Pulse of Change: March 2024

The Accenture Pulse of Change is a quarterly C-suite survey probing into how business, talent and technology trends are shaping and driving change. The latest survey was fielded in March 2024.

Key Findings

While most C-suite leaders (85%) say they anticipate achieving growth in 2024, there appears to be a growing gap between those who are super optimistic vs. those that seem to be more speculative.

• The percentage of those projecting “strong growth” (greater than 5%) for their organizations in 2024 has increased—38% vs 26% six months ago.
• However, the percentage of C-suite leaders who now project any growth (up to 5%) has fallen by 20% in six months—67% vs 47%.

More than three-quarters (78%) plan to slightly increase their technology investments as a percentage of revenue in 2024.

• Specifically, as attention shifted towards gen AI, 85% are focused on increasing gen AI investments and 60% of organizations are prioritizing investments in strengthening their digital core.
• Yet, C-suite executives cite adapting to advancements in technology as their top area of concern in 2024.

After a period of experimentation, a majority of organizations believe that gen AI will bring value to their business—evidence that it is delivering on its promise of value creation.

• More than 8 in 10 (85%) organizations are confident that they will reach the expected return on investment (ROI) from their spending on gen AI in 2024.

50% of C-suite leaders believe their organization will fully scale gen AI enterprise-wide in 6 to 12 months.

• However, right now, organizations are scaling gen AI in select business areas either extensively (56%) or in a limited way (nearly 30%)
• Only 10% claim to have scaled generative AI with extensive adoption across their entire enterprise.
• Just 13% are “extremely confident” they have the right data strategy and core digital capabilities in place to effectively leverage generative AI.

While organizations appear to want to scale gen AI rapidly, they need guidance in scaling their responsible data and AI models.

• Just 14% of organizations have progressed from designing or initiating the scaling up of a responsible data and AI model to fully integrating one into their enterprise.

It has become apparent that we need personalized learning solutions to help workers gain new skills in technology, data and AI.

• As a specific means of enabling growth, 60% of organizations are implementing emerging technologies such as generative AI to boost employee productivity.
• Yet only 33% are in the process of reskilling their workforce to support this growth.

C-suite leaders recognize two things: 1) that they themselves need to understand gen AI and 2) the need for widespread gen AI training across the organization.

• 3 out of 4 believe they require at least some level of training in gen AI, with 15% recognizing the necessity for extensive training in this area.
• Only 35% of C-suite leaders claim to be personally using gen AI tools at least once per week, down from 61% just six months ago.
• More than half think their organization primarily requires intermediate-level training in generative AI, while over 40% believe advanced training is the most crucial need.

Methodology

Accenture Pulse of Change probes C-suite leaders on the issues and technology that are driving change, how leaders are responding and their perspectives on the future. For the latest edition, Accenture Research conducted a survey of 2,800 C-suite executives across 18 countries and a variety of industries and functions. The survey was fielded in March 2024. The global sample has a margin of error of +/- 1.9%.