Driven By Generative AI, Technology Was Key Cause Of Business Disruption In 2023: Accenture

Technology disruption increased the most in 2023—rising to number 1 from number 6 in 2022—driven by advances in generative artificial intelligence, according to Accenture’s Pulse of Change: 2024 Index.

C-suite executives also ranked technology as the number 1 cause of change. Business leaders faced an all-time-high rate of change in 2023 and now expect it to accelerate further in 2024, the survey found.

The index ranked six factors of change affecting businesses—technology, talent, economic, geopolitical, climate, and consumer and social—using business indicators such as labour productivity and IT spending. It then compared the data to a survey of 3,400 C-suite leaders on how they view the impact of each factor on their organisations and their preparedness to respond.

Talent, including issues such as skills shortages and lack of employee engagement, was the number 2 cause of business change. Yet, in the survey, C-suite leaders ranked talent at number 4. However, 42% of C-suite leaders said skills shortage is one of the top three challenges that would hold back their organisations’ ability to respond to change. This highlights the importance of making talent strategy a priority as businesses work to tap the potential of new technologies.

The analysis found that overall, across all six factors, the rate of change has risen sharply since 2019, 183% over the past four years, and 33% in the past year alone.

“The level of change has dramatically increased over the last few years, and it requires a structural change in how businesses operate—incremental changes in ways of working and performance are no longer sufficient to compete,” said Jack Azagury, group chief executive-strategy and consulting, Accenture.

“We believe that the companies that will succeed in the next decade are those that embrace a strategy of continuously reinventing every part of their business using technology, data and AI, including harnessing the power of generative AI, and ensuring their people are at the centre of their transformations,” Azagury said.

The C-suite survey showed that 88% of leaders anticipate an even faster rate of change in 2024. Sixty percent see change as an opportunity, and 68% expect revenue growth to accelerate in 2024. Despite optimism, 52% said they are not fully prepared to respond to the change they will face in the 2024 business environment.

Sixty-one percent of C-suite leaders expect the pace of technology disruption to accelerate even further in 2024, and 76% see generative AI as more of an opportunity than a threat and more beneficial to revenue growth than cost reduction.

However, 47% said they are not fully prepared for the accelerating rate of technology change, and 72% are now approaching investments with more caution because of societal concerns about the responsible use of AI.