Key Takeaways from the HFS Horizons Summit—New York City 2023–and the rise of the Generative Enterprise

HFS Research took New York by storm in May 2023 with our latest Horizons Summit event! We hosted a dynamic array of enterprise and industry leaders for two days of discussion and debate about the road to the Generative Enterprise, enabled by the cutting-edge data and insights you expect from HFS. Our critical take-aways from the event include:

1. Macroeconomic conditions trigger wide-scale adoption of autonomous tech. The current macroeconomic circumstances, led by the painful one-two punch of inflation and recession, have triggered the next wave of enterprise operations change: the wide-scale replacement of human tasks with autonomous technologies.
2. The Generative Enterprise(tm) will be data and AI led. Enterprises have been trying to automate since HFS coined the term “RPA” in 2012. The advent and rapid proliferation of ChatGPT underscores how this revolution will be data and AI led, with generative AI models helping to power how work gets done. This is no Skynet future; this is machines complementing humans. HFS calls this the Generative Enterprise.
3. The rise of the Generative Enterprise will drive a new S-curve of value creation. The Generative Enterprise will drive a new S-curve of value creation, moving IT and business process services from a people focus to an AI-driven focus characterized by data-driven decisioning and processing.
4. The hot pursuit of the Generative Enterprise requires leaders to think differently. The measure of effective enterprise leadership will increasingly be tied to the ability to use technology to complement and empower people. Yes, we need to ensure tech governance, but tech denial is a death wish.
5. Work is hybrid, not remote! Amid all the technology talk, we must recognize that the post-pandemic reality of work is hybrid. It’s not remote, and it’s not in-person. It’s both. The promise of the Generative Enterprise risks failure if the people being empowered don’t engage.

We are pleased to present a compilation of the top takeaways and learnings from the HFS Horizons Summit—New York 2023.

Download the report for session-by-session insights.