Leading change: 3 key trends from OPEX Week 2025
Key insights on strategy, AI and leadership from OPEX Week 2024 to drive successful transformation
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OPEX Week 2024 brought together industry leaders to discuss the trends shaping business transformation and process excellence. From the critical role of strategy to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and the importance of human leadership, three key themes emerged.
First, transformation must be an ongoing journey guided by a clear strategic vision. Second, AI, particularly agentic AI, is revolutionizing operations but requires responsible adoption. Finally, human leadership remains the driving force behind lasting change.
This article explores these top themes and the insights shared by experts at the event.
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1. The importance of strategy in transformation
Transformation is an ongoing journey woven into every part of an organization. At OPEX Week, industry leaders made one thing clear: without a solid strategy, businesses risk stagnation. During the Big Ideas Stage Keynote Panel C-Suite Leaders’ Discussion on Transformation Towards 2030, Kristin Johnson, chief transformation officer at Edward Jones, highlighted the need for a clear strategic “north star” to guide transformation efforts. Patrick Lenihan, associate vice-president of business transformation at Eli Lilly and Company, reinforced this, emphasizing the importance of setting well-defined objectives early in the process.
There should also be a distinction between working on the business and working in it, said Christopher Paquette, former chief digital transformation officer at Allstate. While employees focus on daily operations, transformation leaders must take a step back to shape long-term strategy. Success hinges on balancing big-picture structural changes with quick wins — Paquette warned that prioritizing one over the other can derail momentum. Focusing too much on immediate results weakens the foundation, while “emphasizing structure without delivering tangible outcomes can erode stakeholder confidence,” said Paquette.
Rupert Morrison, founder and CEO of Orgvue shared a case study of a US retailer that digitized operations without additional investment by assessing automation potential, upskilling employees and aligning technology capabilities. His message stressed that transformation isn’t about reacting to change — it’s about anticipating and driving it! This echoed a recurring theme at OPEX Week: grit and perseverance matter. Lenihan urged organizations to “marvel in the muck,” embracing challenges instead of resisting them, while Johnson and others emphasized the need for a long-term mindset.
To stay competitive, businesses must define their transformation goals, invest in change management, align their workforce and balance short-term wins with long-term strategy. When these elements come together, transformation stops being a high-risk endeavor and becomes a lasting capability.
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2. AI and the rise of agentic AI
At OPEX Week, industry leaders explored how AI, particularly agentic AI, is shifting the landscape from system-centric automation to role-based automation that enhances human productivity.
During the Big Ideas Stage Keynote Panel on Transformation Towards 2030, executives stressed that AI adoption must be intentional, with a clear understanding of its business value. Paquette posed a critical question: where does AI create the most impact? Johnson emphasized the need to see AI as an enabler, not just a technology, ensuring it aligns with an organization’s broader strategic vision.
In his session, A Digital Enterprise Transformation Case Study: Leveraging Data, AI and Gen AI, Vinaykumar Mummigatti, EVP of strategy and customer transformation at SKAN.AI, defined the concept of agentic AI as AI systems capable of independent decision-making and adaptation. Unlike traditional automation, which focuses on isolated tasks, agentic AI leverages large action models (LAMs) to emulate human decision-making and optimize entire workflows.
Mummigatti showcased SKAN.AI’s digital operations twin, which captures human actions through direct observation and creates an AI-driven blueprint for automation. This process intelligence helps businesses transition from manual operations to AI-driven workflow optimization, improving efficiency and compliance.
Bridging the AI adoption gap
One of the biggest hurdles in AI adoption is ensuring organizations have the right data to train AI models effectively. Mummigatti outlined three critical steps for enterprises looking to bridge this gap:
- Preparing high-quality data models to train AI agents.
- Shifting from system-centric to agentic AI to enhance human productivity.
- Ensuring traceability and auditability of AI decisions to maintain compliance and trust.
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3. Humans and AI: A balanced approach to transformation
Amid the excitement around AI, one key message emerged from OPEX Week: technology alone isn’t enough. Successful transformation requires both innovation and human oversight.
While AI can analyze vast datasets and automate decision-making, ethical dilemmas arise when human oversight is absent. In the session Speed and Scale: The Keys to Accelerating AI in Consumer Markets, Kshitij Kumar (KK), former chief data and AI officer at Haleon, referenced real-world examples (such as autonomous vehicles facing critical decision-making scenarios) reinforcing that AI should augment — not replace — human judgment. Leaders must create a framework that ensures AI remains accountable and transparent.
This perspective was echoed in the panel Mastering Complex Enterprise Change Challenges at Scale, which emphasized that transformation is about more than just technology — it’s about people’s ability to adapt and lead change. Vanessa Heichert, VP of business optimization and enablement at Wawanesa Insurance, shared that organizations need dedicated teams and a strong change network to align leadership with employees at all levels. A critical part of this process is instilling a sense of ownership in employees.
This theme also surfaced in the session AI Governance in a Transformative Era: Establishing Trust and Compliance. Margarita Panzer, senior director of digital transformation at Marathon Petroleum Corporation emphasized the importance of giving employees a stake in the process while effectively documenting changes.
Fast-paced transformation requires organizations to step back and assess their current state to ensure clarity amid change. However, fostering a strong sense of ownership remains a challenge. Without accountability, employees may disengage from process improvements. Overcoming this requires intentional strategies that empower individuals and create a culture where ownership is embedded in the organization’s DNA.
Rupert Morrison, CEO of Orgvue, took this further in his keynote Aligning Your Workforce: The Missing Link in Transformational Change, arguing that many transformations fail due to poor workforce alignment. He outlined four key factors: having the right skills, focusing on the right work, positioning talent strategically and treating transformation as an ongoing process.
Ultimately, the future of transformation isn’t a battle between AI and humans — it’s a partnership! AI will continue to reshape industries, but human leadership, creativity and ethical oversight will determine whether transformation efforts are sustainable and responsible.
The 26th Annual OPEX Week: Business Transformation World Summit | 2025 Brochure
The renowned OPEX Week: Business Transformation World Summit is returning to Miami on January 27-29, 2025, for an electric gathering of transformation leaders and pioneers shaping the industry. Celebrating 26 years of excellence, we're back with a brand-new festival theme, a show-stopping line-up and fresh content stages. We're gearing up to help you deliver ground-breaking, human-centric transformation in the age of AI.
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