Will AI Agents Replace Your CRM?

Vinciane Beauchene explains why AI strategy, not tool access, drives value. Employees with plenty of tools but weak strategic guidance are five times less likely to see measurable impact. She explains how leaders can redesign work end-to-end, decide where to protect human value, and set clear guardrails as AI agents take on more. Adoption is an individual metric. Value creation is a systemic one. Vinciane is a former BCG Managing Director and Partner. She recently joined Schneider Electric as Chief AI Transformation Officer.

BCG's Matt Kropp explains why productive AI use, not just access, is becoming the biggest lever for growth. Companies using AI purposefully are growing three times faster than those that aren't. So why are many still stuck? The winners aren't substituting people with AI — they're augmenting them and arming them with AI tools, building an advantage that compounds over time. You’ll Learn: Why “token-based competition” is emerging as the next growth advantage What Matt learned from building — and shutting down — an all-AI company The real reasons employees still aren't adopting AI at scale

BCG’s Daniel Kuepper and Laura Juliano explain why AI is rewriting the economics of where and how the world manufactures. Daniel Kuepper, who co-leads BCG's Manufacturing and Physical AI team, and Laura Juliano, BCG's North America Operations Practice Lead, unpack why the factory of the future is no longer a distant vision. Physical AI, agentic systems, and a shared data backbone are converging to expand what's automatable and changing the math on where companies should manufacture. Do leaders still need to separate where to produce from how to produce?

Vlad Lukic, BCG’s global leader for tech and digital advantage, and Paul Goydan, global leader of BCG’s cost offer, explain why so many companies spend more on AI than they get back. What is the fix? They argue it isn’t simply cutting AI spend, but assigning clear ownership, categorizing costs correctly, and tying every dollar to a business outcome. You’ll Learn: Business owners, not IT, should be accountable for AI’s return, like any other investment. Many companies give routine tasks to their most powerful and expensive AI models, when a simpler tool could do the job. Instead of focusing on banning unauthorized AI tools, leaders should turn towards educating employees on sanctioned options. Learn More: How Leaders Build an AI-First Cost Advantage: https://on.bcg.com/4c3KrSW Why We Still Need a CIO in the AI-First Era: https://on.bcg.com/46bBbIV

Kristy Ellmer and Julia Dhar, co-authors of How Change Really Works and founders of BCG’s Behavioral Science Lab, explain why so many transformations fail and what the science says separates success from failure. They break down the “messy middle,” why people resist being changed rather than change itself, and how giving employees real agency turns resistance into momentum. What You’ll Learn: Why “false alignment” among leaders, not resistance from employees, derails most transformations before they start. Why giving employees real ownership, not just participation, turns resistance into momentum. What makes AI transformations distinct from other kinds of organizational change Learn More: Read How Change Really Works: https://on.bcg.com/3SpBPzd Your AI Change Is Actually a People Change: https://on.bcg.com/3RKUp4J The False Alignment Trap: https://on.bcg.com/45R9ULH CEOs Are Betting Big on AI Transformations. Science Is How They Win: https://on.bcg.com/4bGy1jG We Found the Real Reason 70% of Transformations Fail: https://on.bcg.com/4xqmOMq