Our experience and new global research show that leaders across industries expect agents enabled by generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) to understand and solve an increasingly wide range of complex problems with limited human oversight. But as “agentic AI” transforms business processes and functions, we believe that the outperformers will balance their adoption of evolving technologies with a relentless focus on humans— especially customers.
Indeed, this is why the front office is likely to lead the most successful efforts to harness Gen AI. As we explain in our Future of front office report, many out performers will use brand- and customer-led strategies to guide middle- and back-office functions, improving productivity, speeding innovation, widening competitive advantages, and driving profitable growth.
Building an agentic and human-centric front-office requires considerable resources, but “wait-and-see” attitudes could be perilous as the gap widens between leaders and laggards. In our latest survey of 500 C-suite and functional senior leaders, 69 percent said they had at least two front-office transformations underway.
However, digital leaders are scaling their efforts more rapidly. They are making more targeted investments in data and technology and are choosing ecosystem partners with greater care. They are also harnessing data across the organization instead of in silos and investing in data literacy. This investment helps individuals at all levels, from the C-suite to the front line, learn to use new tools and adopt innovative thinking.
