How do organizations “grow up” in the age of AI?

At Forrester’s CX Forum West in June, Principal Analyst Colleen Fazio answered this question by way of analogy: Human brains eventually mature; organizations may or may not. Left to their own devices, companies won’t naturally evolve from experimentation to effective AI adoption. They must make deliberate choices about how they design, govern, and deploy AI.

As organizations race to implement generative AI, many are doing so with an adolescent “mindset” — prioritizing short-term gratification (speed, automation) over long-term needs (employee skills, governance). And as is the case with most teenagers, this proclivity leads to mistakes. Growing beyond adolescence, Fazio said, requires cultivating the strategy, processes, and human judgment needed to use AI effectively.

That’s why the organizations that ultimately pull ahead will be the ones that build AI on a strong human foundation.

AI Amplifies What Already Exists

Cautionary examples from this AI adolescence abound. Klarna’s replacing much of its customer service with AI decimated customer satisfaction and forced the company to reverse course. Google’s widely publicized AI Overviews misfires revealed how quickly inaccurate information can become a reputational problem (and a few good memes). Despite organizations’ enthusiastic embrace of AI, Fazio noted, it does not automatically make organizations better. If an underlying strategy is flawed, or information is incorrect, AI accelerates and amplifies it.

These sorts of failures risk eroding consumer trust, which is already low when it comes to AI. They also harm the total experience that organizations offer and, with that, revenue outcomes.

Reimagining A Familiar Framework

Rather than introducing a new AI maturity model, the keynote revisited one that’s familiar to many business leaders: people, process, and technology. Though seemingly simple, Fazio argued that it has often been misapplied.

“Too many organizations see these pillars and think silos,” she said. “The model works when you treat them in an integrated way and apply equal attention to the pillars.” Even more commonly, she added, they focus disproportionately on technology, hoping AI can solve business problems that are fundamentally rooted in strategy, operating models, or culture.

The keynote proposed a different hierarchy. While technology remains important, it cannot be the foundation. People must come first, while process must connect people and technology. As Fazio pointed out, AI becomes powerful only when it strengthens, rather than replaces, human judgment.

A people-first orientation, Fazio added, helps organizations move from asking, “What can AI automate?” to asking, “How can AI help employees and customers achieve better outcomes?”

Customers Belong In The Foundation

One significant change in the keynote’s version of the model is an expansion of what “people” means. Traditionally, organizations have interpreted the people pillar as employees. In an AI-powered enterprise, she noted, that definition is too narrow. Customers must be included as part of the foundation, because customer value ultimately determines whether AI initiatives succeed.

In Forrester’s research on high-performing AI adopters, customer focus emerged as one of the most consistent characteristics. The most successful organizations are not implementing AI for its own sake but rather to create greater customer value. Additionally, decades of customer experience research show that emotion is often the strongest driver of loyalty. Companies that ignore the human and emotional dimensions of experience risk undermining the very relationships they seek to strengthen.

What Successful Companies Do Differently

Fazio highlighted several organizations that have translated these ideas into practice:

  • Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Voyages started with customer experience data rather than technology. After identifying people and brand personality as key drivers of customer satisfaction, they designed AI experiences that reflect the warmth and tone customers associate with the Virgin brand. By beginning with low-risk, high-value use cases that reduced customer friction and built trust, they created AI experiences that customers embrace.
  • Adobe recognized that customer behavior was changing faster than traditional marketing processes could adapt. With buyers increasingly turning to generative AI tools for information, the company created new teams, responsibilities, and metrics focused on AI-driven discovery. The lesson: Succeeding in the AI era often requires redesigning processes, not simply deploying new technology.
  • Bank of America learned that the greatest value of its virtual assistant Erica was not automation but insight. Customer interactions generate data that helps the organization better understand customer needs and determine appropriate actions. The company’s data-to-treatment architecture demonstrates how AI becomes more effective when grounded in rich customer context.

Three Actions Leaders Should Take Now

For business leaders, the keynote offered a few practical lessons:

  1. Design AI use cases around people, not technology. Start with customer and employee needs, then identify where AI can create value. Virgin Atlantic’s focus on trust-building use cases provides a strong model.
  2. Modernize operating models to keep pace with changing customer behavior. As Adobe discovered, new technologies often require entirely new processes, metrics, and teams. Existing planning cycles may not be sufficient for an AI-powered marketplace.
  3. Leverage customer data as a strategic asset. AI cannot make effective decisions without context. The organizations creating differentiated experiences are the ones that combine AI capabilities with deep customer understanding.

The Future Belongs To Organizations That Make Good Choices

The keynote closed with a reminder that enterprise AI maturity is not inevitable. Organizations can choose to use AI as a shortcut to efficiency, or they can prioritize using it to strengthen customer relationships, empower employees, and create more adaptive operating models.

That distinction will become even more important as AI adoption accelerates. As Fazio argued, organizations need to strengthen the connections that will carry them forward and let go of those that ultimately won’t serve them. The ones that succeed will be those putting people at the center of their AI strategy, rethinking processes around changing behaviors, and using technology as a means of learning, not merely automating.

In other words, they will be the organizations that grow up.

Registration for CX Forum West 2027 opens on September 15. Bookmark this page and check back for details!

Share