All through her life, Accenture CEO Julie Candy hasn’t been afraid to throw out the playbook, and, within the age of AI, each she and her Fortune 500 shoppers are in the course of one other reinvention.
Going into her freshman 12 months at Claremont McKenna Faculty, Candy, who grew up in a center class Tustin, Calif. household, determined to review worldwide relations and study Chinese language. Then, after a 17-year legislation profession which noticed her turn into the primary girl companion at her agency, she took a leap to Accenture and tech consulting the place she would ultimately earn the highest job—though she knew nothing about know-how at first.
Because the speedy improvement of AI has upended the enterprise world and has touched every part from the shopper to the entrance workplace, Candy, Accenture’s first girl CEO and chair of the board, says firms additionally need to reinvent themselves from prime to backside.
“To be able to seize the chance with AI, you actually need to be prepared to rewire your organization,” Candy advised Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell on the inaugural episode of the Fortune 500 Titans and Disruptors of Trade podcast. “Many instances, when shoppers are saying, we’re not getting rather a lot out of AI, it’s as a result of they’re attempting to use it to how they function at this time.”
Rewiring, as Candy describes it, means abandoning the mindset of enterprise as common.
Pink flags she sees for AI adoption
- Making use of legacy course of. Her first pink flag is that if firms instantly need to deal with AI utilizing the identical outdated strategies they’ve all the time used to deal with issues. “Issues like cross practical steering committees; massive pink flag,” she mentioned. “It’s important to really change the way you’re doing it.”
- An excessive amount of deal with initiatives that don’t transfer the needle, like collaboration: Whereas working collectively is crucial in enterprise, reinventing an organization for AI isn’t an excuse for extra conferences as a result of collaboration isn’t a enterprise technique, she mentioned. “When the reply to utilizing AI is to collaborate extra; one other massive pink flag.”
- Leaping into impractical AI initiatives: Candy personally makes use of the know-how to summarize knowledge and construct out PowerPoints, amongst different makes use of, however she notes: “that’s not going to alter my backside line.” Monetary issues and a transparent technique must take priority. “This isn’t about utilizing AI on prime of what you do at this time,” Candy mentioned. “In the event you’re not considerably altering the best way you use, then you definitely’re not reinventing, and also you’re not going to seize the worth.”
Accenture, itself, has already dedicated $3 billion to constructing out its knowledge and AI follow, and has pledged so as to add 80,000 AI-focused staff to its already sturdy 770,000-plus workforce. The agency has accomplished greater than 2,000 generative AI initiatives on this fiscal 12 months alone, and Candy mentioned Accenture’s shoppers proceed to come back to them for his or her trade and technical information, but additionally their knowledge and know-how.
Candy mentioned the AI revolution must be led by executives, who’re on the heartbeat of AI. In addition they must not be afraid to alter course, as Candy, herself, has achieved at Accenture by rethinking her personal initiatives from years in the past.
“The true promise of it’s to make use of it on the core of your small business and have the ability to change your trajectory.”
