choosing where to focus your AI on but i think what this really learns is that it's not and
04:28we i think
04:28we all know that this is not a technology question this is a question of how deliberate management is
04:34driving the outcomes it's around making sure that they are solving the big problems instead of the
04:41smaller use cases yes that's more difficult but it's also where you make really a difference uh in the uh
04:49in
04:49AI and i remember some time ago i spoke with a client of ours and he he was sharing that
04:55they were on this
04:56path for a longer time they went to open AI in 2021 even before you know it really boomed and
05:03i think
05:03that really helped them uh to drive it but he also made sure that his management team went along with
05:09them so that it it really is around making sure that they are connecting uh around the importance of AI
05:16and driving it and i think that really comes through also in our research
05:24so we talk about those uh here you can see what the research we did we based it on nine
05:30different topics
05:32so on the left you can see the the the gray area we call those the foundations the foundations like
05:39workforce is your workforce aligned and are they aware of it and are they also on board with it your
05:45investments your vision and strategy data technology governance and risk and innovation
05:51and i think those things are not new i think we all know them um because yeah whatever whatever the
05:58topic is we have to get those things in order what it is different of course it's around something new
06:04it is more speedy um but i would say you got this you know how to do this because the
06:13the the
06:13foundational things we have done those before like governance and risk we know how to do that
06:19but i think what shows our data shows is when you have the foundations in order you can achieve better
06:26ai growth which is on the right so i think there's really something interesting to see when you are
06:33deliberately like making it smaller and and think about what the foundations are to go through so i think
06:42i would say you got you got this you know how to do the foundations and then you can move
06:48to the
06:48grow by ai yeah i'll just add to agnes um the organizations they're getting ahead are doing all
06:54these they're doing something along this this circle here consistently across all the dimensions they're not
07:00opting in and out of they've got a consistency across that the other thing they're doing is they're not
07:05viewing this as a technology project they're looking at this as a growth opportunity an opportunity
07:09to actually you know reinvent their organization to be relevant for their customers um and that goes
07:16i'll add you know we're not immune to that you know we're an organization that's been around 177 78
07:22years um a long time and and certainly with the clients i work with and agnes works and our colleagues
07:28many of the many of the clients we're very lucky to serve have that rich heritage of tenure which in
07:35one
07:35sense is a real positive it's a wonderful thing in another thing it's a great challenge because
07:41you're used to systems ways of working that have served you well for so long and i think in the
07:47world
07:47of ai it's fundamentally challenging that and it's also giving you an opportunity to actually challenge
07:52some of your legacy assumptions ways of working and actually fundamentally ask you do you need the
07:59process you've got okay i think that takes you away from what some of the the less successful
08:05organizations this world are doing which is viewing it with a simply a cost reduction lens
08:10and when you do that you do you we're seeing consistently you're not getting there the returns
08:15so pete you are a workforce leader and on this slide you can see workforce so i think what would
08:22be
08:22your what do you see in in with your clients around workforce increasingly and actually the
08:28conversations i've been having at beaver tech um the conversation around what does it mean for
08:33the redesign of work and what does it mean for workers as i often say to people you know let's
08:37not forget what workers often tend to be unless somebody can prove me wrong at the moment they tend
08:41to be human beings by and large right and if you think around what's on the mind of human beings
08:46around the world and we know this from survey called hopes and fears it's the largest survey of workers
08:51around the world where we look at their sentiment you know that people are you know fairly apprehensive
08:57about things that are going on just in the world in which we live geopolitical tensions rising costs
09:02of living inflation charges you then layer on top of the ai and a perfectly reasonable understandable
09:08human question is am i signing away my job here so therefore for me when you're you know the
09:14organizations are getting ahead is where you've got leaders who are being transparent with that broader
09:20workforce because the workforce is going to make this happen they're clear about the intent what's the
09:24outcome that you're trying to drive and they also have humility right they role model using ai they
09:30lean into the tools they are a catalyst for change but they're very open with their teams that we
09:35consistently see that feedback in those organizations that are reaping the positive returns yeah so thanks
09:41and i think i would say like what we see with the clients who are the organization that are doing
09:46really well and that are capturing that growth is that they use ai in everything they do they solve the
09:51hard
09:51problems and they really really take ai first it's not like a gentrification where you think this is
09:58the process and we're going to agentify it a little bit no it's like re fundamentally changing
10:04the person the person the process the procedures and the processes
10:11so pete so yeah indeed so so the three main things that ai those those ahead are doing one is
10:17the
10:17foundations right which i mentioned around the governance and data technology secondly around
10:23you know actually using it to solve the difficult challenges right in their organization the big
10:28gnarly problems that perhaps have gone unattended for a long time what what a great opportunity
10:34and thirdly around the leadership challenge um now i know so agnes you're on our global board and
10:40mohammed our global chairman is here you know and people on our global boards um paul griggs in the us
10:46marco um in the uk and others um they really leap from the front in terms of um you know
10:53yes using ai
10:55but reinforcing how we as an organization are doubling down on the whole culture of learning for our people
11:01for every opportunity to learn and to develop but i think can't can't emphasize enough just how
11:06important that role modeling is at the most senior levels within the organization and again consistently
11:12we're seeing that across the surveys we do in this space yeah so i think what's really interesting
11:18from our research is that it shows when you have the foundations right it's in the red box underneath
11:23that you're twice you're you're you're likely to have more value twice as much as the ones who don't
11:30have their foundations in order the same comes from the real roi when you are really focusing on the hard
11:37problems and again dedicated ai change and adoption programs like we are having as well you're 2.6 more
11:44likely to have more ai value than even if you have not so so yes and i think this is
11:50also something that
11:51we can hear from the open ai from from anthropic what is holding us back to get to get the
11:57real value out
11:58of this it's not a technology technological issue they i would say the technology is even further ahead
12:04than we are so this is really about leadership about how we are driving that change how we are
12:09making sure that our staff and that our colleagues understand that they can well that we are transparent
12:16maybe not always uh the best outcome even though you can't you can argue that but it's like how do
12:22we
12:22make sure that we are in the trustless relationship together and move forward in a culture where innovation
12:27innovation is awarded i'm smiling agonist right because i think if we were on this stage maybe
12:33three years ago um so we're very fortunate we you know we've been ahead of the curve in terms of
12:37investment but we we very proudly announced we gave i don't know 250 000 of our 360 000 colleagues
12:45licenses and we sat back and that's brilliant right and then we sort of nothing really happened other
12:50than we were paying for the licenses and we weren't seeing a return and you know for us actually it
12:55was
12:55a wake-up call around um you know we we have we've got 365 000 people around the world they
13:01are bright
13:01smart intelligent people they're innovative they're creative anybody under the age of 30 by
13:07by definition is a digital native they've grown up using ai using these these tools they've got fluency
13:14so so for us what seems to be working well is one really focus on that broader workforce
13:19equipping them making sure we've got a culture where they can learn freely they can experiment and they
13:24can actually fail right which is a challenge in a professional service firms with a massive audit
13:29function for example where we're known for for for being risk averse but secondly at the leadership
13:35level again you know we yes we're often asked you do we monitor usage yes we do absolutely we do
13:41and for us you know you need that we need our leaders to be fluent to understand technology
13:46um and also to be the catalyst of change um within the organization so for us kind of that top
13:53-down
13:54bottom-up approach seems to be starting you know delivering the the results we're we're hoping for
14:02yeah so we thought a little bit of sharing and we're already doing that around you know what are our
14:07own learnings and we will be humble because it's not like we solved everything we are also have our
14:12challenges but we really understand leadership starts at the top and in my role i have the privilege
14:18of seeing different territories around the world and i can see differences i can see differences between
14:24territories where the ceo of that territory territory country is really driving ai he's using it or she is
14:32using it herself ai first challenging all the time the colleagues around how are you using ai how are we
14:39re-adopting it every time and we see territories where the ceo is less into it like you know i
14:47need
14:47help i i you know i find it difficult so i think this is really something that we see and
14:52we see
14:53differences in how it's then moving forward and also in really in in making sure that we are getting
14:59growth out of it top-down direction and bottom-up i think before this role i was the ceo of
15:05the netherlands
15:06and we would like you were saying we gave tools in the hands of everybody and we thought well you
15:11know they will invent and they will innovate yes they did but they came also up with small use cases
15:18so we really we realized we also had to make sure that we are steering top down because it's not
15:25good
15:25enough only to have it going up but you have to steer down as well which is okay and then
15:30how how do you
15:31combine those two i think that we are also working on that one and we really try to be client
15:36zero
15:37so what do we do ourselves and how do we can we take it to our clients and i think
15:43that you know
15:43being innovative i think that's what pete shared as well i thought like oh man we i'm an auditor by
15:49background auditors you know we like to be have the to have an answer to be complete and to have
15:56a
15:56little bit of a blue mindset like oh it has to be fixed in boxes but when you want want
16:01to be innovative
16:02that's really different you know you have to be willing to make mistakes and to be even rewarded
16:07for it well in my profession you know like mistake is not really great you would say so this is
16:14really
16:14about changing that culture making sure that you have uh reward systems around it your it's more your
16:21area pete but make sure that you know that they feel engaged and feel invited to learning uh and
16:28that they are allowed to make mistakes because that's the only way you will grow and i think i
16:33just make the point our investments not just being in the technology right we've put an enormous around
16:38of investment as we've redesigned various workflows but in the skills and capabilities of our people
16:44and they're just just another data point for you and we we launched two days ago the ai jobs barometer
16:50which is which is freely available um the organizations that are fitting into this category
16:55of getting ahead um they're seeing three times uh increase in in rates of productivity but we're seeing
17:02growth in the roles in their most axy organizations and the skills and talents that they are hiring for
17:09um is the the rate of change of skills is two and a half times faster than other organizations
17:14and the skills thereafter are the things that humans do best problem solving critical thinking
17:20leadership networking relationship management so those those human skills are the ones that the
17:26organizations are telling us the ones ahead are really doubling down on investing more in
17:34so maybe on the conclusion pete so on the conclusion i think we've covered much of this one is around
17:40focusing on you know understanding the foundations but the foundations to enable you to scale the data
17:46the governance the the nine factors we we looked at in the ai performance survey um avoid if you can
17:53lots of pilots they often and they often end up in uh being very uncoordinated and scratching heads around
17:59where's the value so try and focus on being very deliberate on where you're using the ai um the human
18:06angle i've talked a lot about um it's uh for me it's a workforce as well as an ai strategy
18:12conversation
18:12they're not divorced they are interlinked um yeah and move at pace right go quickly experiment and if it
18:19doesn't work try somewhere else yeah so you started with the ceo survey we have that uh every year and
18:25now we have 29 versions and the last one was last year january i think you know if you would
18:30ask ceos at
18:31that time what they were most uh worried about it was around am i going fast enough and i think
18:38that's still the question things are going so fast so yeah move with velocity you know like try learn
18:45move ahead um and focus on the on the big problems i would say so i would uh thank you
18:54for being here
18:55um this morning um we are also with a booth um i think this is just the starter of the
19:02conversation
19:02um and i you know we would be more than willing to talk to you about and and share some
19:07of our own
19:07learnings but also show you our framework and the nine dimensions that we talked about
19:14um the big question is always how do i get return out of my ai investments that's one and the
19:20second one
19:20how am i doing it compared to my peers you know what can i learn from other companies uh we
19:27also
19:27developed a tool it's online it's not available here it's because it was too complicated to get it
19:32working but we also have it online where you can do a short like quiz and find out how you're
19:38doing
19:38against your peers so um i would say thank you for being here this morning pete thank you thank you
19:44and have lots of fun
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