Chief Information Officer

Intelligent Digital Brain
Uplifting enterprise competitive advantage

Authors: Lan Guan, Muqsit Ashraf, Surya Mukherjee

Published: April 2026

Data alone does not make an enterprise intelligent. Intelligence emerges when data, knowledge, and decisions work as one across the enterprise. With humans in the lead, intelligent systems help organizations continuously learn, improve decisions, and drive reinvention.

Read full report

Intelligent Digital Brain: Uplifting enterprise competitive advantage

Data alone does not make an enterprise intelligent. Intelligence emerges when data, knowledge, and decisions work as one across the enterprise. With humans...

more

Read Report

AI innovation is nonstop. Your cloud foundation should be too.

Author: Andy Tay, Lan Guan, Jason Dess, Jefferson Wang, Shalabh Kumar Singh
Research lead: Shalabh Kumar Singh
Research contributors: Mathew Giju, Subhransu Sahoo, Pradeep Roy, Aditi Abhijeet, Pratik Janaikar, Ajay Garg
Published: March 2026

AI investment is accelerating, but many companies still run cloud estates built for stability rather than reinvention. Fragmented, outdated foundations are constraining their ability to scale AI and capture value. In Accenture’s analysis of 216 organizations, 59% of workloads remain largely on premises and only 8% support advanced experimentation, even though 86% of C-suite leaders plan to increase AI investment in 2026. The report groups companies into three categories based on cloud maturity—stabilizers, optimizers and innovators. It explains what is holding each category back and how to build a cloud foundation ready for AI at scale.

Read full report

AI innovation is nonstop. Your cloud foundation should be too.

AI investment is accelerating, but many companies still run cloud estates built for stability rather than reinvention. Fragmented...

more

Read Report

Sovereign AI

Authors: David Wood and Mauro Capo
Research lead: Surya Mukherjee​

The Sovereign AI: Own Your AI Future report argues that artificial intelligence has become a strategic asset—and a strategic risk—because data, compute and models are increasingly concentrated in a few global players. Sovereign AI enables nations and enterprises to retain control over critical AI assets while still leveraging global innovation through hybrid ecosystems. Our research shows sovereignty is no longer just about compliance or risk mitigation; it is a driver of growth, resilience and competitiveness. Leading companies treat sovereign AI as a CEO-level priority, apply it selectively across high-value workloads, build ecosystems that blend local trust with global scale, and redesign architectures for multi-cloud, multi-model and agentic AI.

Read full report

Sovereign AI

The Sovereign AI: Own Your AI Future report argues that artificial intelligence has become a strategic asset—and a strategic risk—because data, compute and models are increasingly concentrated...

more

Read Report

Design Processes to Evolve with Emerging Technology

Authors: Manish Sharma, Lan Guan and H. James Wilson
Published: January 2026

For decades, companies have relied on episodic, high-cost transformation efforts that rarely changed how work actually gets done. This article argues that emerging technologies—especially generative and agentic AI—are enabling a fundamental shift: from periodic overhaul to continuous evolution. By making processes fully visible, testable through digital twins, and executable by autonomous AI agents, organizations can dramatically reduce coordination costs and redesign work on an ongoing basis. Leading companies are already using these capabilities to experiment safely, adapt faster and elevate human roles. The result is a new operating model built not for stability, but for perpetual reinvention in a rapidly changing world.

Read full report

Design Processes to Evolve with Emerging Technology

For decades, companies have relied on episodic, high-cost transformation efforts that rarely changed how work actually gets done....

more

Read Report

The secret to successful AI-driven process redesign

Publisher: Harvard Business Review
Authors: Paul Daugherty, H. James Wilson
Published: January/February 2025

AI agents, when paired with human oversight, can dramatically boost process efficiency and quality. The article addresses how AI is transforming industries, from manufacturing to pharmaceuticals, by empowering employees and reducing waste. A key challenge is integrating AI to augment human capabilities, not replace them. The solution lies in combining human oversight with AI autonomy, ensuring processes align with business goals. For instance, the AI model achieved 90% precision and 84% recall in workflow completion, and Merck saw a 50% reduction in false rejects. Potential clients should identify processes ripe for AI redesign, understand AI capabilities and empower employees through training, leading to enhanced efficiency and a culture of continuous improvement.

Read full report

The secret to successful AI-driven process redesign

AI agents, when paired with human oversight, can dramatically boost process efficiency and quality. The article addresses how AI is transforming industries...

more

Read Report

Technology vision 2025

Author: Karthik Narain
Research lead: Prashant P. Shukla

Published: January 2025

Accenture’s Technology vision 2025 report focuses on the
growing impacts of gen AI on business and technology. The
main theme explores the unifying thread between to trends
like how AI is becoming generalized, the autonomy it brings
to the things it touches and how it will be used to develop
“cognitive digital brains” for every enterprise. It also raises
how trust—both emotional and cognitive—will be paramount
to any AI-driven enterprise reinvention. The trends explore
these concepts through the dimensions of software and the
technology ecosystem, brand and customer experience, the
future of robotics and the intersection of AI and the workforce.

Read full report

Technology vision 2025

Accenture’s Technology vision 2025 report focuses on the
growing impacts of gen AI on business and technology. The
main theme explores the unifying thread between to trends...

more

Read Report

How to manage tech debt in the AI era

Publisher: MIT Sloan Management Review
Authors: Koenraad Schelfaut, Prashant P. Shukla
Published: September 2024​

Companies well-positioned for change allocate around 15% of their IT budgets to technical debt remediation. The article addresses the growing issue of technical debt in enterprise systems as companies adopt AI. Technical debt can hinder innovation and competitiveness, with annual costs in the US exceeding $2.41 trillion. All technical debt is AI technical debt. Our research found that effective management, not elimination, of technical debt is key to leveraging AI for innovation and growth. Our recommendations focus on recognizing that zero technical debt is not the goal, distinguishing between good and bad debt and prioritizing high-value fixes using the PAID framework. By reframing technical debt remediation as an investment in innovation capacity, companies can remain agile and competitive.

Read full report

How to manage tech debt in the AI era

Companies well-positioned for change allocate around 15% of their IT budgets to technical debt remediation. The article addresses the growing issue of technical debt in enterprise systems...

more

Read Report

The front-runners’ guide to scaling AI

Authors: Lan Guan, Senthil Ramani, Philippe Roussiere
Research lead: Philippe Roussiere
Published: May 2025

A small minority of companies are achieving considerable
success at reinventing their enterprises with gen AI. They all
get one very important thing right: They combine lower-value
“table stakes” investments in gen AI with “strategic bets”—
investments that aim to maximize the potential of gen AI to
drive exceptional productivity, innovation and revenue growth.
Compared to competitors that have not done so, companies
that have scaled at least one strategic bet are nearly 3x more
likely to have their ROI from gen AI surpass their forecasts.
Drawing on a survey of 2,000 organizations, this report
describes the essential capabilities and practices that all
companies need to deploy and scale strategic bets.

Read full report

The front-runners’ guide to scaling AI

A small minority of companies are achieving considerable
success at reinventing their enterprises with gen AI. They all
get one very important thing right: They combine lower-value
“table...

more

Read Report

To help improve the accuracy of generative AI, add speed bumps

Publisher: MIT Sloan Management Review
Authors: Arnab Chakraborty
Published: November 2024

The article addresses the growing issue of inaccuracies and uncritical adoption of AI outputs, which can lead to errors and biases. The major complication is that users often overestimate their ability to detect these errors, posing potential risks. Our research suggests introducing targeted friction, like highlighting potential errors, to improve accuracy. For potential clients, the article recommends evaluating organizational readiness, assessing AI system risk, fostering a culture of experimentation and operationalizing continuous monitoring. We found a medium-friction condition helped users catch inaccuracies and omissions without significantly increasing task completion time, demonstrating the effectiveness of this approach.

Read full report

To help improve the accuracy of generative AI, add speed bumps

The article addresses the growing issue of inaccuracies and uncritical adoption of AI outputs, which can lead to errors and biases. The major complication...

more

Read Report

Data readiness in the age of generative AI

Authors: Karthik Narain, Senthil Ramani, Lan Guan, Teresa Tung, Amit Bansal
Research lead: Praveen Tanguturi
Published: October 2024

Gen AI promises transformation, but 48% of CXOs say their organizations lack the high-quality data needed to scale it. Despite 97% of leaders calling gen AI a long-term investment, most firms remain underprepared. Accenture identifies six essentials for data readiness: prioritize proprietary data, tap unstructured data, use synthetic data to fill gaps, enable context through connected data, manage accelerated risks and apply gen AI to improve the data lifecycle. With only half of firms equipped to leverage synthetic data and 42% needing help with governance, success will hinge on reinventing architectures and embedding responsible AI practices.

Read full report

Data readiness in the age of generative AI

Gen AI promises transformation, but 48% of CXOs say their organizations lack the high-quality data needed to scale it. Despite 97% of leaders calling gen AI...

more

Read Report

The new rules of platform strategy in the age of agentic AI
Five priorities to help companies align people, platforms and intelligence

Authors: Frédéric Brunier, Christopher Roark
Research lead: Surya Mukherjee
Published: December 2025​

Enterprise platforms once kept finance, HR and supply chains humming, but agentic AI is turning that stable machinery into a bottleneck. Too many firms bolt AI pilots onto brittle cores, creating duplicate systems, stale data and operational drag. The fix is not to scrap platforms but to rewire them as living systems of intelligence: architect AI-ready infrastructure, modernise the digital core, define how humans, platforms and agents share accountability, reinvent operating models and build a culture of trust and fluency. In our survey of 1,031 executives, aligned companies averaged 2.2x higher revenue growth and up to 37% higher profitability overall.

Read full report

The new rules of platform strategy in the age of agentic AI

Enterprise platforms once kept finance, HR and supply chains humming, but agentic AI is turning that stable machinery into a bottleneck...

more

Read Report

Turning Real-Time Satellite Data into a Competitive Advantage

Authors: Adam Burden, Paul Thomas, Shubhashis Sengupta and Shruti Shalini
Published: November 2025

Reinsurer Swiss Re streams near-real-time flood maps into its catastrophe-risk services, accelerating its claims processing and disaster response. Cargill, the Minnesota-based agribusiness company, uses a satellite-monitoring platform to track land use and forest loss across its global supply chains, strengthening its pledge to be deforestation-free by 2030. Maersk, the Copenhagen-based shipping and logistics company, has installed SpaceX Starlink broadband on more than 330 container vessels, improving communication and operational efficiency with cloud tools and remote management...

Read full report

Turning Real-Time Satellite Data into a Competitive Advantage

As satellite technology becomes cheaper and smarter, space-based intelligence is moving from the fringe to the core of business strategy. ...

more

Read Report

Tacit Knowledge Is Your Next Competitive Moat

Authors: Teresa Tung, Philippe Roussiere

Published: March 2026

Most companies see AI as a data and technology challenge. Collect more information. Train larger models. Scale automation across the enterprise. While these efforts are essential, companies making the most progress with agentic AI recognize something deeper: The real differentiator is not the data or even the models, but the “tacit knowledge” embedded in the judgment of their people.

Read full report

Tacit Knowledge Is Your Next Competitive Moat

As agentic and generative AI spread through business, the need to capture tacit knowledge is growing fast ...

more

Read Report

Five Actions for Scaling AI Sustainably

Author: Stephanie Jamison, Sanjay Podder, Adam Burden, Shalabh Kumar Singh and Matthew C. Robinson
Published: January 2026

The environmental impact of artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming one of the most pressing challenges of our time. By 2030, according to our estimates at Accenture, AI’s energy consumption will grow over 10x, reaching 612 tera-watt hours (TWh) annually—the equivalent of Canada’s total electricity consumption. This significant strain on global power grids will see AI’s carbon emissions surge 11-fold to 718 million metric tons by 2030, accounting for 3.4 per cent of global emissions (up from 0.2 per cent today). Simultaneously, AI hubs are projected to consume over 3 billion cubic metres of water every year that is not returned to original sources due to evaporation and other losses. That’s more than the total annual freshwater withdrawals of countries like Norway or Sweden.

Read full report

Five Actions for Scaling AI Sustainably

AI’s efficiency gains risk creating a new sustainability problem, but this article argues the answer is not slower adoption, it is smarter scaling ...

more

Read Report

Ever-ready infrastructure
Enabling enterprise potential in the era of gen AI

Authors:  Rajive Wickramasinghe, Anthony M. Leraris,
Nalin Pandey, Shalabh Kumar Singh, Jai T Bagmar
Research lead: Shalabh Kumar Singh
Published: May 2025​

Enterprises want AI to drive reinvention, but legacy infrastructure, siloed operations and tech debt are slowing them down. While most organizations have invested in cloud, many still lack the flexibility and integration required to scale AI. Accenture proposes the “ever-ready infrastructure” model— adaptive, AI-infused and user-centric—delivered via an Operationalize-Accelerate-Modernize (OAM) framework. This approach helps CIOs shift from cost containment to innovation, embedding FinOps, edge computing, AI and platform thinking. Organizations that adopt this model can unlock higher agility, resilience and long-term growth. In an AI-driven era, infrastructure must evolve from enabler to competitive differentiator.

Read full report

Ever-readyinfrastructure

Enterprises want AI to drive reinvention, but legacy infrastructure, siloed operations and tech debt are slowing them down. While most organizations have invested in cloud, many still lack the flexibility...

more

Read Report

Are businesses ready for practical quantum computing?

Publisher: California Management Review
Authors: Carl Dukatz, Laura Converso
Published: July 2025

Quantum is edging toward practicality: in four months IBM, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and USTC unveiled chips tackling errors, coherence and scale, and the UN named 2025 the International Year of Quantum. Yet benefits differ from classical, benchmarks are fluid and ROI unclear. How should leaders respond? Treat quantum as strategy, not a science project: appoint a C-suite sponsor, design hybrid CPU/GPU/QPU architectures, run cloud pilots, collaborate to de-risk and begin post-quantum cryptography migrations. With practical advantage plausibly 5–10 years away—and ~2,800 firms expected to adopt QCaaS by 2030—early movers lock in talent, capabilities and ecosystem position while competitors wait.

Read full report

Are businesses ready for practical quantum computing?

Quantum is edging toward practicality: in four months IBM, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and USTC unveiled chips tackling errors...

more

Read Report

Reinventing with a digital core - Chapter 1

Authors: Paul Daugherty, Koenraad Schelfaut, David Wood, Prashant P. Shukla, Jim Wilson
Research lead: Shachi Jain
Published: July 2024

To thrive amid change and capture the potential value of generative AI (and the next disruptive technologies), companies need a digital core that is reinvention ready. Our research has identified three tenets for companies to achieve it:

1. Build an industry-leading digital core tailored specifically to your industry and company.
2. Boost investments in strategic innovation, including re-engineering systems for machine (AI) operations.
3. Balance growing technical debt with appropriate investments,
using programmatic and autonomous methods.

Compared to the sample baseline, leading companies which did all three experienced a 60% acceleration in their revenue growth rate while increasing profitability by 40%. We call this the 60:40 effect.

Read full report

Reinventing with a digital core - Chapter 1

To thrive amid change and capture the potential value of generative AI (and the next disruptive...

more

Read Report

Reinventing with a digital core

Authors: Karthik Narain, Lan Guan, Ram Ramalingam, Koenraad Schelfaut, David Wood, Surya Mukherjee
Research lead: Surya Mukherjee
Published: November 2024

Thriving requires reinvention, with the digital core at the heart
of this transformation. It connects data, processes and
technology, enabling businesses to adapt, learn and innovate.
Built with engineering principles “Architect for Intent,”
“Connect the Dots” and “Thrive with Ecosystems,” it evolves
with change, staying smart, efficient and free from rigid
systems. The report outlines actionable strategies to achieve
this transformation: adopting AI-first architectures, integrating
systems for real-time analytics and partnering with ecosystems
to access cutting-edge innovations.

Read full report

Reinventing with a digital core

Thriving requires reinvention, with the digital core at the heart
of this transformation. It connects data, processes and
technology...

more

Read Report

Accelerating Business with AI in an Uncertain World

Authors: Kenneth R. Munie, Joon-Seong Lee and Prashant P. Shukla​
Published: September 2025​

Tariff wars are reverberating across sectors, disrupting supply chains, inflating input costs, and triggering volatility in customer demand. Many organizations, particularly those dependent on international sourcing, are now caught between rising costs and eroding margins. Absorbing costs hurts profit margins, while passing them on risks increasing brand switch and churn rates.

This is just one illustration of how fragile and interdependent the global economic system has become. Whether the disruption comes from sanctions, cybersecurity breaches, regulatory shifts, or regional conflicts, the result is the same: instability. The real risk is not a single event but the convergence of many simultaneous disruptions.

Read full report

Accelerating Business with AI in an Uncertain World

In an era of overlapping shocks, a small group of AI front-runners is turning volatility into advantage by embedding AI into core strategy ...

more

Read Report

Artificial intelligence in media, entertainment and sport

Authors: Francesco Venturini, Kathryn White Krumpholz, Matteo Orsenigo, Swati Vyas
Research lead: Swati Vyas
Published: February 2025

Gen AI is profoundly transforming the media, entertainment
and sport industry by accelerating content creation, enhancing
personalization and reshaping monetization strategies. Our
research in collaboration with AI Governance Alliance and The
World Economic Forum shows that the key challenge lies in
managing risks around misinformation, IP rights, workforce
disruption and data governance. Adoption is growing fast—
92% of creators report using genAI in some capacity, up from
34% in late 2023—yet 90% feel they aren’t using it to its full
potential. Gen AI can boost creative productivity by 25% and
reduce editors’ work time by 72%. To unlock its full value, the
report recommends ethical frameworks, robust infrastructure
and multistakeholder collaboration that ensures responsible,
inclusive and scalable adoption.

Read full report

Artificial intelligence in media, entertainment and sport

Gen AI is profoundly transforming the media, entertainment
and sport industry by accelerating...

more

Read Report

Generating growth
How generative AI can power Ireland’s reinvention

Authors: Lan Guan, Muqsit Ashraf, Surya Mukherjee
Published: April 2026
Published: December 2024

Ireland stands at a critical juncture: Gen AI could boost its GDP by €148 billion and lift long-term growth by 55% by 2038, yet only 9% of Irish organizations have scaled adoption. Major barriers include a deployment gap, a digital skills shortage affecting 64% of the workforce and a widening trust divide between workers and leadership. Left unaddressed, €96 billion in economic value could be lost. Accenture outlines five imperatives—value-led strategy, digital core, talent reinvention, responsible AI and continuous innovation— to drive transformation. Coordinated action across all five makes organizations 4x more likely to succeed at scale.

Read full report

Generating growth

Ireland stands at a critical juncture: Gen AI could boost its GDP by €148 billion and lift long-term growth by 55% by 2038, yet only 9% of Irish organizations have scaled adoption. Major barriers...

more

Read Report

Built to lead: New York’s momentum toward global leadership in applied AI

Authors: Julie Samuels, Laura Peterson, David Leckstein, Joon-Seong Lee, Jennifer Walden, Francis Hinterman, Corrine Vitolo
Research lead: Corrine Vitolo
Published: August 2025

New York is emerging as a global leader in applied AI,
propelled by implementation, investment and a people-first
talent strategy. Over the past year, AI adoption jumped from
55% to 78%, with 99% of executives planning to expand hiring.
Yet as competition accelerates, scaling responsibly is critical.
This report outlines three imperatives: upskilling at speed,
capturing the compounding value of the city’s investments
and ecosystem and ensuring responsible AI frameworks align
with innovation. With $109 billion in U.S. private AI investment
last year, cities are vying to attract talent and capital, but by
maintaining its civic momentum, New York can set the global
standard for inclusive, accountable AI leadership.

Read full report

Built to lead: New York’s momentum toward global leadership in applied AI

New York is emerging as a global leader in applied AI,
propelled by implementation, investment and a people-first
talent strategy...

more

Read Report

Build your tech and balance your debt
Why balancing—not eliminating—tech debt is key to reinventing with a modern digital core

Authors: Koenraad Schelfaut, Jason Byrd, Sarabdeep Singh, David Wood, Prashant P. Shukla
Research lead: Prashant P. Shukla
Published: October 2024

Technical debt is the cost in terms of money and effort
required for a company to keep its IT systems up-to-date
and capable of meeting business needs. AI is now the largest
driver of tech debt, along with enterprise applications. Our
research shows that some of tech debt is healthy for the
balance sheet as it is an unavoidable cost of innovation, but
throwing too much money at it can be counterproductive. To
manage technical debt, organizations should focus on three
actions: focus on the principal to minimize interest and other
adverse effects; trace technical debt to source and prioritize
remediation and use the right metrics such as technical debt
density to accurately assess your tech debt.

Read full report

Build your tech and balance your debt

Technical debt is the cost in terms of money and effort
required for a company to keep its IT systems up-to-date
and capable of meeting business needs. AI is now...

more

Read Report

The new growth algebra

Saudi Arabia’s generative AI opportunity

Authors: Raymond Makhoul, Abdullah AlDahmash, Abir Habbal
Research lead: Francis Hintermann, Carla Maria Issa
Published: September 2024

Gen AI is poised to reshape Saudi Arabia’s economy, with the potential to boost GDP by $42.3 billion and transform nearly 37% of total working hours. Accenture’s research in collaboration with the Saudi Data and AI Authority shows that while labor-intensive roles remain largely untouched for now, highly skilled jobs—25% of the workforce—will see over half their tasks automated or augmented. To seize this moment, Saudi Arabia must lead with value, reinvent its workforce, build digital and data infrastructure and embed responsible AI from the start. With a clear national vision and targeted investments in talent, cloud and ethics, the Kingdom can position itself as a global leader in AI-powered growth.

Read full report

The new growth algebra

Gen AI is poised to reshape Saudi Arabia’s economy, with the potential to boost GDP by $42.3 billion and transform nearly 37% of total working hours. Accenture’s research in collaboration...

more

Read Report

Reinvention in the age of generative AI
South Africa’s formula for success amid change

Authors: Vukani Mngxati, Yusof Seedat, Hina Patel, Mayuri Naik
Research lead: Mayuri Naik

South African businesses face a pivotal choice: embrace
gen AI to unlock growth or risk widening the gap with global
leaders. Despite 99% of C-suite leaders adopting reinvention
strategies, only 7% qualify as “Reinventors” achieving
sustained transformation. The barriers—legacy systems,
misaligned IT-business goals and skills shortages—are steep.
Yet the opportunity is immense: Responsible adoption of
gen AI could add $82 billion to GDP in 15 years. Success
requires acting across five imperatives: lead with value, build
a secure digital core, reinvent talent, operationalize responsible
AI and drive continuous reinvention.

Read full report

Reinvention in the age of generative AI

South African businesses face a pivotal choice: embrace
gen AI to unlock growth or risk widening the gap with global
leaders. Despite 99% of C-suite leaders adopting reinvention
strategies...

more

Read Report

Europe’s AI reckoning Reinventing industries for a new era

Authors: Mauro Macchi, Matt Prebble, Dominic King,
Laura Ann Wright
Research lead: Mauro Macchi
Published: June 2025

Europe faces a productivity crisis: the average worker now produces just 76% as much as an American, with decades of underinvestment in technology at the root. Accenture’s survey of 800 large organisations shows 56% have yet to scale a transformative AI initiative, and the region’s average AI capability score is just 46 out of 100. Closing this gap could add €200 billion in revenues. Larger firms are keeping pace with US peers, but smaller European companies lag badly. To compete globally, Europe must scale AI “strategic bets,” build cognitive digital brains and foster a sovereign, federated AI ecosystem.

Read full report

Europe’s AI reckoning Reinventing industries for a new era

Europe faces a productivity crisis: the average worker now produces just 76% as much as an American, with decades of underinvestment in technology at the root...

more

Read Report

From compliance to confidence
Embracing a new mindset to advance responsible AI maturity

Authors: Arnab Chakraborty, Karthik Narain, Senthil Ramani
Research lead: Patrick Connolly
Published: December 2024

As gen AI becomes pervasive in business and society, so do
the risks that come with using it. To tackle such risks
and maximize value from gen AI, companies should focus on
five priorities to improve what we call their ”responsible
AI maturity”: 1) establish AI governance and principles;
2) conduct AI risk assessments; 3) enable systemic responsible
AI testing; 4) conduct ongoing monitoring and compliance;
and 5) focus on workforce impact, sustainability, privacy and
security. Ninety percent of the companies we surveyed expect
to be subject to AI-adjacent legal obligations over the next five
years. When a company develops a high level of responsible
AI maturity, its AI-related revenue will increase by 18%, on
average, according to our survey respondents.

Read full report

From compliance to confidence

As gen AI becomes pervasive in business and society, so do
the risks that come with using it. To tackle such risks
and maximize value from gen AI, companies should focus on
five priorities...

more

Read Report

Thrive with responsible AI

How embedding trust can unlock value

Authors: Arnab Chakraborty, Jennifer Jackson
Research lead: Shekhar Tewari
Published: November 2024

Responsible AI is no longer just about risk—it’s a strategic driver
of business value. Accenture’s global C-suite survey shows that
responsible AI can boost AI-related revenue by 18%, compress
time-to-value by a year or more and strengthen trust with
employees, partners and customers. Companies that embed
responsible AI into their core strategy unlock 360° value
across financial performance, talent, sustainability, inclusion
and risk. Notable outcomes include reduced costs, improved
operational efficiency, stronger brand loyalty, faster talent
recruitment and better regulatory readiness. The report
recommends acting now: adopt a platform approach, invest in
AI maturity and bake responsibility into design. With the right
governance, tools and training, firms can accelerate innovation
while earning trust—and get ahead in an AI-driven world.

Read full report

Thrive with responsible AI

Responsible AI is no longer just about risk—it’s a strategic driver
of business value. Accenture’s global C-suite survey shows that
responsible AI can boost AI-related revenue by 18%, compress...

more

Read Report

From data debt to enterprise intelligence

Authors: Francesco Venturini, Boris Maurer, Davide Bellini, Marco Grigoletti, Mathangi Sandilya, Andrew Lanktree, Swati Vyas, Andrea Orlando
Research lead: Swati Vyas
Published: August 2025

Telcos entered the AI era believing years of cloud, data and platform investment had prepared them for reinvention. Yet beneath that ambition sits data debt: fragmented, low-quality information that leaves nearly 80% not ready to become data-first, AI-driven businesses, while data teams spend 62% of their time cleaning instead of analyzing. The tension is rising because 84% of enterprise executives still see telcos as key gen AI partners. The breakthrough, the report argues, is to treat data as a strategic asset, build AI-native fabric-and-mesh architectures and use gen AI itself to automate metadata, improve quality and unlock faster growth enterprise-wide.

Read full report

From data debt to enterprise intelligence

Telcos entered the AI era believing years of cloud, data and platform investment had prepared them for reinvention. Yet beneath that ambition sits data debt...

more

Read Report

How reinventionready companies are driving growth and relevance with gen AI

Authors: Arundhati Chakraborty, Yusuf Tayob, Bhavana Rao
Research lead: Aarohi Sen
Published: September 2024

To stay competitive amid disruption, companies must
transform operations with gen AI. Accenture’s 2024 research
shows 16% are “reinvention-ready” and a further 2% are already
reinventing—scaling gen AI and seeing exceptional outcomes.
These leaders achieve 2.5x higher revenue growth, 2.4x
greater productivity and are 3.3x more likely to scale highvalue gen AI use cases. Their edge lies in advancing talent,
platforms and processes in unison, underpinned by a modern
digital core. Success hinges on four actions: modernize data
with a domain lens, adopt a talent-first strategy, link technology
and business teams and apply leading processes to drive
measurable business value.

Read full report

How reinventionready companies are driving growth and relevance with gen AI

To stay competitive amid disruption, companies must
transform operations with gen AI. Accenture’s...

more

Read Report

Navigating the ethical landscape of generative AI

Publisher: The European Business Review
Authors: Laetitia Cailleteau, Philippe Roussiere, Professor Thierry Rayna
Published: February 2025

As gen AI adoption accelerates, organizations face a pivotal challenge: how to scale innovation while managing risk. Only 2% of CEOs currently demonstrate leading practices in responsible AI, though 31% plan to close the gap this year under mounting regulatory pressure from frameworks like the EU AI Act. This article outlines a pragmatic roadmap across four fronts—improving reliability and fairness, designing safe user experiences, preparing the workforce and aligning AI with sustainability goals. Solutions include human oversight, red-teaming, synthetic data, AI literacy and sustainable model design. The future of gen AI hinges on proactive, responsible leadership.

Read full report

Navigating the ethical landscape of generative AI

As gen AI adoption accelerates, organizations face a pivotal challenge: how to scale innovation while managing risk. Only 2% of CEOs currently demonstrate...

more

Read Report

The $3.3 trillion climate question: Can data centres take the heat?

Authors: Arnab Chakraborty, Jennifer Jackson
Research lead: Shekhar Tewari
Published: October 2025

The AI-driven data centre boom has been likened to a gold rush. Economies across the world are racing to attract investment in digital infrastructure to boost sovereignty and competitiveness. Environmental risks, however, cannot be overlooked when locating these vast banks of servers that underpin our modern economy.

Analysis by the World Economic Forum finds that extreme heat, drought and other climate hazards could drive annual costs up at data centres globally by $81 billion by 2035, rising to $168 billion by 2065.


Read full report

The $3.3 trillion climate question: Can data centres take the heat?

Extreme heat, drought and other climate hazards could drive global data-center operating costs sharply higher, making resilience and sustainability a business imperative ...

more

Read Report

Why IT matters: The art of successful carve-outs

Publisher: California Management Review
Authors: Rajive Wickramasinghe, Anthony M. Leraris, Niteen Bhagat, Shalabh Kumar Singh, Jai Bagmar
Published: May 2025

As carve-outs become more urgent amid rising corporate restructuring, IT emerges as a critical—and often underestimated—driver of success. Yet carve-outs face a triple challenge: complexity, speed and cost. Legacy systems, tight timelines and costly transition services threaten execution. Drawing on real-world cases, the article outlines four imperatives for successful carveouts: assessment, alignment, agility and acceleration. For example, one company achieved a €6.2M EBITDA uplift and €49.6M higher sale value through lean technology transformation. Carve-outs, when guided by a strategic digital core and powered by cloud, AI and automation, can unlock scalability, reduce costs and build future-ready organizations.

Read full report

Why IT matters: The art of successful carve-outs

As carve-outs become more urgent amid rising corporate restructuring, IT emerges as a critical—and often underestimated—driver of success...

more

Read Report

Don’t blame your mainframe—It’s a software problem

Publisher: Ivey Business Journal
Authors: Ram Ramalingam, Shalabh Kumar Singh, Seeju Kumar, Jai Bagmar
Published: July/August 2025

Mainframes remain reliable workhorses, but outdated software ecosystems are stifling innovation. Legacy COBOL and Assembler code—layered with decades of undocumented changes—makes modernization costly and slow. Generative AI shifts the economics by decoding and documenting millions of lines, surfacing duplications and enabling targeted refactoring or selective translation. Companies report modernization timelines cut by 50–60%, with test execution accelerated by 30%. Still, AI is no silver bullet: human architects must validate outputs and redesign business logic. The result is a new model of curation, where engineers reimagine systems for the cloud era. Done right, AI-driven modernization frees enterprises for growth, agility and reinvention.

Read full report

Don’t blame your mainframe—It’s a software problem

Mainframes remain reliable workhorses, but outdated software ecosystems are stifling innovation. Legacy COBOL and Assembler...

more

Read Report

Are businesses ready for practical quantum computing?​

Publisher: California Management Review
Authors: Carl Dukatz, Laura Converso
Published: July 2025

Quantum is edging toward practicality: in four months IBM, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and USTC unveiled chips tackling errors, coherence and scale, and the UN named 2025 the International Year of Quantum. Yet benefits differ from classical, benchmarks are fluid and ROI unclear. How should leaders respond? Treat quantum as strategy, not a science project: appoint a C-suite sponsor, design hybrid CPU/GPU/QPU architectures, run cloud pilots, collaborate to de-risk and begin post-quantum cryptography migrations. With practical advantage plausibly 5–10 years away—and ~2,800 firms expected to adopt QCaaS by 2030—early movers lock in talent, capabilities and ecosystem position while competitors wait.

Read full report

Are businesses ready for practical quantum computing?

Quantum is edging toward practicality: in four months IBM, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and USTC unveiled chips tackling errors...

more

Read Report

Harnessing GenAI to Elevate the Citizen Experience

Published: September 2025

State chief information officers (CIOs) recognize the transformative potential of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to reduce administrative burden, improve citizen access and empower frontline workers, yet adoption remains cautious and uneven. Most efforts are still in the early stages, often limited to internal use cases or isolated pilots. While the vision for GenAI in government is bold, leaders must navigate a landscape of limited budgets, complex stakeholder needs and widespread public skepticism.

Read full report

Harnessing GenAI to Elevate the Citizen Experience

State chief information officers (CIOs) recognize the transformative potential of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI)...

more

Read Report

Intelligent Industrial Operations Outlook 2026

Authors: Christian Souche, Swati Daphal, Simran Dharmapuram, Amol Ghuge, Jérome Mulin, Pooja Vaidya
Published: April 2026

Industrial operations are crossing a historic threshold into the intelligent age, reshaped by advanced analytics, AI, digital twins and hyperconnected systems. The World Economic Forum's "Intelligent Industrial Operations Outlook 2026," developed with Accenture, highlights a new operational paradigm where systems continuously learn, anticipate change and coordinate autonomously across factories, enterprises and global value networks.

This transformation is driven by eight strategic imperatives, including resilient and circular operations, predictive and collaborative risk management and intelligent ecosystems that optimize real-time decisions. Leaders are urged to prioritize governance for AI-driven decisions, embed cybersecurity by design and enable effective human–machine collaboration to navigate this shift successfully.

Read full report

Intelligent Industrial Operations Outlook 2026

Industrial operations are crossing a historic threshold into the intelligent age, reshaped by advanced analytics, AI, digital twins and hyperconnected systems...

more

Read Report

Unlocking AI Value at Scale: Workforce Adoption
A Practical Guide for Consumer Industries

Authors: Lan Guan, Muqsit Ashraf, Surya Mukherjee
Published: April 2026

Organizations today face the challenge of vast data reservoirs, yet limited capability to reason, learn and act efficiently. Traditional systems fall short, creating gaps in institutional knowledge and stalling transformative efforts. Addressing these challenges requires The Intelligent Digital Brain. A transformative cognitive system designed to enhance enterprise intelligence and competitive advantage, The Intelligent Digital Brain embeds structured reasoning, continuous learning and adaptive decision-making directly into organizational workflows. Unlike static knowledge bases, it dynamically adapts by integrating structured and unstructured data, proprietary workflows and institutional expertise. The result is a self-improving system that retains critical know-how, captures implicit knowledge and orchestrates actions autonomously, ensuring the enterprise consistently operates at its highest potential.

Read full report

Unlocking AI Value at Scale: Workforce Adoption

Organizations today face the challenge of vast data reservoirs, yet limited capability to reason, learn and act efficiently. Traditional...

more

Read Report

Quantum for Energy and Utilities:
Key Opportunities for Energy Transition

Authors: Muhammad AlSaiyari, Arunima Sarkar
Published: April 2026

Quantum technologies offer transformative opportunities for the energy and utilities sectors, enabling significant advancements in optimization, security, and materials innovation, crucial for achieving sustainable energy transition goals. The World Economic Forum’s latest report, developed in collaboration with Aramco, identifies key areas including grid optimization, carbon capture, battery and catalyst material discovery, and secure communication as immediate quantum applications. The report emphasizes hybrid quantum-classical approaches to handle optimization complexities, enhance cybersecurity through quantum-safe encryption, and improve resource management with quantum sensing technologies. Organizations are advised to start with low-risk pilots, scale proven solutions responsibly, and embed quantum strategically to enhance operational resilience and efficiency.

Read full report

Quantum for Energy and Utilities:

Quantum technologies offer transformative opportunities for the energy and utilities sectors, enabling significant advancements in optimization, security... 

more

Read Report

Building Tomorrow's Economies
How generative AI will reinvent business in the Middle East

Authors: Ramez Shehadi, Abir Habbal, Lamyae Rihani, Carla Maria Issa
Published: December 2025

Generative AI is reshaping business strategies across the Middle East, enabling continuous reinvention and significantly boosting competitiveness. Accenture’s latest research highlights that 82% of organizations have accelerated their transformation efforts due to generative AI. Leading "Reinventors"—companies fully embracing organizational reinvention—are outperforming peers, achieving a 15 percentage-point premium in revenue growth since 2019. The report identifies five key imperatives—value-led approaches, robust tech infrastructure, innovative talent strategies, responsible AI practices, and continuous reinvention—as critical for leveraging generative AI to drive sustainable growth.

Read full report

Building Tomorrow's Economies

Generative AI is reshaping business strategies across the Middle East, enabling continuous reinvention and significantly boosting competitiveness. Accenture’s...

more

Read Report