Penelope Prett joined Accenture in 1992 and became CIO in 2019. Along the way, she has developed keen insight into how to deliver IT value to a $43.2 billion global company with 500,000 employees, who are responsible for delivering IT value to their clients. I spoke with Prett about her approach to leadership, the most impactful technologies of the day, how she forms and empowers her teams, and her advice for tomorrow's CIOs. What follows is an edited version of our interview. Martha Heller: How do you define your role as CIO of Accenture?

If there's one buzzword that is taking several industries and professions by storm, it is Artificial Intelligence. But is it still a buzzword falling to deaf ears or has it gained wide-spread acceptance and momentum? Data by PwC pegs the global impact of Artificial Intelligence at $15.7 trillion by 2030. On the other hand, Accenture claims that "Artificial Intelligence could double the rate of economic growth in developed countries by 2035." Needless to say, our money us on the latter.

To stay competitive and relevant in their industries, enterprises increasingly need to become AI-driven. AI is a new key to improving business processes, making better decisions, monetizing data, increasing security and more. The growing importance of AI in the enterprise is a point that industry observers now emphasize. Just consider this view from the global consulting firm Deloitte: "As AI technologies standardize across industries, becoming an AI-fueled organization will likely be table stakes for survival. And that means rethinking the way humans and machines interact within working environments."1

Businesses that focus only on customer experience may be missing a significant opportunity to connect with people on a deeper level. We don't pour that delightful first cup of life-giving coffee and think, "I am the end user of this coffee." So why does the business world insist on grouping--and trying to understand--people as customers when, before anything else, we are human? We are messy, inconsistent, and, perhaps most of all, emotional--and it's time for businesses to acknowledge, respect, and account for this. The fields of philosophy, religion, social science, psychology, biology--and yes, marketing--have spilled much ink defining what it means to be human.

Companies today need what only truly modern operations can provide: broad and deep visibility into the operational value chain, including supply, manufacturing, distribution and demand; accurate forecasts of what might impact those operations; resilience in the face of potential disruptions; tools to help them quickly sense and predict changes in market demand; and the ability to quickly adapt the value chain to deliver on its promises to customers. The technologies to support this scenario are available today or will be soon.

In many labor markets, workers and firms are connected via affiliative relationships. A management consulting firm wishes to both accept the best new workers but also place its current affiliated workers at strong firms. Similarly, a research university wishes to hire strong job market candidates while also placing its own candidates at strong peer universities. We model this affiliate matching problem in a generalization of the classic stable marriage setting by permitting firms to state preferences over not just which workers to whom they are matched, but also to which firms their affiliated workers are matched. Based on results from a human survey, we find that participants (acting as firms) give preference to their own affiliate workers in surprising ways that violate some assumptions of the classical stable marriage problem. This motivates a nuanced discussion of how stability could be defined in affiliate matching problems; we give an example of a marketplace which admits a stable match under one natural definition of stability, and does not for that same marketplace under a different, but still natural, definition. We conclude by setting a research agenda toward the creation of a centralized clearing mechanism in this general setting.

The Deloitte Centre for Regulatory Strategy is a powerful resource of information and insight, designed to assist financial institutions manage the complexity and convergence of rapidly increasing new regulation. With regional hubs in the Americas, Asia Pacific and EMEA, the Centre combines the strength of Deloitte's regional and international network of experienced risk, regulatory, and industry professionals – including a deep roster of former regulators, industry specialists, and business advisers – with a rich understanding of the impact of regulations on business models and strategy.

Today's billion-dollar unicorn start-ups have the advantage of building these capabilities into their process design at the outset. In contrast, businesses running on more-established processes may find themselves encumbered by inefficient legacy systems, rigid silos and fixed schedules. Most were designed and built decades ago to solve for specific needs, with a premium placed on consistency and simplicity rather than on speed, scale and agility. Fortunately, the evolution of technology has lifted a lot of the constraints facing seasoned enterprises, so the past doesn't have to dictate the future. Mature companies can incorporate today's rapidly advancing and increasingly accessible tech enablers to create Living Process.

IBM, Amazon, Deloitte, DXC, and Accenture are partnering with digital human experts at UneeQ to push the advance and ongoing adoption of advanced conversational AI, according to a recent press release. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has found its way into a wide spectrum of human experiences -- from routine transactions to meaningful, life-changing events. Soon it may be hard to tell where organic interactions end and AI features begin. Digital humans are AI-powered life-like virtual beings that exist both in the real world and online, helping customers and businesses worldwide. A leap beyond standard chatbots, they even look like us, and are becoming a trend among major companies.

Alex Fly's article presents some key statistics related to the development of AI and the utilisation of AI-based technologies within enterprises. The included statistics and figures are sourced from reputable surveyors such as Deloitte, Gartner, McKinsey & Company etc. The statistics and figures presented in the article paint a picture of how AI is transforming the entirety of a typical enterprise day to day functions. AI impact is felt from hiring initiatives to profitable revenue sources. One major takeaway from Alex's article is that AI is here to stay and enterprises are adapting at a pace that will see entire companies, industries and nation transform within the next five years.