For hundreds of years, artisans in Japan have embodied the artwork of “kintsugi,” restoring damaged pottery by sealing the cracks with lacquer dusted in gold. Reasonably than hiding breakage, this follow teaches that though cracks could also be inevitable, the very act of anticipating such flaws and changing these stressors into strengths can construct resilience.Â
At a time of fixed volatility — some anticipated, however different know-how disruptions coming at a second’s discover — this mindset reminds us to take a step again and suppose larger. If disruption is a given, how will we create a construction and group that turns into extra resilient with every type it takes?Â
For know-how and enterprise leaders responding to the breakneck tempo of superior AI, resembling generative AI, agentic AI and bodily AI, getting ready for a way forward for change is essential. But, based on current Accenture analysis, solely 36% of CIOs and CTOs really feel ready to answer change.Â
Once we analyzed greater than 1,600 of the world’s largest companies inside their peer units throughout key know-how and enterprise dimensions, we discovered that absolute resilience is rebounding. But, Â very like fragile pottery, there are fractures. The hole between robust and weak organizations widened by 17 share factors, and fewer than than 15% of corporations obtain long-term worthwhile progress.Â
Too many leaders are clinging to outdated fashions, slightly than constructing resilience into the core of their organizations in order that when cracks seem, they’ll adapt and reply rapidly and successfully.Â
What CIOs Can Be taught from Excessive Performers
Probably the most resilient corporations are those who deal with disruption as an opportunity to distinguish themselves, not as one thing to endure. They obtain income progress six share factors sooner, with revenue margins eight share factors greater than friends.
For CIOs, the takeaway is evident: Resilience is not simply disaster administration. It have to be adaptive, future-facing and deeply built-in throughout the enterprise. Simply as kintsugi artisans view sudden cracks as a chance to rebuild, CIOs should redefine resilience. This contains balancing throughout 4 crucial dimensions:
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Making know-how the muse of reinvention: An Accenture survey carried out in Could of three,000 C-suite executives discovered that 9 in 10 C-suite leaders plan to extend their AI investments this yr, with 67% viewing AI as a income driver. For CIOs, this implies guaranteeing that AI, knowledge, and cloud initiatives and tasks transcend pilots to scaling foundations for progress. The excellent news is that, based on Accenture’s Pulse of Change survey carried out in late 2024, 34% of the two,000 respondents already efficiently scaled a minimum of one industry-specific AI answer.Â
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Adapting the enterprise and business fashions as client conduct shifts towards AI: Three-quarters of greater than 18,000 respondents to Accenture’s 2025 Client Pulse Analysis are already open to utilizing a trusted AI-powered shopper, and about 18% cite generative AI (GenAI) as their go-to for buy suggestions. The shift in demand, coupled with growing prices, is placing pricing fashions underneath strain.
Expertise leaders can create AI-powered analytics to assist their enterprise groups make sooner calls on what prices to soak up and what to cross on, holding margins intact. They’ll leverage this disruption in how customers make purchases by tapping into their belief in AI to create higher hyper-personalized choices.
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Investing in and rising their folks: Firms that put money into each their know-how and their expertise are 4 occasions extra more likely to maintain worthwhile progress. But, Accenture’s Pulse of Change survey discovered that leaders with GenAI are prioritizing tech of their budgets 3 times greater than their folks.
With 42% of staff working usually with AI brokers, based on the identical survey, equipping staff with the instruments and coaching to thrive alongside AI is crucial to constructing a resilient expertise workforce. This permits corporations to not simply take up disruption, but in addition develop stronger by way of it. A workforce that may adapt rapidly, keep engaged, and drive change from inside is important to long-term progress.
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Reconfiguring operations for larger autonomy: In line with Accenture analysis, an estimated 43% of whole working hours in provide chain roles within the U.S. might be reworked by GenAI. Yet one more Accenture survey, this time of 1,000 C-suite executives in 2024, discovered that the provision chains of a mean firm are nonetheless solely 21% autonomous. By delegating processes and choices to clever AI-powered techniques and enabling predictive modeling, tech leaders might help their corporations recuperate sooner from shocks.Â
From Patchwork System to Adaptable BasisÂ
When pottery breaks, kintsugi artisans do not throw the items away; they remodel adversity into resilience. Leaders of high-performing corporations view change as a chance to create stronger, extra versatile, and extra adaptable companies for the longer term. In our analysis, 60% of corporations within the high quartile of resilience maintain constructive revenue returns throughout systemic shocks.
In at this time’s setting, resilience isn’t reorientation; it is reinvention. Like pottery mended with gold, organizations that embrace it should emerge stronger, extra worthwhile, and constructed for long-term worthwhile progress.Â
