As organizations continue to invest heavily in AI, many CIOs are still working to understand how those investments translate into measurable business impact. At the center of that challenge is a shift in how AI is approached, from isolated experimentation to enterprise-wide execution. In this conversation, Jeff Baker, Technology Managed Services Lead at PwC, shares how organizations can move beyond early-stage use cases and begin realizing meaningful outcomes.
Jeff Baker, Technology Managed Services Lead at PwC
CIO.com: Many CIOs are investing in AI but haven’t necessarily seen a return on that investment yet. What does it take to move from investment to actual innovation?
Jeff Baker: A couple of things. I don’t think a lot of our clients are thinking big enough about the impact of AI and some of the possibilities that are out there. One of the things we’re encouraging them to do is move it out of that experimental phase or the back office or cottage industry and really start teaming up with the business directly to find more impactful ways to use the technology that have a business outcome, not just a cool technology showcase.
There are a lot of skunkworks projects out there that look fun but aren’t necessarily hitting the bottom line from an impact standpoint. The more we can team the AI engineers with people inside the business who are asking for the technology, the more you’re going to see meaningful outcomes.
CIO.com: You’ve said that AI requires structural change, not just experimentation. What’s the most important operational shift CIOs should make?
Jeff Baker: I think about AI in two basic categories. There’s what I call citizen-led AI. We’re getting a lot of really cool tools into the hands of people at firms, and they’re doing interesting things with it. They’re organizing their inboxes and creating chat programs that respond to RFPs, and other “day in the life” tasks.
On the other side, there are more durable, agentic-type models that have a lot more business impact but require more investment. That’s where strong teaming between IT and the business is important to define what the outcome should be.
There’s also a lot of sophistication that comes with that. Is it durable? Is it secure? Are you thinking about bias? How are you curating it? Who owns the ongoing management and observability of those agents once they’re deployed?
Security and data management become critical. The agents are only as good as the data they’re based on. In many cases, companies need to clean up their data before these agents can be effective. And finally, this should be collaborative. These agents are not isolated. They’re going to work across the organization with other humans and other agents to help drive outcomes.
CIO.com: You’ve said AI-driven managed services differ from traditional models. How so, and where do CIOs get it wrong?
Jeff Baker: The difference for us, what we call Managed Services 2.0, is that it’s AI-first. It’s focused on business outcomes.
It’s not just about deploying a team to work tickets and hit service levels. It’s about improving business outcomes over time. We’re seeing efficiency gains of about 20% in the first year and up to 50% over five years with clients who allow us to use AI appropriately.
Where it can get tricky is in how these services are purchased. In an RFP process, procurement teams often try to normalize key elements across vendors. But that can flatten the innovation that providers are trying to bring to the table.
CIO.com: Looking ahead 3 to 5 years, what will separate organizations that succeed with AI from those that remain stuck in pilot mode?
Jeff Baker: It comes down to focusing on the business outcomes. What are you trying to achieve with technology, people, and your organization?
And then, in some ways, you have to get out of the way of the agents. They think differently than humans do. I see too many companies trying to treat agentic systems like a traditional business process automation exercise.
Instead, you should focus those agents on outcomes and allow them to operate in the way they’re designed to. That’s where you’re going to see a bigger impact.
To learn more about PwC managed services, click here.
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Source: News