Better, faster, easier, cheaper: That’s the promise of gen AI. For at least some companies, it’s becoming the reality as well, as leaders find new ways for gen AI—and the increasingly capable agents it enables—to automate, augment, and accelerate work across virtually every function. Early adopters are using gen AI to help strengthen supplier negotiations in procurement and improve quality control in equipment maintenance (see sidebar “Gen AI’s potential across operations”). One digital marketing platform is even using gen AI to manage “long tail” sales accounts that were previously too labor-intensive to serve, for an annual revenue gain of more than $30 million.
