CIOmove Network: “ROI from Copilot” – Guest at Accenture

Michael Müller-Wünsch, CIO of OTTO, who participated in our CIOmove network event on the topic of “ROI from Copilot” at Accenture, calls his employees “Generation AI” in reference to the technical term “GenAI” and that is much more than just a nice play on words.

The question of whether and how to derive and present ROI when using Microsoft Copilot (and other vendors’ AI tools and platforms) is actually a generational issue, which was one of the takeaways from our meeting at Accenture on January 22. GenAI can pay off, all participants agreed with the Accenture consultants, who reported on their work with ten DAX companies and many others.

The time and productivity gains that can be achieved in the short term can certainly be offset against the license price of AI solutions. However, a positive overall balance can only be achieved if companies make AI a strategic corporate task, which includes transforming the processes that are to use AI profitably, change management and employee training, and valid use cases that justify the use of GenAI right from the start.

And even then, what all participants basically already knew beforehand remains true: GenAI is a generational task that does not (only) pay off in terms of short-term ROIs, but above all justifies itself as a long-term strategy. “If you don’t get on the AI train now,” said one participant yesterday, “you will definitely miss the departure from the station!”

In the end, GenAI is a complex topic in all companies that calls for a continuation, which was already touched on yesterday: For GenAI, we need architectures that not only orchestrate Microsoft’s Copilots, but also diverse and versatile landscapes of different intelligences. And for this we need CIOs who continue to discuss this with the commitment and competence that we were able to experience yesterday at Accenture.

Many thanks to all who participated! See you at the next CIOmove in Hamburg on February 19-21.