As businesses reinvent themselves to adapt to the AI age, business leaders declare that they’re moving to an innovative enterprise technology operating model. Here’s how you can get started.
You don’t require an LLM to explain the most significant change for IT departments in the coming year. There is evidence everywhere.
For instance, our most recent Pulse C-suite poll was released in January. 86% of executives surveyed plan to invest more in the field of generative AI in 2025. 60% expect their Gen AI applications to be rolled out across all industries — a huge leap from the 36% they had in 2024.
The second-order consequences of this investment are being analyzed, planned, and developed in real-time, and we’re witnessing the first signs of emerging technologies such as agent-based AI being utilized to create new fundamental capabilities within firms, especially in the present due to the new tariffs. Agentic AI on interoperability, architecture for enterprise, platforms, as well as SaaS, is yet to be fully defined; however, the implications will be significant.
In the face of such radical change, there is no way for tech executives to change the individual approaches and processes and then place them under the supervision of a specific department. Instead, business leaders have to think about the way technology and its users must be managed, guided, and controlled in the event that they create value and are directly involved in every area of the company.
Words on the street
A different report analyzes the changing role of technology in the modern business, and the ways leaders and CEOs redesign their businesses for the future, which is AI in the future and even beyond. This report is based on Accenture’s personal experience with AI-powered transformation within our internal corporate functions as well as for clients that are using gen AI to uncover new opportunities for value growth, innovation, and. We also sought out a variety of academics and transformation leaders for their perspectives regarding how companies of the future will function in the age of next-generation AI.
When taken as a whole, they point to an entirely new model of operating technology, one that maps across the entire business. The model is shifting from a vertical technology column and technologists working for the IT department to a model for enterprise technology, which includes teams and people infused and funded from the enterprise.
This doesn’t mean that technology expenditures will fall. One of the main reasons cited by nearly one-third of executives for increasing the amount of AI investments is to capitalise on technological advances. According to the executives we spoke,e with, the scale and scope of what an IT department performs will change dramatically as well, and the return on IT investment must be realized by a brand new embedded model that is designed specifically for enterprise technology.
A part of the solution
The CIO is still a vital role because they’ll be the primary point of contact to make IT management and decision-making. Their function will evolve to become a reliable advisor and adviser to CEOs as well as the rest of the C-suite instead of having to report to other executive posts. The company will play a greater role in defining an interconnected strategy for technology and business, and more work in technology will be done within the business, with professionals following corporate guidelines established in the hands of the CIO.
“IT is crucial to all aspects of a business’s efficiency,” says Alan Thorogood from MIT’s Center for Information Systems Research. “Business units are now incorporating technologies such as AI throughout their business operations. They have taken the responsibility for data as well as its suitable uses, and are advancing into low-code and no-code system engineering, software design, and integration. As such, businesses should examine their IT infrastructure to make sure they have the necessary skills in business and IT.”
Business leaders must be aware of this massive change to a technology-operating model. Any strategy should incorporate those who work with traditional IT departments as well as those who are working with and deploying the latest and most innovative technologies within the business team. We’ve learned the following:
1. From IT and into business
Technologists are under increasing pressure to get closer to the point where technology is creating value for businesses. The increase in self-service capabilities, such as low-code/no-code platforms and autonomous systems, means that businesses can now manage a variety of technological tasks that were previously requiring intervention from IT.
This decentralization of technology and data has created a new scenario in which technology expertise is available throughout the company instead of being restricted to one department. It is a sign that the future is a more flatly organized, less siloed business.
For instance, today it is possible to tell that a person works in HR or the business. Interviewees have pointed to an emerging trend in which new functional roles are being created in companies that combine roles to meet the growing technological use.
2. A new era of collaboration between humans and AI
AI has fundamentally changed the way technology-related work is done. Intelligent AI coaches automate complex workflows and boost decision-making processes that allow organizations to accomplish more with less, in AI-enhanced methods. This change reduces gaps in experience as well as speeds up the process of onboarding and presents new challenges for supervision and governance.
The relationship between humans with AI technology is slowly evolving to a cooperative partnership. The workplace must foster environments that allow people to grow and adapt, so that both employees and AI systems can develop and grow together.
This involves implementing new guidelines and governance structures that promote an environment of AI accountability across an entire company, while making sure employees are engaged in driving the transformation.
3. The fluidity of boundaries and the new leadership issues
The lines of business and IT are blurring, and it is now necessary for boards and C-suite executives to improve their technical expertise, especially in AI.
A lot of C-suite executives are required to be knowledgeable about the technology that is driving their work as strategists. They will also have to be aware of the changes as asagent-basedc AI technology continues to transform the business and enterprise architectures, and their interoperability.
“In many ways, departments in IT of each firm will be the HR department for AI-powered agents, in the near coming years,” said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during this year’s CES.”Today, they control and maintain a variety of software that comes from within the IT industry. In the near future, they’ll keep the on-board, nurture, and enhance digital agents, and supply them to companies that will use them.”
While a lot of focus has been given to improving the technology literacy of executives, the same importance should be placed on the development of business acumen among technologists. If you look at many of the most reputable technology companies today are led by tech experts who have learned the business, not the reverse.
A new direction to take, regardless of what’s next
A large portion of the change currently taking place is driven by AI and agent-based AI close to its heels. But the next major technological shift is likely to occur within months rather than years, regardless of whether it’s a significant move towards mainstream quantum computing, or even the rise of a digital cognitive brain.
A flexible and new business technology operating system can enable executives to benefit from the latest and greatest technology, and most relevant to the aspects of their businesses that matter most.
