2025 is shaping up to be a defining year for business transformation. According to IDC’s 2025 CEO Priorities research, 56% of CEOs say their organization needs to focus on innovation to thrive this year,1 and 66% report measurable business benefits from generative AI initiatives, particularly in enhancing operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.2 As we navigate this transformative landscape, it’s crucial to understand how leading organizations are using AI to drive innovation and achieve tangible results.
But behind these numbers are the real stories—organizations that have moved beyond experimentation to embed AI at the heart of how they operate. These “AI Challengers”—bold, AI-first businesses that are not just adapting to change but actively challenging the status quo and shaping the future.
These AI challengers haven’t just implemented new tools—they’ve reimagined what’s possible when AI becomes a core business capability. Find out how these companies are pulling ahead:
BOQ Group—Human-led transformation for banking reimagined
BOQ's customer-first approach to AI transformation
BOQ Group champions an employee and customer first approach to AI transformation. “At BOQ Group, we are committed to transforming the way we work and serve our customers by building an AI-ready workforce,” explains Chief Information Officer Craig Ryman.
The bank’s strategic rollout of Microsoft 365 Copilot delivered extraordinary results: over 70% of users now save 30 to 60 minutes each day. The impact extends far beyond time savings—completing business risk reviews in one day instead of three weeks, creating training programs in one day instead of three weeks, and improving report quality while speeding up sign-off processes from four weeks to one week.
BOQ’s approach emphasizes the critical insight that having a “human in the loop” is critical to AI adoption. The organization’s experience reveals universal adoption phases: users start with personal productivity gains, then focus on targeted opportunities, before ultimately transforming how work gets done entirely.
AI transformation is not just a technological transformation but a people-led transformation changing how we work. This is why it’s critical that any AI transformation starts by listening to and understanding team needs, spotting opportunities, and tackling challenges head-on to embrace the opportunities.
Enveda—Cracking the chemical code of life with AI
Enveda's drug discovery revolution
Enveda is innovating with AI by reinventing what is possible in medicine. It is focused on revolutionizing drug discovery by unlocking the potential of the vast majority of undiscovered molecules in nature. Enveda is using generative AI to identify and analyze thousands of compounds simultaneously, which significantly speeds up the drug development process and reduces costs.
“Today, nine out of ten drug candidates don’t make it through clinical trials, despite years of research and massive investment. This 90% failure rate pushes the cost of bringing a single new medicine to market as high as $6 billion. It’s an approach that simply can’t scale,” states CEO and Founder Viswa Colluru.
At Enveda, AI is changing that. By decoding nature’s chemistry at scale, it is delivering drug candidates to clinical trials four times faster and at nearly one-tenth the cost.
AvePoint—Using AI to transform business inside and out
AvePoint's AI transformation
AvePoint is driving business innovation by embedding AI-powered capabilities into its product suite with Copilot. AvePoint also demonstrates the power of being your own best customer with its internal AI adoption. 95% of pilot participants actively use Copilot, with employees saving one to three hours per week by automating repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on higher-value work.
As Mario Carvajal, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer, noted, “Our investors care about efficiency, and AI is helping us deliver that. By freeing up time for higher-value work, we’re making our teams more effective and our business more competitive.”
To accelerate adoption, AvePoint had two key strategies: upskilling its employees and creating focused, department-specific initiatives. AvePoint also encouraged a dialogue that sparked curiosity, built confidence and helped AI become a natural part of its daily workflows. As AI continues to evolve, AvePoint is positioned to lead the way, proving that the right foundation is key to unlocking its full potential.
Eaton—Revolutionizing its energy management using AI
Eaton's energy management revolution
Eaton showcases how industrial companies use AI across complex global operations. “AI offers limitless potential for innovation, providing transformative technical opportunities that align with our growth objectives and advance our mission for sustainability and energy resilience by supporting grid flexibility, enhancing energy management, and delivering superior service and outcomes for our customers.,” explains Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer Katrina Redmond.
The company’s implementation of Copilot specialized agents brings functional expertise to areas like finance, sales, human resources, and service, handling repetitive, mundane tasks and freeing teams to focus on higher-value, strategic work that enables them to better serve their customers. By embedding AI into its culture and adopting a “think AI first” mindset, Eaton aims to drive further advancements in both technology, organizational strategy and will ensure that it can fully harness AI’s immediate potential while fostering sustained innovation across all aspects of its business.
The agent-enabled workplace
Each organization is driving innovation and demonstrates different aspects of the agent-enabled workplace—environments where AI agents work alongside human teams to accomplish complex business objectives, but all point toward a future where intelligent systems amplify human potential.
Their success reinforces a critical insight: AI transformation requires more than technology adoption. It demands fundamental rethinking of business processes and competitive strategies. The organizations that recognize this—and act boldly on it—will define the next decade of business innovation. The future is here—and it’s time to claim your place in it. Will you lead or follow?
Ready to join the AI challengers?
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1 IDC 2025 Worldwide CEO Survey — Part 1: Overarching Insights, Business Priorities, and Risks, doc #US53155225, April 2025
2 IDC, 2025 CEO Signature Report: Transforming Business for an AI World, doc #US53393625, June 2025
