AI is everywhere in the enterprise now. Value is not.
I write for senior leaders working through the gap between AI activity and AI value: where the operating model has to change, who is authorized to act, and how governance lets capability scale responsibly.
Where AI Becomes Real
AI does not become valuable when it is built. It becomes valuable when the operating model changes around it. A field guide to the five patterns that keep AI investment from compounding, and why decision rights are the load-bearing element of every other change.
Capability is not the constraint. The operating model is.
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Real means measured. AI is real when it produces sustained, measurable change in a business or human outcome, not when a pilot demos well.
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The operating model is where value is won or lost. Workflows, roles, data, and decision rights carry more of the outcome than the model itself.
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Governance and decision rights enable responsible scale. Clear answers to who may act, on what evidence, let organizations move faster, not slower.
25+ years turning transformation ambition into operating reality.
Donna Pahel is an AI value creation and transformation executive with more than 25 years of experience across consulting, technology, and Fortune 500 environments. She currently serves as Associate Vice President, AI Service Line at Hexaware, where she helps enterprises move from AI experimentation toward scalable business value.
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