EU bans high-risk AI systems as AI Act enforcement begins

PEX Network’s weekly news bulletin rounds up the latest from the process community including operational excellence (OPEX), digital transformation, business process management (BPM), process mining, artificial intelligence (AI) and more.

This week includes:

EU AI Act enforcement begins with high-risk AI systems banned

The first rules of the EU Artificial Intelligence Act came into force on Sunday, limiting AI usage and requiring companies to be more transparent about how they create and use the technology. The application of AI has been banned in certain cases that pose “unacceptable risks.” These include systems that use real-time facial recognition, mine biometric data and make generalizations about people’s political beliefs, gender and sexual orientation and attempt to profile vulnerable people such as those affected by disabilities or are underage.

The bans apply to any company that operates within the borders of its member states, meaning even US firms outside the EU cannot offer such systems to EU citizens. The act also requires organizations to ensure that employees using AI are sufficiently trained. Companies risk fines of up to €35 million (more than US$ 36 million), or 7 percent of annual turnover, for breaching the rules.

While several high-profile companies – including Meta and Apple – have refused to join the initiative, stating that the regulations are too rigid and will stifle AI innovation, they could still be fined for operating AI systems that contravene the rules. Further provisions of the legislation will be rolled out gradually over the next two years.

Watch Tyrone Smith Jr, program faculty member/adjunct associate professor at University of Southern California (USC) and founding member of Society of People Analytics (SPA), discuss building trust in AI

Unilever’s digital transformation drives OPEX

Digital transformation is reducing complexity and building capacity for growth at global consumer goods company Unilever. That’s according to its chief enterprise technology officer (CTO), Steve McCrystal, who explained how the organization is using innovative technology to deliver OPEX.

“We’re constantly searching for new opportunities to streamline the business, and in the past few years, we have made some bold decisions that have set us apart from our competitors,” he said. The team introduced an industry-first integrated operations (iOps) program which aims to enhance Unilever’s end-to-end customer value chain by leveraging advanced analytics, technology and data-driven decision-making.

A move to being 100 percent cloud-based has also helped create agility in how Unilever enables AI across technology and data platforms, McCrystal added. “To date, we have implemented more than 500 AI-based capabilities across the globe. More recently, we’ve been using AI to help transform our supply chains, achieving significant cost savings in the process. We’re using AI to help seamlessly connect consumer demand, product development, planning, suppliers, logistics and manufacturing.”

In Toronto, Canada, Unilever has established one of the first AI-focused research hubs in the industry, harnessing its research ecosystem to explore and develop cutting-edge AI applications to drive the next wave of productivity and further accelerate business growth.

Watch Cherise Crenshaw-Holmes PhD, founder of Modern Work Consultancy, reflect on inclusion in digital transformation

BP invests in digital twins to visualize engineering and operational assets

British multinational oil and gas company BP signed a new agreement with software provider Aize for the digital twin provider to act as its global partner for asset visualization. The four-year contract follows an extensive evaluation of digital twin options and involves an expansion of the software across new regions and BP facilities globally, according to a press release. Aize aims to extend support into new geographies and new types of facilities, empowering BP to adopt new ways of working and embrace change, it added.

“We are delighted to support BP’s agenda of operational innovation, leveraging Aize technology to enhance efficiency and deliver substantial value,” commented Nicholas Dent, SVP clients and strategic partnerships at Aize. “Under the contract, announced today, we have already deployed Aize to 20 BP facilities.”

Watch Vineet Mehra, general manager and senior platform product owner at AP Moller Maersk, discuss the importance of data integration

Australian Digital Transformation Agency pens three-year deal with AWS

Australia’s Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) signed a new whole-of-government arrangement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to support innovation, efficiency and digital transformation across the nation’s public sector. The new AWS agreement builds on the benefits of a previous arrangement signed in 2019, including:

Driving efficiencies through a standardized contracting framework.
Supporting Australian Public Service technology/cloud upskilling.
Strengthening contractual terms and conditions, including ethical supplier conduct.
Expanding benefits to all levels of government including local councils, state and federal governments and all public sector entities.

“With over 140 Commonwealth, state and territory public sector agencies currently using AWS to support service delivery in areas such as transport, health, education and tax, this new whole-of-government arrangement improves the value, reliability and security of cloud services in government,” commented Chris Fechner, CEO of DTA.

Watch Nao Anthony, senior manager in OPEX at Commonwealth Bank and Tariq Munir, APAC financial planning transformation lead at PepsiCo, reflect on the complexities and challenges of digital transformation

Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation faces funding crisis as USAID pauses support

In contrast, Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation is facing a funding crisis after the US Agency for International Development (USAID) paused its financial support for three months.

Earlier this week, US billionaire Elon Musk announced that President Trump’s team was working on shutting down USAID, claiming that the agency was beyond repair. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, ordered a halt to virtually all foreign aid, with exceptions for funding to Israel and Egypt. Work has also reportedly begun to recall all USAID workers on foreign assignment worldwide.

According to two former ministry employees who spoke anonymously with Forbes, USAID was one of the largest donors to the Ministry of Digital Transformation. The ministry reportedly received at least US$40.5 million from USAID and is searching for a new donor to replace it.

Register for All Access: OPEX Digital Transformation in HR 2025

Alaska Airlines takes flight with OPEX

Alaska Airlines is embarking on a mission of OPEX by streamlining operations, improving crew productivity and increasing compliance. The airline formed a new partnership with Company365 that will see it implement the DocuNet platform across its operations. The platform enables the ability to author, distribute and view all operational content in a single integrated platform, empowering crews to access critical information anytime, and is designed to improve operational workflows and reduce manual processes, according to a press release.

“As an airline hyper focused on operational performance and caring for our guests, Alaska is continuously looking for innovative ways to enhance efficiency across our business,” said Terry Walters, director of fleet tech support at Alaska Airlines. “DocuNet by Comply365 will empower our teams to quickly access and manage essential documents, improving compliance and accelerating processes – for the benefit of our employees and our guests.”

Watch Pradheep Kileti, director at National Grid, explore balancing operations with innovation

BPM & house renovations collide in master-level course

BPM and house renovations formed an unlikely synergy in a new master-level course. “This time, I’m doing something different,” wrote instructor Iris Beerepoot, assistant professor at Utrecht University. “I’ve transformed a part of the course content into a written series, making BPM principles more accessible—and hopefully more enjoyable (or at least entertaining).”

In the series, learners will see BPM come to life in an unexpected setting: Beerepoot’s home renovation. “Expect a unique blend of process insights, real-world challenges and a touch of chaos – all illustrated through quirky photos, videos and behind-the-scenes stories from this ambitious project.”

Register for All Access: Process Mining and Process Intelligence 2025

ACMP launches inaugural Global Change Excellence Awards

The Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP) announced the launch of the inaugural ACMP Global Change Excellence Awards, celebrating exceptional contributions in the field of change management. The awards honor achievements across several categories including individual achievement, organizational excellence and innovation.

“These awards underscore ACMP’s commitment to recognizing and celebrating the remarkable work being done in change management around the world,” said Deshini Newman, CEO of ACMP. “We believe it is essential to celebrate the individuals and organizations driving impactful change, fostering innovation and leading the way in our industry.”

Watch Lisa Williams, global operations talent strategy and employee experience director at Dow, discuss change management and getting people on board during transformation

Lombard Odier modernizes systems with generative AI

Swiss banking firm Lombard Odier is modernizing core technology systems and applications with generative AI in a bid to reduce technical complexity and accelerate innovation. In collaboration with MongoDB, Lombard Odier aims to evolve its systems and integrate new technologies to give clients the best possible service and experience, the company stated. MongoDB’s modernization factory team worked with Lombard Odier to create customizable generative AI tooling, including scripts and prompts tailored for the bank’s unique tech stack, accelerating the modernization process by automating integration testing and code generation for seamless deployment.

“We chose MongoDB because it offers us a cloud-agnostic database platform and an AI modernization approach, which helps to automate time-consuming tasks, accelerate the upgrade of existing applications and migrate them at a faster rate than ever before,” said De Ridder, head of technology and operations at Lombard Odier. “Having up to date technology has made a big impact on our employees and customers while proving to be fast, cost-effective and reducing maintenance overheads.”

Register for All Access: AI in PEX 2025

United World Wrestling appoints global digital transformation partner

United World Wrestling (UWW), the Olympic wrestling governing body, appointed consultancy N3XT Sports as its global digital transformation partner. Through its partnership, N3XT Sports will support UWW on its digital transformation journey and explore new assets and products to enhance its digital portfolio. This includes a new UWW Partner Portal dedicated to UWW’s partners and stakeholders, according to a press release. N3XT Sports is also exploring opportunities to leverage AI to further optimize UWW operations at an enterprise level, while continuing to support personalized and localized digital-audience engagement across UWW events, it added.

“Our partnership with N3XT Sports has evolved through multiple phases of UWW’s digital transformation,” said Nenad Lalovic, president of UWW. “We look forward to continuing our digital transformation journey and innovating the fan, athlete and stakeholder experiences across the wrestling community worldwide.”

Watch Mary Woods, VP organizational enablement at Warner Music Group, outline tackling resistance to change

HEINEKEN explores Agile journey in new podcast

HEINEKEN Global Shared Services released a new podcast episode exploring the firm’s adoption of Agile along with the achievements and challenges it has faced along the way. Guest Dorota Sternalska-Wolska, an Agile coach, shared her insights on supporting teams and organizations to deliver better products through collaboration and Agile practices. It is part of a new series in which employees will share their experiences, insights and behind-the-scenes stories from working in digital and technology at HEINEKEN Kraków.

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