In his CIO Edge presentation, Solly Brown, Partner at McKinsey and leader of QuantumBlack ANZ, shares a CIO playbook for scaling agentic AI, reshaping operating models, and funding skills to move faster than rivals.

Frontier models now double the length of tasks they can complete every seven months and McKinsey research shows that almost 60% of work hours are technically automatable today.

He stresses that while change will not happen overnight, almost every role will see at least 20% of its tasks transformed, creating major opportunities for organisations that move faster than competitors.

Solly says CIOs now play two parallel roles: transforming the IT function and leading broader enterprise transformation.

High‑performing organisations are already seeing major gains, including double‑digit improvements in speed, capacity and quality.

These leaders take an “agent‑first” approach, apply AI across the entire software‑development lifecycle and redesign operating models to support rapid 24‑hour engineering cycles powered by agent factories.

He adds that top performers invest more heavily in AI, with many allocating 20%+ of their digital budgets to AI and planning further increases.

According to ADAPT data this year alone, 77% of organisations plan to invest in AI agents and 61% in AI development platforms.

Success requires rethinking spend, insourcing key skills, reshaping agile teams and strengthening data via ontologies and knowledge graphs.

Solly poses key questions every CIO must answer: Where should we build and where should we buy? How do we upskill our talent?

How do we adapt our operating models? And how do we manage risk as AI becomes core to business transformation?

 

Key takeaways:

  • AI capability is accelerating fast, with frontier models doubling the length of tasks they can perform every seven months and almost 60% of work hours now technically automatable.
  • CIOs face a dual mandate: transform the IT function with agent‑first models and lead enterprise‑wide AI‑driven change, reshaping operating models and speeding up delivery.
  • High performers invest more and move sooner, often putting 20%+ of digital spend into AI, insourcing key skills, building agentic factories and redesigning teams to unlock rapid, scalable value.
Contributors
Solly Brown Partner at McKinsey + QuantumBlack – contributor to McKinsey’s “CEO guide to GenAI”
I am a Partner at McKinsey & Company based in Sydney, where much of my work is oriented around helping organisations on... More

I am a Partner at McKinsey & Company based in Sydney, where much of my work is oriented around helping organisations on strategy, AI and transformation. I am leader in our analytics practice and QuantumBlack Australia (QuantumBlack is an analytics consulting firm acquired by McKinsey). My QB teams work with organisations on issues related to advanced analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.

I also have a passion for public sector, where I serve organisations on strategy, organisation and transformation topics.

Before joining McKinsey I studied for a PhD in machine learning and artificial intelligence. Prior to this my background was in theoretical physics.

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transformation skills modernisation