Genpact finds a gap between AI deployment and business returns

Genpact surveyed 2,005 executives across 17 industries and found that 79 percent reported AI agents in production. Yet a weighted average of just 49 percent of AI initiatives funded over the past 24 months had delivered their expected business value. Only 15 percent said their organizations had fully linked AI investments to specific profit-and-loss outcomes. The findings reflect executives’ self-reported assessments, not independently verified financial results.

Turning saved time into usable capacity remains a central obstacle: 46 percent cited difficulty doing so as a barrier to measurable value. Only 9 percent reported completing a significant operating model transformation. Genpact executives emphasized redesigning workflows across departments, assigning responsibility for financial results and deciding where humans should intervene, rather than simply adding tools to existing processes.

Genpact is applying that approach through Client Zero, its internally focused transformation program led by CEO Balkrishan “BK” Kalra. The company says the program and related simplification initiatives have generated tens of millions of dollars in operational savings. It has 180 agents in production across human resources, finance, IT and business operations.

Infrastructure and oversight remain constraints. Only 12 percent reported enterprise-scale full-stack AI architecture capabilities, while 17 percent had governance embedded across the full agent lifecycle. Among respondents with agents in production, 92 percent said overall human staffing remained roughly flat or increased, although individual operations could still reduce staffing.