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[00:00:03] Steve Evans: Hello, everybody, and welcome to our Strategy to Outcome series. In this series, we've been looking and exploring really what it takes to turn strategic ambition into tangible outcomes. Today, we're re-picking up the topic of AI. I'm Steve Evans, and I'm looking forward to exploring with you today some of these key issues. There is clearly no shortage of conversation around AI, but for organisations, I think one of the most useful things that we can do is move beyond that of the technology itself and start to ask some more fundamental questions.
Really, today, we're going to start to look at what are we actually trying to achieve in the broader picture. Ultimately, AI isn't the outcome. Better services, stronger organisations, greater productivity, and of course, improved customer and employee experiences are really some of those key outcomes that we're going to be touching upon. I'm delighted to say, to help us explore this rather significant topic today, I'm joined by Giulia, a senior leader in our business consulting practice for CGI across the UK. Hi, Giulia.
[00:01:19] Giulia Emiliani: Hi, Steve. It's really nice to be here. Thank you for having me today.
[00:01:23] Steve: Great to have you back on, actually. Let's get straight into it, and we talked about these significant questions. What is the purpose, would we say, of AI, and why does it matter?
[00:01:34] Giulia: Worth saying before we get into it that today, we're going to talk about it from an organisational perspective. We're not going to address the existential question around AI and humanity, but indeed, from our clients' perspective and the organisational lens, what I see the purpose of AI to be is really to realise value for the business and people. I see that we're moving away now from the initial question, which was to answer what are we doing about AI. Now, we're very much evolving into the next question, which is what business and people outcome are we trying to achieve, and indeed, what is the role that AI can play in that?
Then what we mean by value, value indeed can take different forms. It could mean cost reduction, productivity, but it can also mean revenue generation, better customer experience, better employee experience, and of course, ideally, several of these simultaneously. The key message, as you said, Steve, is indeed that AI isn't the outcome, it's very much an enabler of the outcome, and depending how an organisation defines AI's purpose, this will influence the opportunities it pursues and ultimately the value it achieves.
[00:03:12] Steve: Yes, it's very nice. That distinction that you draw between AI as the objective and the enabler, I think it's super important. Once you start with the outcome, Giulia, that rather than looking at the technology, it really does shift the conversation onwards and takes us into a better place, I think. Let us take a closer look then at this aspect of value. How do you achieve value both for the business and for its people?
[00:03:44] Giulia: As I've said, then, we absolutely start by understanding the outcome that the organisation wants to achieve, which could be predominantly business outcome, but sometimes it's very much people outcome or both. Then we translate the desired outcome into measurable value. This is where we define what would need to change for us to say that investment was successful. Again, that could be cost reduction, revenue, et cetera, et cetera.
The most important thing that we do, and this is where perhaps we at CGI take a slightly different approach, is that we apply a human-centred design approach to identify how we can generate the most value to the end customer as well as for the employee. This is so that they can operate at their best and they can generate the most value for the organisation and the business. We are very much moving from what task can we automate with AI to how should this work happen to achieve the best outcome. That's a really important distinction because it is also the difference between efficiency, which is ultimately doing today's work faster and cheaper, and effectiveness. Effectiveness is achieving better outcomes. That is very much what we are targeting with AI.
[00:05:20] Steve: If we then move that on, Giulia, and the perspective here, I think, is quite a fresh one. When you look from a human-centred AI perspective, what is the role of AI then versus the role of humans?
[00:05:37] Giulia: That's a great question. I think historically, AI was often treated as a standalone initiative, partly because many organisations were pressured to answer the question of "What are we doing about AI?" The result of that was many pilots, a bit of experimentation, and some of those AI-powered solutions that we've seen as well coming out rather than that broader consideration of the enterprise outcomes. I do think there's a shift now towards considering AI not as a standalone initiative, but very much looking at AI alongside any major IT investments or any major transformation program.
For instance, we're seeing lots of clients moving off legacy systems being a CRM system, case management, front door, workflow, et cetera, and all of these type of enterprise system now have their own AI capabilities embedded in those systems. They're also looking at building flexibility and scale for what might come next. What this means, the challenge then that these organisations are facing is that they are needing to make some really big IT investments that many times they can't delay, like moving off legacy systems, addressing cybersecurity or technical debt issues, but they have to do this with a high degree of uncertainty about the future and the rapid pace of change.
Then, going back to the question of the role of AI versus humans, I think we need to focus a lot less now into boxing the typical AI tasks that we would expect to see and the typical human tasks, and instead, seeing this as the integration of AI already happening in the enterprise landscape. What is left here, really, is understanding where human judgment, accountability, empathy really adds value. This is what AI can amplify, ultimately making sure that humans operate at their best and bring the best value to the business. I do think as well that AI will play a very important role in the orchestration of those task, of the AI and the human task across the enterprise landscape, and really being able to track, observe, monitor what is happening and how value is being generated.
[00:08:31] Steve: Giulia, that's a great point you make. It feels particularly relevant because organisations are having to make, as you mentioned, significant investment decisions on the technology landscape, and it is changing incredibly quickly. Certainly, I think when you look at some of the greatest progress that's been made so far with our clients, it's those that are able to connect the technology and evolution of that with their people and indeed operating models rather than treating AI as a set of those kind of discrete, isolated point solutions. I think that really does help connect an end-to-end picture. Moving on then to think about our clients and the work we're doing out in the market, Giulia, what would be your top advice for organisations today?
[00:09:26] Giulia: First of all, for all those organisations who indeed are making those large technology investments, or really indeed any transformation program, obviously start with the outcome. We spoke about that. Then understand how value is created, and then look first at the role that people need to play in that because that is still really the differentiator, the unique people that we have in our organisations that cannot be replicated elsewhere. Then indeed, look at how technology and AI enables them to operate at their best.
Then the other thing I'll say is obviously designed for adaptability. I think most organisations are doing that or looking at doing that, which goes back to having to manage that degree of uncertainty, which maybe a few years ago wasn't that prominent. Then that requires, as well, a bit of foresight. It's challenge today's assumptions and being able to take a good look at the future.
What we do at CGI with some of our clients, we do futures and foresight workshops which help our clients interpret the signals that we can see today, but really translate these into specific implications for their IT investment or transformational needs. Then I'll just finish by saying here that there's still a case for the more specific AI point solutions. I think we might still see those happening. However, I think we would need to understand very well what outcome those are supporting and indeed how they fit in the wider enterprise landscape.
[00:11:25] Steve: It's a complicated environment and there's some decisions that clearly need navigating, as you say. Obviously, the technologies and the operating environments may be different. The underlying challenge, of course, is remarkably consistent in how you make investments that you need today without constraining, as you said, the organisation and where it needs to be tomorrow. These are important questions. I think we're debating and starting to see how some of our clients are navigating them. Moving on then, Giulia, to the practicality of all of this important conversation. Can you share a few examples of the kinds of conversations we're having with clients?
[00:12:10] Giulia: Absolutely. As you know, we work cross-sector. If I start with the private sector, we are in conversation with a transportation company, and they are having to move off their current CRM system and build a new system. Obviously, when it comes to replacing legacy technology, they still want to look beyond what the tech does today and understand the customer journeys and the outcome that they need to serve today and tomorrow as well indeed. We are also looking at the employee experience as part of that and indeed where AI can enable a better service.
Another example in the financial services. We have another client who currently has a case management system which, with time, has grown in complexity as we see the hyper customisation sometimes of customer journeys which has been reflected as well in the system and how the system operates has created some complexity for the operations and the people as well. Although the system can manage the complexity, the operations around it indeed has become very challenging. For that, we're looking at how we can simplify and indeed use AI for some of that orchestration.
Now moving to the public sector, we are working currently with a client who is moving off their legacy systems and some of their key enterprise systems. Again, here the challenge is whilst they have to make the investment now, they also need to understand indeed what the future brings and how can they make the system future-proof. We are helping them looking into the future and taking that more transformational lens to apply to those investment decisions.
Really across those three examples, the underlying question is always the same: what is the outcome that we're trying to achieve? What is the value? What is the role that people need to play? Then, indeed, what is the combination of AI and other technologies to achieve that? The only thing I'll finish on is that organisations that realize the greatest value with AI obviously are not those that are automating the most, but those who have the clearest understanding of what the outcome are they want to achieve and indeed where people create the most value so that they can then use AI to enable that.
[00:15:10] Steve: Giulia, I think that's a really great conversation. Thank you very much for joining us today.
[00:15:16] Giulia: Thank you so much, Steve, for having me. It was really a great discussion. I really enjoyed it.
[00:15:21] Steve: Great. Great to have you along with it. This topic will absolutely continue to evolve in multiple different ways as the weeks and months roll on. It's a fast-moving topic, but I think the key point is about being able to connect the technology with the people process and, ultimately, focus on what those outcomes are. I think it's been a really great discussion as well, so thank you very much. For those of you listening in, please continue to follow our series via your podcast services, the ones you used today. Indeed, if you want to carry on the conversation directly with us, then feel free to reach out to Giulia or myself on LinkedIn. Thanks very much.
[00:16:05] Giulia: Thank you, Steve.
[00:16:08] [END OF AUDIO]
What if the greatest value from AI isn't in what it can automate, but in what it can help your people and enterprise achieve?
As organisations move beyond AI experimentation, the challenge is shifting from what the technology can do to how it can deliver meaningful business outcomes. From improving productivity and customer experience to enabling more effective ways of working, realising AI's potential requires a broader perspective – one that starts with people, purpose and value.
In this episode of Strategy to Outcomes: building your digital backbone, CGI’s Business Consulting and Advisory team explore why AI should be treated as an enabler of transformation, rather than an outcome in itself, and how a human-centred approach can help organisations make more informed investment decisions.
We discuss the importance of understanding where people create the greatest value, how AI can amplify human capabilities, and why organisations must look beyond isolated AI solutions to consider the wider enterprise landscape.
We explore:
- Why successful AI transformation starts with defining business and people outcomes, rather than focusing on technology.
- The difference between using AI to improve efficiency and redesigning work to achieve greater effectiveness.
- How human judgement, empathy and accountability remain central to creating value alongside AI.
- Why organisations need to consider AI as part of wider technology investments, operating models and transformation programmes.
- How designing for adaptability and using futures and foresight can help organisations make investment decisions amid uncertainty.
- Real-world examples, demonstrating how organisations are approaching legacy technology replacement and AI-enabled transformation.
The conversation highlights how a human-centred approach to AI can help organisations connect technology investments with the people, processes and ways of working needed to achieve measurable outcomes.
Podcast speakers:
- Steve Evans – Senior Vice President, Business Consulting and Advisory, CGI UK
- Giulia Emiliani – Vice President, Business Consulting, CGI UK
The Digital Backbone
With both AI and human-centred design being key enablers of CGI's Digital Backbone framework for transformation success, the discussion reinforces the importance of aligning technology, people and organisational priorities to ensure transformation supports organisational outcomes that truly matter.
For more on our end-to-end Digital Backbone approach, listen to the podcast episode:
Surviving today, thriving tomorrow: how a digital backbone enables future-fit organisations
Listen now to discover why the organisations that realise the greatest value from AI are not necessarily those automating the most, but those with the clearest understanding of the outcomes they want to achieve. To find out more:
