Unlocking Generative AI’s Potential

Artificial intelligence (AI) has quickly become a top priority for executives across industries. Yet, despite the enthusiasm and investment, the value of generative AI (GenAI) remains elusive for most organizations. According to Sia’s 2025 benchmark study of more than 50 large companies across seven industries, 70% of initiatives are overseen directly by executive committees. However, only 10% of leaders feel “future-ready” with structured plans to guide their organizations through AI disruption.

The reality is undeniable: AI is no longer a question of if, but how.

Successful preparation of leaders, employees and organizational structures are the missing links preventing organizations from realizing AI’s full value. Many organizations fall into the AI value gap by pursuing fragmented strategies that lead to inconsistent results, such as launching disconnected pilots without the right enterprise roadmap. The AI value gap is further exacerbated by an unprepared workforce and leadership with skill gaps, decentralized ownership, and cultural resistance. In addition, immature data and technology foundations such as poor data readiness hinder AI scalability. As a result, 42% of AI projects are abandoned, 80% of companies report no significant bottom-line impact, and only 1% of executives describe their GenAI rollout as “mature.”

Unlike traditional technology and organizational changes (like a new ERP system, restructuring, or process optimization), AI requires a fundamentally different approach to change management. Leaders must promote a culture of experimentation and even failure, recognizing that progress comes through iteration. The speed at which AI is advancing means organizations cannot rely on rigid, slow-moving processes. Instead, experimentation becomes a core component to the methodology, a disciplined yet flexible approach that allows companies to simultaneously advance technology and create workforce value at pace.

Traditionally, companies have had to choose between efficiency or growth. With AI, both efficiency and growth are possible at the same time, but only if the workforce is engaged. By channeling AI-driven efficiencies into workforce value creation, businesses can achieve the fastest possible ROI. The message is simple: Generating value through AI can only happen through human engagement. Realizing the greatest value of your workforce talent can also only happen by harnessing AI to take on increasingly sophisticated processes.

Sia’s Human-Centric AI Strategy & Integration Framework builds on this philosophy, shifting the focus from technology alone to people-first transformation. This multi-faceted approach tackles individuals, teams, and enterprises, enabling systemic adoption and ROI acceleration.

The framework is built on three enablers that accelerate adoption and impact of AI initiatives:

1. Strategy & Alignment – Highly engaged leaders defining the “why” behind AI adoption and connecting use cases to business goals.
2. Creativity & Experimentation – Iterative execution, building trust through skill building, storytelling, branding, and iterative testing.
3. Technology, AI & Data – Delivering scalable tools, guided workflows, and training resources.

By engaging employees as co-creators and embedding AI into everyday workflows, organizations move from experimentation to systemic adoption. This bottom-up experimentation empowers organizations to navigate growth with confidence, keeping projects aligned with human impact while ensuring technology creates immediate, tangible value.

The future of enterprise AI will not be decided by technology alone. Success depends on how organizations engage their people, align leadership, and embed AI into the very fabric of work. A human-centric AI integration strategy, grounded in experimentation, methodology, and workforce alignment, is the key to unlocking productivity, trust, innovation, and long-term growth.

In fact, this paradigm shift will inevitably transform the role of HR: it will be necessary to take into account, in the definition of roles and in the review of the organization of the company, what work AI can take on and how that impacts the work that humans do, but also to consider the new opportunities for career advancement and growth that may emerge thanks to AI. HR will therefore be instrumental in preparing the workforce for AI transformation.

With deep expertise in business transformation, data strategy, and advanced AI, Sia works with HR leaders to design and implement holistic, human-centric strategies that drive adoption, scale, and measurable ROI, bridging the gap between AI ambition and real-world impact.