The broad enthusiasm about generative AI (gen AI) has led to a burst of experimentation. Most companies are implementing standalone use cases on top of existing processes in areas such as sales, marketing, customer service, and IT. Too few are reinventing the entirety of their processes with gen AI and running their gen AI investments with a precise and actionable business case.
The full benefits of gen AI may only be realized if leaders start using it to fundamentally reinvent end-to-end workflows. Re-examining processes across the enterprise serves three purposes: 1) creating a seamless end-user experience; 2) addressing productivity gaps, particularly at the seams between functions or departments; and 3) tracking value more effectively against business outcomes.
There are companies already leading from the front. One insurer, for example, is reinventing the entirety of its underwriting capabilities. For each step, the insurer embedded gen AI, never losing sight of the underwriter’s experience. Taking account of this across the value chain enabled a step-change in how quickly—and therefore how many—customers could be served, driving double-digit revenue increases.
The value of becoming boundaryless
It’s never just about technology when it comes to successful digital transformations. Companies must reinvent how they work and ensure that employees—from the C-suite to the frontline—are fully engaged in the journey.
Building gen AI-enabled end-to-end workflows requires a radical change in how people—and machines—are organized, drawing on a new version of an old idea first coined by Jack Welch at General Electric in 1990: a boundaryless operating model that breaks down silos across the organization and beyond.
Almost all (99%) executives we surveyed about how they are using technology and data to change their business say reinventing cross-functional capabilities is the focus of their transformation programs. And 75% frequently look outside their industry for leading practices when developing those capabilities. Companies that are effective in thinking and acting beyond internal and external boundaries in this way increase their odds of reinvention success by 50%.
While operating boundaryless is a key characteristic of reinventors, it is often the hardest to achieve. Only one in four executives are confident their organizations have the right operating model to support their reinvention strategy, with 75% saying their organizations are ineffective in working across silos.
How then can companies develop an effective operating model that pushes the boundaries even further? While gen AI has made this need more urgent, it can also give organizations the tools to finally dismantle their silos.
Four ways gen AI enables a boundaryless organization
1. Boundaryless data It all starts with data. Most companies have underinvested in this area and thus experienced challenges with technology integration. Now, gen AI can help connect what was a disparate collection of data sets and technologies through a foundation we call a “digital core.” For example, gen AI can automatically integrate data—both structured and unstructured—from multiple legacy systems, translating different data formats and schemas into a unified one.
2. Boundaryless teams Companies have struggled to break down organizational silos, with leadership often equating a loss of structure with a loss of control. While many IT departments embrace agile principles, the business side of enterprises often lags behind. Now, networks of cross-functional teams from across the enterprise can operate as self-managing entities, empowered by gen AI systems that guide decision-making, resolve conflicts, and provide easier access to cross-functional knowledge.
3. Boundaryless skills Before, the need for ongoing education to support boundaryless skill development seemed too overwhelming to overcome. Now, gen AI can analyze workforce skills and identify gaps in near real-time. Learning can be integrated into daily workflows, with AI recommending continuous development opportunities that align with immediate project needs and long-term career development goals. And platforms—rather than classrooms—can deliver personalized training modules that are fully individualized.
4. Boundaryless agentic capabilities Agentic architecture represents the next leap in creating a boundaryless organization. AI agents are autonomous systems that perceive their environment, understand intent, and take action to achieve goals with minimal human intervention. These agents can collaborate with humans and other agents to solve complex tasks, providing users with comprehensive recommendations and insights. Unlike traditional automation, which focuses on individual tasks, agentic architecture reinvents entire workflows that span departments. For example, in a loan approval process, one agent assesses creditworthiness, another detects fraud, and a third manages customer communication, all working seamlessly together with employees who oversee the process.
Gen AI has the potential to redefine performance across the enterprise like no technology before. It can enable organizations to become truly boundaryless and operate in a radically different way. Built on secured data, agile, autonomous teams, and augmented by agentic architectures, gen AI will allow us to collaborate at scale with machines, across ecosystems and industries, in ways we haven’t seen before.
