Insight

70% of AI initiatives fail: moving from change management to transformation

Published August 14, 2025

  • Organization & Change

Accelerating AI-enabled business transformation and sustainable adoption

AI only creates value when people adopt it and keep using it in meaningful ways. The problem isn’t just getting adoption started. It’s keeping it going long enough, and deeply enough, to change how the business works and what it delivers.

That is why we created the Transformation Change Journey,  a five-phase framework built to drive sustained adoption that leads to the business outcomes AI is supposed to enable.

Organization & Change

Beyond traditional change management whitepaper

pdf · 2727KO

Download the whitepaper

Why this new model is different

Traditional change management tools like OCM often fall short. They were built for important work like compliance, communication, and rollout. But AI requires behavior change, belief, and business alignment. All at once.

The Transformation Change Journey includes five phases:

  • Awareness: Build relevance and curiosity, and align on what value looks like.
  • Readiness: Equip users and the organization to start strong with the right conditions in place.
  • Proficiency: Support people as they move from trial to habit, and begin to deliver outcomes.
  • Adherence: Make the new way of working stick through consistency, accountability, and reinforcement.
  • Value Realization: Connect adoption to actual impact, then reinvest those gains.

Key takeaways  

What can you expect to learn in this whitepaper? 

This framework is not a replacement for traditional change methods like OCM. It is a complement and an extension, built specifically for the type of deep behavioral and operational shifts that AI, automation, and digital transformation demand.

This paper will show you:

  • Why AI adoption efforts stall, even after successful deployment
  • The five distinct phases of the Transformation Change Journey
  • How to support behavior change at every stage of adoption
  • Ways to embed adoption metrics into business performance
  • How to reinvest value and build transformation momentum

Transformation is not a destination. It is a journey that your organization can learn to navigate, lead, and repeat. The five phases outlined in this playbook are not just a method. They are a mindset shift that puts people at the center of progress and makes business value the natural outcome of better ways of working.

Author

  • Cecilia Edwards

    Cecilia Edwards

    Partner – USA, New York

    Wavestone

    Linkedin