Capgemini joins in GenAI’s me-too mire

Capgemini has scaled up its participation in the GenAI (generative AI) gold rush with the announcement of its generative AI (GenAI) portfolio of services. Its challenge now is to make enterprise leaders care among the blizzard of similar releases and claims.

When HFS conducted an initial GenAI announcement round-up last month, we found more than 50 related announcements. By then, Capgemini had only referenced an expanded relationship with Google (GCP), Microsoft, and a GenAI center of excellence. Now, amid increasing noise in a PR arms race, Capgemini stakes a bigger claim with its GenAI landgrab.

A new practice, new offerings—but how is it better or different?

Capgemini has set up a GenAI practice and lab and is offering

• GenAI strategy for CXOs
• GenAI for customer experience with dedicated GenAI assistants for hyper-personalization
• GenAI for software engineering
• Custom GenAI for enterprises aimed at enabling enterprises to apply GenAI assistants where sensitive and proprietary data is an issue

But how this is better or different from anything Capgemini’s competitors are saying or doing is hard to discern. To its credit, Capgemini says its portfolio has been developed in response to client demand and can point to work with London’s Heathrow Airport as a current example of the use of its GenAI for CX offer. The e-commerce and passenger services solutions being developed at Heathrow target faster, more comprehensive, and nuanced individual customer experiences.

Game-changing tech must be applied beyond lipstick on the same old services

We do not seek to single out Capgemini here because we have seen the same from most announcements by their rivals (Exhibit 1), but there is little to differentiate Capgemini’s offer from another global systems integrator or consultancy. While the technology brings a game-changing moment to how we work, it will only result in me-too solutions, often simply targeting productivity gains rather than value outcomes unless and until the industry moves beyond repeating its usual offerings with the application of some GenAI lipstick.

Exhibit 1: We have already seen around 50 major GenAI announcements from leading IT and business service providers, the majority layering GenAI on to what they already do

Sample: April–July 2023; HFS analysis of approximately 50 major GenAI announcements from leading IT and business service providers
Source: HFS Research, 2023

Enterprise leaders need more. As HFS CEO and Chief Research Officer Phil Fersht points out in his blog post, GenAI is meaningless unless it is toasted, the industry needs to understand the nature of the ChatGPT-driven revolution and think of it less as a sticking plaster for efficiency and more of a driver of personal achievement.

Enterprise leaders must catch up with how their people are making GenAI personal and improving their working experience

Generative AI is being driven by consumers, not CFOs. Employees are bringing ChatGPT into their enterprise, like when they led the way with Web 2.0 and Apple Macs. Employees move faster than their enterprises when tech raises their work quality and personal experiences. The question enterprise leaders need to answer now is, “How can I bring GenAI to my enterprise to support my people in how they use the internet, how they learn, how they collaborate, how they ideate, how they create, and how they re-invent?”

Their partners must focus on helping them answer those questions to make GenAI meaningful and genuinely transformational. When the web arrived, most firms’ initial response was to simply replicate their business models online. The winners were those who understood and applied the changes the internet enabled in how business could get done. To be a winner in the GenAI revolution requires the same approach.

The Bottom Line: Enterprise leaders must demand service providers help them answer new questions to achieve the new value of The Generative Enterprise.

We have hardly seen the start of this revolution. To succeed, enterprise leaders must ask a different set of questions to their service providers. These questions must move beyond asking, “How much will it save me?” toward “How much new value can I create because GenAI exists?” Those who do this fastest will realize the benefits of The Generative Enterprise™, leaving behind those focused on short-term productivity gains and point solutions.

HFS is currently conducting its first Generative Enterprise services report. Follow HFS Research on LinkedIn for updates.