Five AI-supported steps companies can take to raise the productivity ceiling

Today’s “always on” transformation is no longer just about cost. By taking a long-term, productivity focus, companies can set the stage for value and growth.

In brief

• Traditional cost programs deliver one-time gains. AI-enabled productivity reframes transformation as a continuous source of competitive advantage.
• A process-based approach unlocks structural gains by redesigning how work is done, not layering technology onto old models.
• EY-Parthenon teams using proprietary AI tools can find inefficiencies in days, with substantial savings that can be reinvested in future growth.

For a CEO considering the challenges of rising costs, shifting market expectations and relentless disruption, productivity is naturally a top priority. Unfortunately, traditional paths to greater productivity are no longer enough to achieve long-term success. To compete in today’s environment, companies must not only increase efficiency but must continuously modernize capabilities.

The January 2026 EY-Parthenon CEO Outlook survey identified “optimizing operations and improving productivity, including digitization,” as CEOs’ leading concern, with 43% flagging it as their top desired outcome, ahead of other cited challenges such as rising operating costs, energy, labor and regulatory compliance.

From cost reduction to strategic reallocation

Historically, cost programs have targeted headcount reductions and temporary fixes. These efforts often fail to deliver lasting impact because they typically are carried out in silos, lack executive alignment and deliver only one-time gains. When cost reduction is the goal, it can erode the very capabilities required to grow, adapt and innovate.

The new approach asks: How can we redeploy resources toward areas that increase innovation, value and sustainable growth?

The process has five mutually supportive pillars.

1. Executive alignment: setting the ambition from the top

Starting at the top, a key feature is accountability, with CEOs, CFOs and chief transformation officers articulating a clear vision and cascading it across the enterprise. This alignment helps prevent a federated approach in which business units pursue isolated cost targets without a unified strategy. By anchoring decisions in enterprise-wide objectives, organizations avoid temporary fixes and build durable change. Executive visibility highlights the importance of the objectives and helps nurture the critical cultural changes that must take place to enable sustained success.

2. Value orientation: every action must create value

Every initiative, whether productivity improvement, process optimization or technology deployment, should be rooted in measurable value creation. This discipline shifts the conversation from “Where can we cut?” to “How does this action improve enterprise performance?” Value may mean lower costs, enhanced revenue streams, or better return on invested capital. AI-enabled productivity frees leadership attention, talent and capital for initiatives that were previously constrained by bandwidth rather than ambition.

3. Foundational data: building a single source of truth

HR systems, finance platforms and operational databases often tell conflicting stories about cost centers and process ownership. EY-Parthenon addresses this by reconciling data sets into a unified view of the organization. This foundational step enables leaders to answer critical questions: “What is our true baseline?” “Where are resources concentrated?” “Which processes are the least efficient?”

An EY-Parthenon tool, Census.AI, accelerates the process by helping identify hot spots of inefficiency in the organization, by process not department. Resource and expenditure data are mapped to a normalized process taxonomy with game-changing speed, providing insights in days rather than months. The approach cuts across functional silos to create a more complete picture of where and how work is getting done.

4. AI-first reimagination: reinventing processes from the ground up

AI is not just a cost-cutting tool; it is a force multiplier for transformation, reshaping the very nature of work. Where traditional automation strategies layer technology onto existing workflows, yielding incremental gains of 20%–30%, the new program flips the script, helping clients structurally reimagine processes with AI embedded as part of the design, then determine where human judgment and quality control add value. This inversion can potentially unlock increases in speed, scale and capacity that competitors will struggle to match.

An example could be a process such as order-to-cash. Instead of asking each functional team to identify AI use cases within their silo, the new method examines the entire value chain, eliminating redundant handoffs and embedding AI agents to handle transactional tasks. AI drives speed, accuracy and execution while humans focus on strategic decisions and quality control.

5. Discipline and execution: stage-gate methodology

A stage-gate methodology applies execution rigor, enabling initiatives to move from concept to sustained value realization. Unlike traditional PMOs that track milestones and deliverables, this model measures value-based outcomes with financial KPIs that provide accountability and discipline. Measurement enables leaders to track value and build confidence with the board, investors and employees that transformation is not just aspirational, but achievable.

Example: An industrial manufacturer looking to fund a growth agenda

A manufacturing company that was under pressure to invest in growth while lowering costs engaged EY-Parthenon to help reimagine how work gets done across core processes. Using EY-Parthenon AI diligence tools, the organization was able to identify structural inefficiencies in days rather than months. An AI-first, process-based redesign of the way work gets done across functions helped achieve $1 billion in savings, lasting lower operating costs, and significant capacity gains. Leaders reinvested resources in R&D, digital capabilities and faster innovation cycles that positioned the company for market-leading growth. By building AI into processes, the company was able to make the best use of employees’ time and push boundaries on how and where work is being performed.

Differentiators that matter

Four elements distinguish the approach in a crowded consulting landscape:

1. Process-based mapping: By working through a process lens rather than functional silos, the program makes it easier to spot hidden inefficiencies across the enterprise.
2. AI-first design: A new look at the way technology can work with process design enables the enterprise to embed AI as a core workforce component, moving beyond incremental improvements. This shift redefines the interplay between human and AI workers, creating performance-oriented processes.
3. Accelerated insight through proprietary tools: The EY-Parthenon Census.AI platform helps compress months of analysis into days, giving clients a rapid, data-driven roadmap for action.
4. Stage-gate mechanism: The stage-gate approach applies execution discipline, using value-based controls that keep the project accountable to measurable targets. By embedding financial KPIs and value checkpoints into the stage-gate process, leaders gain more than control — they gain credibility.

Transformation as a continuous capability

The era of multiyear, start-and-stop programs is gone. Today, change is perpetual. In response, organizations must embrace continuous reinvention, with transformation as a core capability. When companies embed productivity and reinvention into the culture and everyday rhythms of the business, they create conditions for sustained performance and long-term growth.

This shift requires more than new processes and technology. It requires an enterprise-wide mindset that sees disruption as opportunity. Leaders need to foster resilience by combining strategic clarity with execution discipline, so that transformation efforts do not peter out when challenges arise or new priorities emerge.

The goal will always move, but that’s the point. In a universe of constant change, the journey is the destination.