GBS Organizations Expect Headcount to Increase in 2024, in Line with Enterprises’ Expectations | Market Insights™
February 23, 2024
GBS Organizations
GBS Organizations
GBS Organizations
Generative AI
I believe 2024 will be the year of focusing on business value. That applies to gen AI, but it goes further than that. Most companies are now more than ten years into their digital transformation journey. Having already picked the low-hanging fruit, they now want to get more value and return on those investments. However, there are fundamental sentiment shifts in the appetite to invest more to get more value.
Over 45% of enterprises identify the lack of internal technical expertise as a major barrier to generative AI implementation.
According to the recent Generative AI in CXM Survey Report by Everest Group and WNS, 75% of enterprises are elevating their business strategies by piloting, deploying, or scaling up text-based generative AI solutions, followed by 62% for code generation and 52% for image generation.
Enterprises are embracing generative AI’s transformative potential in today’s rapidly evolving CXM landscape. As businesses strive to stay competitive and adapt to changing market dynamics, they are increasingly exploring its power to deliver personalized customer experiences.
In this webinar, our analysts discussed how enterprises are looking at generative AI-based solutions adoption to improve CX and contact center operations, the business impact of generative AI, and what we’ve learned about this revolutionary technology that can drive future growth.
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While most enterprises today want to adopt generative AI (gen AI), they struggle to embrace it because of organizational unpreparedness. Consulting service providers can play a key role in this transition. Discover Everest Group’s Organizational Gen AI Readiness Framework, which includes critical strategy and operations components for successful gen AI adoption.
Reach out to us to further discuss gen AI.
Enterprises that have successfully embraced automation and digitization now face another technological challenge: gen AI. A recent Everest Group survey of over 200 enterprises reveals contrasting sentiments about gen AI adoption. Despite as many as 90% expressing a desire to adopt gen AI, only about 10% of respondents indicated they would significantly invest in the technology during 2024. Most enterprises plan to implement gen AI in small areas, run pilots, or begin building strategies this year.
Additionally, when asked about key challenges with gen AI adoption, more than half (57%) cited organizational readiness as the top obstacle, which was unsurprising. Here are the results:
The survey findings underscore a broader enterprise sentiment where excitement for the future is tempered by the challenges of adopting gen AI into established business models. It reflects a blend of eagerness and trepidation, with significant concerns about organizational preparedness for this change.
In this transition, consulting service providers become crucial in bridging these gaps and ensuring smooth adoption into existing operation frameworks. Let’s delve into this further.
Crafting a blueprint for a gen AI-driven future
The ease of using gen AI from an end-user’s perspective often belies the complexity of building and operating gen AI models and applications. Consulting service providers can play a critical role in assisting clients in comprehensively understanding their internal capabilities for gen AI.
Leading consulting organizations have developed unique gen AI readiness frameworks that can add significant client value. These frameworks are essential to help organizations analyze their current state in-depth, identify areas needing enhancement, and craft tailored strategies for effective gen AI deployment.
In guiding organizations through gen AI adoption, a consulting firm’s approach is anchored in two principal tenets:
Vision
For gen AI consulting providers, it’s vital to engage clients in a thought-provoking dialogue about their gen AI objectives. Instead of prescribing a set path, encourage clients to consider the following:
Culture as the cornerstone of gen AI adoption
Corporate culture can accelerate or impede gen AI adoption. The same cultural traits underpinning organizational success – such as adaptability, agility, and innovation – are now the bedrock for gen AI adoption. Creating an environment where transparency, connectivity, and continuous learning are not just buzzwords but the essence of the organizational ethos is crucial.
For gen AI consulting providers, navigating governance, security, and compliance is a multi-faceted challenge in a domain where innovation often outstrips regulation. Consultants must guide clients in developing robust governance strategies, enhancing security measures, and ensuring compliance to build trust and manage risks associated with gen AI.
Understanding the economic impact of gen AI is crucial. Consulting firms should help clients evaluate the ROI of gen AI initiatives. This involves cost-benefit analyses and identifying areas where gen AI can drive revenue growth and efficiency gains. As part of the readiness assessment, enterprises must establish clear, measurable metrics for gen AI adoption that align with their strategic objectives, such as efficiency gains, revenue growth, customer satisfaction, and innovation. This can provide data-driven insights into the effectiveness of gen AI solutions.
Talent
The impact of gen AI spans all levels, from enhancing the employee experience to empowering managers, as well as requiring a new leadership paradigm focused on fostering gen AI adoption and integration. Consulting providers will become essential in helping enterprises adapt and evolve their talent strategies.
| Impact category | Examples | Description |
| Roles that will become extinct | Traditional Data Analysts, Basic IT Support Technicians | These roles, primarily focused on repetitive tasks and manual testing, will likely become obsolete as gen AI automates these processes. |
| Roles that will emerge | Gen AI Ethics Officer, Gen AI Integration Specialist | New positions like Gen AI Ethics Officer will arise to address ethical considerations of gen AI use. Gen AI Integration Specialists will be needed to blend gen AI solutions effectively into existing tech infrastructures. |
| Roles that will evolve | Software Developers to Gen AI-enhanced Developers, HR Managers to AI-Driven Talent Strategists | Existing roles like Software Developers will evolve into Gen AI-enhanced Developers, focusing more on AI-driven solutions, while HR Managers will transition to AI-Driven Talent Strategists, leveraging gen AI for talent acquisition and management. |
Tech
Consulting providers must have a nuanced understanding of the organization’s current gen AI capabilities. They should enable clients to discern where they stand on the gen AI integration spectrum – whether they are at the stage of creating gen AI solutions from scratch (Do It Yourself), using ready-made components (Do It With Me), or adopting fully developed gen AI products (Do It For Me).
For most enterprises, the immediate priority lies in addressing gen AI’s data-related risks. Confidentiality, data leakages, reliability, and plagiarism are the four horsemen of the gen AI apocalypse, each capable of causing financial, legal, and reputational damage. The solution? Getting the data house in order. This involves scalable data management, prioritizing discovery, acquisition, and curating data to effectively feed into the gen AI models.
The ecosystem aspect is pivotal in preparing organizations for gen AI. Consulting service providers play a critical role in:
Strategic partnerships: Assisting clients in forming alliances with technology providers and industry experts to access essential gen AI resources and knowledge.
Seamless integration: Helping clients blend gen AI into their existing business and technological frameworks, ensuring that gen AI efforts align with broader organizational strategies.
Fostering innovation: Encouraging clients to engage with innovation networks supporting continuous gen AI development, idea sharing, and collaborative growth.
As the gen AI wave gains momentum, consulting providers are uniquely positioned to guide enterprises. By focusing on providing services around technological, cultural, and structural transformations, they can lead these organizations not just in adapting to gen AI but also in harnessing its full potential for innovation and growth.
Read more Everest Group Research on Consulting and gen AI in our reports:
If you would like to reach out to us to learn more, email Sandeep P, [email protected], Alisha Mittal, [email protected], and Parul Trivedi, [email protected].
At present, the top 10 Indian IT service companies together have around 450 gen AI projects and PoCs in the pipeline, according to data accessed by Moneycontrol from market intelligence firm UnearthInsight. In contrast, global rival Accenture alone as of its first quarter (it follows a September-August financial year) has a pipeline worth $450 million and an estimated 450 projects and PoCs.
Peter Bendor-Samuel said that till date the revenue generated for services firms from Gen AI has been modest. He doesn’t view the $450-million pipeline from Accenture as indicative that it will be ultimately able to unleash a gusher of revenue from generative AI.
View the event on LinkedIn, which was delivered live on Thursday, February 1, 2024.
Sourcing and supply chain teams are awash in data and content, making the function a prime opportunity to implement generative AI (gen AI). However, these functions also face significant ethical, privacy, and accuracy concerns. 
Watch this LinkedIn Live event to hear our experts discuss how the market, providers, and functional leaders are addressing these challenges to pave the way for innovation. This event is a follow-up to our previous LinkedIn Live discussion, The Possibilities for Generative AI in Sourcing.
During the event, we explored:
The risks, challenges, and barriers to gen AI adoption and how organizations can position themselves for success How procurement leaders can navigate the ethical, privacy, and security concerns in the adoption of gen AI to drive innovation The technology providers in the gen AI space that sourcing and supply chain teams can work with
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