Optimizely Strategy Roundtable – EP 2 | Part 1: AI Adoption in Practice

In this second episode of the Optimizely Strategy Roundtable, members of the OMVP Strategy Community turn their attention to a question many organisations are grappling with right now: what does AI adoption actually look like beyond the hype, and why is it proving so difficult to get right?

In Part 1, the panel, Dom Graveson, Lori McDonald, Janaka Fernando, Kashif Hasan & Paul de Metter, explores how AI adoption is often framed as a technology rollout, when in reality it is a change challenge involving people, processes, trust, and organisational readiness. The discussion unpacks why many AI initiatives stall after early experimentation, how unclear ownership and immature expectations derail progress, and why adoption cannot be treated as something that happens “after” implementation.

The group also examines the tension between ambition and reality: leadership pressure to “do something with AI” versus teams that are not yet set up to operationalise it. Themes include the role of experimentation, the importance of clear success metrics, and why AI adoption needs to be grounded in real workflows rather than abstract strategy decks.

This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Part 2 goes deeper into what organisations can do differently. from reframing governance and capability building to embedding learning into day-to-day delivery. To get the full context of the discussion, we recommend watching both parts.

Continue the conversation in Part 2:  Optimizely Strategy Roundtable – EP 2 | Part 2: AI Adoption in Practice

If you have feedback on this session or ideas for future Strategy Roundtable topics, we’d love to hear from you. Please reach out to the Optimizely Community Team at dev.marketing@optimizely.com