Industries in the AI era

Successfully harnessing AI will determine winners and also-rans in industrial sectors across the business landscape. Most CEOs now recognize that organizations with the most advanced generative AI capabilities will reap the most opportunities for growth and innovation. This sentiment is driving a spike in AI investments, where enterprise spend on AI has surged by 78% between December 2022 and March 2024.

Initially, many businesses tend to incorporate AI tools into existing processes and work methods, seeking improvements to productivity and operational efficiency. Indeed, quick wins can be achieved as AI takes over autonomous tasks and helps reengineer processes and workflows to optimize operations.

However, companies that settle into the productivity phase of AI evolution will fall behind those that see the AI journey through to its ultimate potential—to generate new ideas, disrupt markets, inspire new products and services, and create new revenue streams and profit centers previously unimagined. 
 

Increased productivity is important, but AI innovation is the prize. 85% of executives say AI will enable business model innovation and 89% say it will drive product and service innovation.

Seeing innovation potential through the lens of AI

Innovation-focused AI requires a shift from a tactical POV—how work is done—to a larger, more strategic perspective on what an enterprise could and should be doing. When these efforts become more transformational, they also become more industry and enterprise specific.

Executives winning with AI are reinventing businesses, transforming operating models, and charting new industry paths. Among CEOs globally, product and service innovation now rank as the top priority, with business model innovation the leading challenge. And to make this happen, 64% of CEOs say they will have to rewrite their organizational playbooks.
 

Transformation is happening at unprecedented speed as 92% of C-suite executives expect to digitize workflows and leverage AI-powered automation by 2026.

Achieving AI synergy through people, processes, platforms, and partnerships

Channeling the disruptive potential of AI into market leadership requires an AI-powered operating model centered on people, supported by processes, enabled by tech and data platforms, and reinforced by energized partners.

People are paramount when it comes to AI adoption and 64% of CEOs say that AI success depends more on people’s adoption that the technology itself. But the promise is becoming real as AI assistants and agents liberate professionals from rote tasks, free up time for higher value activities, and contribute to creative problem-solving.

As AI assistants evolve into AI agents, business processes and workflows can be fundamentally transformed. Agentic AI identifies, sources, and incorporates data across systems to generate new outcomes, embed enhancements, and scale improvements faster.
 

AI will increasingly shift to a self-funding model, enabling further investments into new projects with greater breakthrough potential. In fact, 95% of executives say gen AI will be at least partially self-funded by 2026. 

Flexible IT structures and platforms will enable businesses to benefit from different AI capabilities and AI models. This allows data to flow across enterprises to where it generates the most value and turns AI into a competitive advantage by leveraging enterprise and industry specific data. 

But to succeed, organizations must get better at selecting the right partners with the right AI expertise and resources—and not hang on to partnerships that no longer fit. In fact, 55% of business leaders say that changing strategic priorities will mean reconfiguring core partnerships.
 

What success looks like in specific industry contexts 

This report provides targeted insights across 10 different sectors including banking and finance, telecommunications, government, retail and consumer products, automotive, oil and gas, utilities, healthcare, insurance, and life sciences. Each industry section also includes a real-world case study and an action guide tailored for industry executives. Download the report to help your clients strategically adopt AI, evolve beyond productivity, and reimagine AI as a driving force for industry innovation, growth, and competitiveness.