Presented by BCG
There’s still a significant gap between AI experimentation and real-world business impact. Increasingly, that gap is being measured in actual competitive edge. There’s a playbook for that, says Matthew Kropp, CTO, managing director and senior partner at BCG. As gen AI matures — especially with the rise of agentic AI — organizations need to understand how to maximize its potential value, and responsibly deploy these new AI-powered teammates at scale. That requires zeroing in on the organization’s focus, and three interconnected value plays.
“Using our ‘deploy, reshape, invent’ framework, we help clients identify clear goals from the top,” says Kropp. “We take a 10-20-70 approach: 10% algorithms, 20% tech and data, and 70% people and processes, which lets our clients set ambitious targets and create substantial value with powerful agentic AI backing them up.”
Case in point: BCG recently worked with global consumer goods company Reckitt to optimize marketing capabilities and increase productivity by changing workflows across marketing with custom automated solutions. They acclimated hundreds of marketers across categories and markets to a whole new way of working and new workflows on an innovative technology platform, and saw time spent on routine activities drop by up to 90%, while output quality improved two-fold.
Meanwhile, the global cosmetics company L’Oreal reinvented the consumer experience and increased conversions five- to tenfold over traditional digital channels with a gen AI–powered beauty assistant.
From deployment to reinvention
Before reaching the more transformative phases, many companies are still in the early deployment stage — integrating AI into existing tools and processes. Virtually every business application will soon include embedded AI, meaning every employee is going to be interacting with these tools in their day-to-day work. But simply turning on AI features isn’t enough.
“You’re not going to see major impact if people keep doing things the same way,” Kropp says. “A chatbot may help answer questions better, but that doesn’t change the process of using the data within the company. That’s where reshaping functions and workflows comes in.”
That next phase, “reshape,” involves rethinking entire processes to reduce toil and enhance both quality and speed. It means redesigning workflows so an org can take full advantage of AI augmentation – not to remove humans, but to amplify what they do. And AI agents represent a step change in workflow transformation.
For instance, one of BCG’s clients, a shipbuilding company, used an autonomous, multiagent architecture with reasoning and planning capabilities to automate design tasks, which reduced the engineering resources required by 45% and lead time per ship deck by 80%.
Another client, a global logistics company, used agents to automate its request-for-proposal response process, achieving 30% to 50% efficiency gains. BCG helped a large bank in Southeast Asia increase assets under management by 5% to 10% and increased customer conversions four- to sixfold, with agents that give relationship managers real-time input as they develop personalized offerings. And a leading industrial goods company increased its EBIT margins by 3 to 10 points with an agent that can run supply chain planning simulations, identify risks and their impact on operations, and propose mitigations.
“It’s an unbelievable multiplier,” Kropp notes. “You’re essentially turning every team member into a manager of AI collaborators. Teams are being reshaped from the ground up, as agents take on repetitive tasks and humans focus on oversight, creativity, and higher-order decisions. The reshape phase becomes a launchpad for radical innovation.”
Making the leap to innovation
Few companies have made it to the “invent” stage, but that stage is what holds the most transformational potential: creating entirely new offerings, services, or business models powered by agentic AI and proprietary data. This is where companies can drive real differentiation.
“The most mature organizations in our AI surveys are leaning into this invent phase,” Kropp says. “They’re using their unique strengths and agentic AI to outpace competitors in revenue and shareholder return.”
What separates companies that successfully move from reshaping and optimization to invention? According to Kropp, it starts with clarity of purpose — a vision linked directly to company strategy. It also requires disciplined execution: setting targets, allocating investment, and tracking impact.
“If your goal is to grow a new business line, you don’t get there through random experimentation,” he says. “You define what success looks like, and then invest intentionally in the AI capabilities and organizational changes to get there.“
Finding real competitive edge
However, every organization is going to be building AI agents into many, if not most of their process, which means just having an agent doesn’t mean automatic competitive advantage. What sets companies apart in the market is using proprietary data and human strengths in unique ways.
Many organizations already have valuable data by virtue of their business: An airline with a loyalty program has in-depth data on those customers. A biopharma company doing drug discovery has vast proprietary data on their clinical trials and research. The key is recognizing where that data can drive innovation.
“Companies need to focus on creating competitive advantage by identifying proprietary data that creates value, and where they have real human expertise, unique capabilities, unique culture and so on,” Kropp says. “Then deploying AI agents to reshape an organization, its processes and people in a way that lets them fully realize the value of the advantages that they already have.”
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