Videos
PAC on AI Maturity, Culture Change, and Partnership-Led Transformation
Insights
- AI is moving from hype to measurable business impact, with organizations focusing more closely on outcomes, ROI, and practical value.
- The discussion around agentic AI is maturing, as enterprises look beyond experimentation toward more focused and evolving deployment models.
- The biggest barrier to AI transformation is people and culture, with long-term success depending on organizational change and partnership-led ecosystems.
At MWC 2026, Dan Bieler of PAC discusses how the AI conversation is becoming more grounded in business value, with investments continuing but under greater scrutiny around outcomes, impact, and return on investment. He explains that while AI momentum remains strong, enterprises are approaching deployment with more focus and realism than in earlier waves of excitement. The discussion also highlights how agentic AI is evolving as part of this broader maturity, with organizations increasingly thinking about how to apply it in practical and scalable ways. Bieler also emphasizes that the most difficult aspect of transformation is not the technology itself, but the people and culture layer, which remains the toughest challenge across major change efforts. Looking ahead, he argues that AI’s future will be shaped less by a single dominant winner and more by partnership-led ecosystems that can deliver meaningful value to customers and citizens.
Dan Bieler:
Actually, I don't think there will be one clear winner. It will have to be some partnership-led approach to delivering the kind of solutions that customers require.
The ecosystem-led approach to delivering solutions will be the future.
AI moves from hype to measurable impact
Dan Bieler:
It's different and it's also a little bit more real in the sense that yes, there are these AI investments happening, but they think a little bit more cautiously about the actual impact, the outcomes, the return on invests for these AI investments. So they're still happening, but it's a lot more focused. And I would say the AI discussion is maturing and the agentic dynamics they are evolving.
Culture is the hardest part of AI
Dan Bieler:
And the people and culture transformation layer is a challenging one. And actually in, in my entire career, of all the transformation projects, it's being the toughest nut to crack. AI is intensifying the pressure, but it's an ongoing process.
AI will be built through partnerships
Dan Bieler:
I hope that in the coming few years we see some positive deployments of AI that deliver true benefits or customers or citizens for that matter, and that it won't be a scenario where only a handful of companies monopolize the benefits that AI no doubt can deliver.
