The Great Accelerator: Why Generative AI Is Primed for Long-Term Impact

Generative artificial intelligence has been highly regarded for its ability to accelerate innovation, drive growth, enhance productivity, and its potential to transform the entire business and technology landscape.  

In fact, research shows that after only several months of this technology becoming mainstream, 96% of organizations globally say generative AI is a topic of discussion in their boardrooms. Experts and leaders out in the field engaging with other businesses and customers will know this to be true. The prominence of generative AI across the business landscape is indisputable.  

Because of this rapid growth, organizations across industries are strategizing how they can invest in generative AI, partnering with technology innovators who are rolling out their offerings and digital industry assets. These assets, such as generative AI for software engineering, have the potential to accelerate the adoption and scale of this technology. For example, in software engineering processes, generative AI can be leveraged to update the applications landscape, modernize legacy code, and accelerate project agility while reducing costs and increasing safety and reliability.  

Beyond software engineering, there are also opportunities for generative AI in customer experience (CX) to drive hyper-personalization, improve customer self-service, and offer a more streamlined, holistic customer journey. These real-world applications are only a few examples of the potential generative AI holds for the future.  

But how extensively do we really understand this technology? To fully grasp the impact of generative AI, it is important to evaluate the technology more deeply -- driving awareness of its benefits, challenges, and long-term impact.  

Shifting the Dialogue  

Because generative AI is evolving so rapidly, the dialogue is constantly changing. More recently, organizations are operating with a sense of urgency -- desiring quicker results and clear margins on where processes and business operations are improving because of generative AI.  

I have connected with several organizations on the topic of generative AI when discussing potential partnerships. I have found that senior leadership is consistently looking for definitive examples of improvements and benefits in our work with other enterprises. These examples are becoming more and more critical for organizations looking to invest in generative AI technology.  

What’s further, the modernization of legacy applications and platforms has garnered elevated interest in generative AI. More and more enterprises are seeking generative AI-assisted modernization that is more secure than traditional methods and are looking to accelerate those initiatives. Because of reduced human dependency, these generative AI models have the vast ability to identify vulnerabilities and process threat incidents faster, thus enhancing the overall accuracy of organizational operations.  

It is important to note that across all these objectives, enterprises cannot achieve success on their own. They will require the expertise of their business and technology transformation partners and thought leaders to make strategic goals a reality. One thing is certain -- executive teams are convinced that this technology is here to stay and is the key to improving their business both operationally and financially.  

Benefits and Challenges 

As with any new technology, generative AI has several associated benefits and challenges.  

Some of the most prominent benefits include cost reductions, increased productivity, augmented innovation capacity, risk management, and predictive analytics, enhanced training and knowledge assistance, improved CX, and beyond.  

Leaders also anticipate that generative AI will be a key differentiator in their product design processes, with 78% of executives reporting that generative AI will make product and service design more efficient and that it will help them design more inclusive, accessible products and services. The existing and potential benefits of generative AI are immeasurable, and they extend across industries.  

Generative AI also poses its share of challenges. While there are several to consider, three of the most prominent include:  

Long-Term Impact  

While there is undoubtedly a seismic shift happening across the business and technology landscape, the long-term impact of generative AI remains somewhat uncertain. What is certain is that each day, more organizations are inviting generative AI into their processes and businesses with high hopes for future improvements.  

I see the growth of generative AI continuing for years to come and expect to see impact in several key areas. First, as more enterprises migrate to cloud and cloud-native technology to serve their business needs, they will naturally begin to leverage generative AI in the process. This will not only equip organizations’ internal teams with cloud expertise but also enable them to pursue innovation with generative AI-infused use cases. This is important because the true value of generative AI will only be reached when enterprises first clearly identify the most relevant use cases for their business – and not just invest because of the hype.  

Secondly, generative AI for software engineering and customer experience personalization will become novel -- and soon enough it will become an expectation to include generative AI in digital transformation initiatives. Finally, generative AI will have a longstanding impact on sustainability. Nearly 80% of organizations are conscious of the need to build generative AI in a sustainable way, indicating that these tools are driving conversations around sustainability and considering the future protection of the environment.  

Additionally, as generative AI models mature and become more established, there will be incremental efforts to prioritize sustainability goals. As experts continue to train their assets, they will uncover new learnings on how this process can be more efficient, finding new and innovative ways to optimize developments that currently negatively impact sustainability.  

While there is still much room for growth, generative AI has the potential not just to improve productivity of the teams, but to accelerate the pace of innovation and sustainability transformation.  

For organizations questioning whether generative AI is a worthwhile investment, it is important to understand the benefits and challenges, as well as the potential opportunities that await your business with this transformational technology.