While most businesses want to become more AI-powered, many aren’t quite sure where in the org structure AI belongs. 

Some companies have assembled a cross-functional council to help steer the role that AI plays in the organization. Others placed AI agent ownership under a Product or IT function, treating it like another software system. Meanwhile, some are sprinkling AI specialists within ops teams to serve as a cross-functional AI resource. Investments in AI are only increasing, and according to IDC’s 2025 CEO Priorities survey – 66% of companies report business benefits from generative AI initiatives. Generally speaking, most companies are in motion and making steady progress by now. 

But despite all the enthusiasm, the AI landscape is littered with more failed projects than shining successes. According to a 2024 O’Reilly report, only 26% of AI projects make it beyond the pilot stage. That means three out of four AI initiatives are getting stuck in “proof of concept” purgatory. Also concerning, Gartner found that 80% of AI projects failed to meet their business goals. So while AI is driving business value and some use cases are scaling – most rollout attempts are still ending in failure.

So how can companies ensure more AI agent success stories? To start, pointing AI initiatives at the right processes and bottlenecks is a critical first step. While companies can track their finances down to the cent – there’s often limited metrics or visibility into employees’ time use or productivity. Executives are often flying blind since there’s no accounting for time or activities happening at the team or functional levels. That’s because companies historically viewed productivity as a managerial responsibility, not an organizational discipline. But that’s starting to change as agents proliferate and as each function clamors for more AI investment. Standard metrics are needed to prioritize where AI investments should be deployed first, and those metrics are missing in most companies today.

We’re now entering an exciting new era of software where internal tools can be developed quickly and customized perfectly to individual roles. The tech strategy of organizations is evolving from relying on standard SaaS systems to building internal tools that can execute precisely what employees need. The future of work is one where every employee acts as a manager, supported by a team of agents. We are about to witness a wild transformation which calls for new org structures to capitalize on the opportunity.  

Enter the Chief Productivity Officer (CPO)

The Chief Productivity Officer (CPO) is emerging as an important new C Suite role that every business needs. It’s already appearing in scaling startups that see the potential of AI agents to help them scale faster and make every employee more impactful. Unlike other C-suite positions, the CPO focuses specifically on enterprise-wide operational efficiency, process optimization, and human-technology collaboration. 

This role may at first glance seem to overlap with Chief Product Officer or Chief People Officer positions. While those roles focus on product strategy or human resources respectively, the Chief Productivity Officer is laser-focused on how work gets done across the business. This is a common blindspot within organizations today, and increasingly necessary for AI agent rollouts to deliver value.

Why AI Doesn’t Belong in IT or HR

The fundamental challenge with housing AI initiatives within traditional IT or HR structures isn’t a matter of capability, it’s a question of focus and scope. 

Chief Information Officers excel at managing enterprise-level technology infrastructure and vendor relationships. But AI’s productivity revolution demands something entirely different: deep, granular understanding of how work actually gets done at the process and individual level. While CIOs can deploy the technical infrastructure for AI tools, they typically lack the intimate knowledge of departmental workflows needed to redesign processes or embed AI agent support. As recent research confirms, “simply providing employees with AI tools doesn’t automatically translate into productivity improvements.” 

What’s needed isn’t just technical implementation, but someone who can get into the weeds of how teams spend their time, identify bottlenecks or efficiencies, and co-design custom solutions that transform work rather than just automate it. For example, arming sales teams with AI tools is not just an automation play – it requires redefining the sales role and pointing teams towards more value-add activities than conducting pre-call research, taking call notes, or drafting follow-up emails – all of which can be massively streamlined. It’s not just about automating repetitive work, CPOs also help to form a new north star for the activities that we want to replace transactional tasks with. It’s equal parts tech enablement and role re-design.

Chief People Officers face a different but equally limiting challenge. While they excel at talent strategy and organizational culture, they commonly lack the cross-functional authority and technical fluency needed to drive productivity improvements. What organizations need is a leader who can bridge the technical and human sides of productivity who can deftly navigate the complexity of cross-functional workflows and a rapidly evolving technology landscape.

Where the CPO Fits in the Organization

The Chief Productivity Officer is most commonly found in the C-Suite because the potential business impact of AI agents on productivity can be massive. Early adopters of AI agents have observed productivity improvements between 20% – 40% on activities like research, writing, coding, and analysis – which dramatically impacts the bottom line. When CPOs report through functional leaders, they risk optimizing for the wrong metrics. A CPO under IT might obsess over system automation while completely missing customer experience or sales improvements that could drive massive revenue growth. Reporting directly into the CEO ensures that efficiency gains are focused on strategic business objectives, not just functional goals. Burying this responsibility in another department assures a slower rate of adoption at a time when speed is only becoming more important.

Reporting directly into the CEO also creates accountability for results. There’s no hiding behind a department’s competing priorities when your job depends on moving the needle on revenue, customer satisfaction, or overall company performance. It also encourages the adoption of new KPIs for how time is spent, how employees work, and where opportunities for streamlining processes exist that are largely missing today.  

Chief Productivity Officers are already scoring multimillion-dollar wins. For example, one CPO orchestrated massive savings after a merger by generating buy-in across nine teams, updating how decisions were made, deploying new automation tools, and building bridges between business and tech groups. Their hands-on approach focused on listening to staff, crafting new automation tools, and promoting a culture of collaboration. As a result, the organization saw lower costs, fewer operational risks, more resources freed up for important tasks, and more consistent customer service. CEOs don’t have time to orchestrate these cross-functional change initiatives, making the CPO the perfect fit to drive agent-based changes. 

Essential Chief Productivity Officer Competencies

Successful Chief Productivity Officers possess a unique combination of strategic and operational expertise that sets them apart from other executives. 

Technical fluency forms the cornerstone of the role, though CPOs don’t need to be deep technical experts. They require strong AI and data literacy to understand how emerging technologies can reshape workflows, combined with knowledge of process optimization methodologies like Lean, Six Sigma, or Kaizen. Digital agility across automation platforms and analytics tools helps them to integrate various technologies for maximum impact.

Equally important as technical skills, CPOs excel at leadership and change management –  guiding workforce transitions through AI-driven transformation with emotional intelligence and empathy. Their ability to translate complex processes into compelling narratives is essential to win buy-in and overcome resistance to change. 

The CPO Mandate: Beyond Efficiency

The modern Chief Productivity Officer operates as more than a cost-cutting executive; they serve as the architect of AI enablement. At the heart of the role lies workflow redesign responsibilities, ensuring that AI agents are embedded across the entire organization rather than simply bolted onto existing processes. This approach shows that true productivity gains sometimes takes rethinking how work gets done, not just faster execution of legacy processes.

Perhaps most critically, the modern CPO takes ownership of workforce development during this period of accelerating change. This shift from “shelfware” to genuine adoption means the CPO must drive cultural buy-in by co-designing solutions with stakeholders. They implement upskilling programs that help employees develop skills like prompt engineering and AI output validation, while simultaneously managing the human impact of AI transformation. This includes addressing workforce anxieties, managing role redesigns, and ensuring that technology elevates human potential rather than replaces it.  

Finally, the CPO establishes robust productivity measurement systems that go beyond traditional business metrics to capture the full spectrum of productivity gains across all business functions. They develop KPIs that track not just cost savings, but improvements in employee engagement, decision-making speed, innovation cycles, and overall business agility. Their success is measured not by how many tools the organization builds, but by how effectively those tools drive real-world outcomes.

The Future of Work Needs More CPOs

As AI agents reshape work and free employees to work on higher-value activities, companies need dedicated leadership to navigate this transformation. The Chief Productivity Officer ensures that companies don’t just adopt AI tools, but continuously improve on how work gets done.

Without dedicated productivity leadership, organizations risk falling into the “productivity paradox” – making big technology investments that never translate into gains because workflows don’t evolve. The CPO bridges this gap, making sure that AI agents are embedded strategically and that human workers are upskilled and motivated to lean on AI agents’ capabilities.

The emergence of the Chief Productivity Officer represents more than an organizational trend – it’s a strategic imperative for companies serious about unlocking AI’s potential. As one executive noted, “AI is not just about doing things faster; it’s about fundamentally rethinking how work gets done.” The CPO is the executive who makes that rethinking happen and owns the results.

In the short term, many companies are finding partners or consultants who can help them launch a productivity function. For more information on the emerging productivity function, schedule a free consultation with us below.