Agentic AI reshapes the CIO role: decision speed beats company size

McKinsey summarized conclusions from its annual conference of technology leaders. The core message is sober: generative AI is no longer just a set of experiments inside IT departments. Companies are starting to embed it in everyday workflows, where agents plan, assess and execute tasks across functions. According to McKinsey, 28 percent of top-performing companies plan to increase technology budgets by more than 10 percent in 2026, driven largely by the expansion of agentic systems. The management impact is broader than faster work alone. The authors argue that in the age of agents, company size by itself no longer offers the same advantage as before. What matters increasingly is the speed of approvals, clear boundaries and the ability to connect operational staff with technical teams. McKinsey writes that leading companies are moving decision-making into product and platform teams, where decisions are made in days rather than months. This is also relevant for Czech firms, many of which still keep AI in small tests without accountability for outcomes. The article also warns against the idea that agentic AI is just another digitalization tool. According to the authors, automation now touches sales, finance, customer service, operations and people management. McKinsey says 46 percent of top-performing companies now continuously co-create strategy between business and technology; that share has doubled since 2023. If a company leaves AI solely to the technology department, it loses control over where value is created, where risks emerge and who is accountable. Customer service is a concrete example: agents can classify requests, identify causes, suggest solutions and close simple cases independently. The article states that 23 percent of organizations are already scaling AI agents in at least one function, while another 39 percent are actively experimenting with them. The business conclusion is clear. AI will not work where a company simply buys a tool and leaves the old operating model unchanged. Value will emerge where leadership connects technology, accountability, security, data, reskilling and supplier relationships. McKinsey therefore shifts the discussion from what AI can do to who makes decisions inside the company and who is responsible for the result.

Agentic AI reshapes the CIO role: decision speed beats company size

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