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55% of businesses admit wrong decisions in making employees redundant when bringing AI into the workforce

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12 months ago

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Falling expectation among business leaders that AI will replace people but more fear it will lead to unintended consequences

80% of business leaders plan to reskill employees to use AI in the workplace.

41% say they have increased their L&D budgets to ensure employees have the right training to work with AI.

LONDON and NEW YORK, April 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Annual research released today by Orgvue, the organizational design and planning software platform, reveals that 39% of business leaders made employees redundant as a result of deploying AI. Of those, 55% admit they made wrong decisions about those redundancies.

Orgvue first conducted its international survey of 1,000 C-suite and senior decision makers at medium and large organizations in 2024. This year, the research highlights growing caution in deploying AI and acknowledgment that businesses need to reskill people to work with the technology.

Although the findings suggest leaders regret questionable redundancy decisions, fewer leaders are concerned that AI will replace people in their organization (48% compared to 54% in 2024). Yet business leaders also report feeling less responsibility to protect their workforce from redundancies (62% compared to 70% in 2024), while 34% admit they have had employees quit as a direct result of AI. 

47% say that employees using AI without proper controls is one of their biggest fears, such that 80% of business leaders plan to reskill employees to use AI effectively and 51% say they are introducing internal policies to inform how AI is used in the workplace. 51% of leaders believe reskilling is strategically important in preparing their workforce for AI and 41% say they have increased their L&D budgets to ensure employees have the right training.

Oliver Shaw, CEO of Orgvue, commented:
“While 2024 was the year of investment and optimism, businesses are learning the hard way that replacing people with AI without fully understanding the impact on their workforce can go badly wrong.

“We’re facing the worst global skills shortage in a generation and dismissing employees without a clear plan for workforce transformation is reckless. Some leaders are waking up to the fact that partnership between people and machines requires an intentional upskilling program if they’re to see the productivity gains that AI promises.”

Skills is a clear theme in this year’s research. 35% of organizations acknowledge a lack of AI expertise as one of the biggest barriers to successful deployment. One in four (25%) admit they don’t know which roles can benefit most from AI and 30% don’t know which are most at risk from automation. As a result, 43% say they are working with third parties that specialize in AI to help prepare their workforce (up 6% from 2024).

Nevertheless, AI remains the dominant driver of workforce transformation, with 72% of leaders saying they believe it will remain so for the next three years (up 3% from 2024). Investment in AI also remains strong, with 2025 likely to see continued growth. 80% of businesses that invested in AI in 2024 said they plan to increase their investments in 2025.

Similarly, 76% of business leaders are confident that their organization will be taking full advantage of AI by the end of 2025. Yet this is in stark contrast to the 27% of leaders who admit they don’t have a clearly defined roadmap for AI, and the 38% that say they still don’t understand the impact that AI will have on their business.

Shaw concludes:
“As in 2024, businesses remain confident that AI will solve their biggest business challenges and will define how they structure their organization and workforce in the future. But our research suggests this confidence could be misplaced.

“While it’s encouraging to see investment in AI continue to grow, businesses need a better understanding of how the technology will change their workforce in the coming months and years. Questions remain unanswered over whether AI will yield enough return on investment in the near term to justify the costs associated with lost talent and downturn in productivity.”

About Orgvue

Orgvue is an organizational design and planning platform that empowers your business to transform its workforce by understanding the work people do and the skills they have. Our platform connects strategy to structure, providing clarity of vision, so you can build a more adaptable, better performing organization that thrives in a constantly changing world of work.

The world’s largest and best-known enterprises and consulting firms use Orgvue to visualize and model current and future states of the organization and make faster, more informed decisions. The company is headquartered in the United Kingdom, with offices in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia.

About the research
The survey was conducted by Vitreous World and commissioned by Orgvue between February and March 2025. We spoke to 1,163 C-suite and senior business leaders at organizations with a minimum of 2,000 seats in US, Canada, UK, and Ireland; and a minimum of 500 seats in Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore.

 

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SOURCE Orgvue

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Bobby Lehew Named commonsku’s Chief AI Officer — an Industry First in Promo

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45 minutes ago

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April 20, 2026

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TORONTO, April 20, 2026 /CNW/ – commonsku, the connected workflow platform trusted by 950+ distributors driving $1.9 billion in network volume, today announced the creation of a dedicated AI + Strategy role, promoting Bobby Lehew to Chief AI Officer to lead the company’s AI initiative for customers and the platform. The move makes commonsku the first platform in the promotional products industry to invest at the leadership level in AI strategy shaped directly by distributor needs.

The new role bridges the gap between what AI can do and what commonsku’s customers need it to solve, owning the intelligence loop between customers, product, and the AI landscape. What makes the role distinct: it combines AI landscape intelligence, product strategy influence, direct customer engagement, and industry thought leadership in a single role.

A Natural Evolution

Lehew brings more than 30 years of experience in the promotional products industry to the role. Prior to joining commonsku, he was the CEO of Robyn Promotions, a company among the first wave of distributors who architected the model of technology driven e-commerce company stores in the industry, earning three consecutive Inc. 5000 rankings. Always tech-forward in his work, his industry recognition includes multiple Gold and Silver PPAI Pyramid Awards.

The shift to AI strategy is a natural next chapter for Lehew. At commonsku, he built the company’s content engine from scratch — co-hosting the skucast (350+ episodes, the #1 promotional products podcast) while leaning heavily into AI for all his work. He is editor of The AI Promo Brief, the industry’s go-to resource for AI developments in promotional products, and speaks frequently on the future of merch and the cultural shifts transforming how we sell. At PPAI Expo 2026, his AI session packed the room to capacity and was named a must-attend session by PPAI editors. The industry has been watching Lehew move deeper into AI for over a year. This role makes it official.

Investing in AI for Customers

“The industry is at an inflection point with AI, and distributors need a partner who understands their business,” said Catherine Graham, CEO of commonsku. “commonsku has always been built ‘by promo, for promo.’ Bobby has three decades of that expertise, a passion for helping our customers, and the strategic insight to shape AI tools for future growth. This role reflects our mission: making sure our AI tools solve real problems for real distributors.”

“The companies pulling ahead are the ones leading with customer intelligence – letting what they learn from their community shape what they build and advancing with the frontier of AI development. That’s what this role is designed to do. I’ll be talking with our customers at every level about AI and making sure the features we build make work smarter, drive growth, and eliminate friction.” said Lehew.

“Bobby and I have been creative partners for years, always pushing each other to see around corners for this industry,” said Mark Graham, President of commonsku. “We’ve launched multiple projects together and helped educate and raise the standard for what the future distributor can look like. This role is a natural evolution of that passion. He deeply understands the industry and the distributor’s pain points, and he sees with us an incredible opportunity with AI. We’re thrilled to build commonsku’s AI future together.”

commonsku’s AI investments are already in motion. The skubot Mockup Generator is in beta with Advanced and Enterprise customers, a new Opportunity Agent is entering beta as an AI-powered business intelligence tool, and the company’s immediate roadmap includes a Description Rewriter, Auto-Art Configuration, and a Presentation Generator with much more to come.

About commonsku

commonsku is the workflow platform of choice for the promotional products industry. Built by industry experts, it combines CRM, order management, and social collaboration tools in one cloud-based solution. Over 950 distributors and the industry’s largest suppliers rely on commonsku to power $1.9 billion in network volume. With commonsku, teams process more orders, work more efficiently, and grow their sales faster. Learn more at www.commonsku.com.

SOURCE commonsku

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The Oxygen Plan Corporation Files Utility Patent on O2OS™ Pre-Diagnostic Behavioral Health Architecture — Measurement, Routing, Reimbursement, Governance; 2008 Prior Art

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April 20, 2026

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Four-layer architecture spans measurement, routing, reimbursement, and governance. 2008 filing predates the Apple App Store and the current generation of digital behavioral health platforms.

MINNEAPOLIS, April 20, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — The Oxygen Plan Corporation today filed a Track One (prioritized examination) utility patent application covering the O2OS™ architecture — spanning measurement, routing, reimbursement, and governance — with foundational disclosures dating to April 22, 2008.

We built the pre-diagnostic measurement layer to make risk visible before it becomes a clinical event. Our role is architecture and calibration. Deployment, operations, and vertical execution sit with institutional partners. — Eric Lucas, Founder-Governor • The Oxygen Plan Corporation

O2OS™ establishes a structured, pre-diagnostic measurement framework that makes behavioral health risk visible, routable, and economically measurable before it becomes a clinical event.

The 2008 filing predates the launch of the Apple App Store.

The subsequent 2009 PCT publication predates the current generation of digital behavioral health platforms.

THE ARCHITECTURE

O2OS™ is a four-layer operating system for behavioral health:

Measurement — Stress Number™, a composite score across Home, Work, and Social domains (each scored 0–100), designed to produce a bounded, interoperable pre-diagnostic behavioral health signalRouting — Smart Referral Engine™, threshold-triggered and tri-hierarchical, designed to match individuals to appropriate resourcesReimbursement — CPT-aligned workflow support, intended to enable billing integrationGovernance — the Automated Governance Utility™, a license registry and access control layer designed to support neutrality and structured participation

The system operates as a closed-loop architecture in which pre-diagnostic measurement informs routing, routing aligns with reimbursement pathways, and governance enables coordinated operation at scale.

STRUCTURAL GAPS

Behavioral health systems currently operate with two unresolved structural gaps:

Penetration Gap — the majority of individuals remain unmeasured at the pre-diagnostic stageRouting Gap — measured individuals are not consistently routed to appropriate resources

O2OS™ is designed as a pre-diagnostic measurement and routing architecture that addresses both conditions within a unified system.

FEDERAL ALIGNMENT

O2OS™ is aligned with established federal and reimbursement pathways, including CMS Coverage with Evidence Development (CED), CPT 96127 and CPT 96138, Medicaid 1115 Waivers, HEDIS quality measures, and CMS Aim 1 for prevention and early detection.

CLINICAL VALIDATION

Stress Number™ has been validated working in collaboration with Mayo Clinic (Archives of Psychology, 2018, N=292). O2OS™ functions as a pre-diagnostic measurement layer designed to support routing toward existing clinical tools and workflows.

About The Oxygen Plan Corporation

The Oxygen Plan Corporation develops O2OS™ — a pre-diagnostic measurement, routing, reimbursement, and governance architecture for behavioral health. Foundational disclosures date to 2008 prior art, with peer-reviewed clinical validation conducted working in collaboration with Mayo Clinic.

Learn more at:

www.theoxygenplan.com

Statements describe system architecture, intended capabilities, and alignment pathways. Implementation and outcomes vary by partner, deployment, and regulatory context.

Media Contact

Chris Lechuga, The Oxygen Plan Corporation, 1 877 897-6520, chris@rockerpr.com, www.theoxygenplan.com

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SOURCE The Oxygen Plan Corporation

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West Monroe Named in Customer Experience Strategy Consulting Services Landscape by Independent Research Firm

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45 minutes ago

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April 20, 2026

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Firm believes inclusion reflects its ability to connect customer experience, AI, and execution to measurable business outcomes

CHICAGO, April 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — West Monroe, a global business and technology consulting firm, announced it has been named among Notable Providers in The Customer Experience Strategy Consulting Services Landscape, Q2 2026. The report serves as a resource for executives and customer experience leaders evaluating customer experience strategy consulting providers, offering an overview of 28 providers across the market based on factors such as geographic focus, industry expertise, and business scenarios.

As organizations look to increase customer stickiness and drive growth, many are increasing investment in customer experience strategy while also exploring how AI can enable more personalized, efficient, and scalable experiences. At the same time, organizations face growing pressure to demonstrate clear business value—driving demand for partners that can embed data and AI into end-to-end customer journeys and translate those investments into measurable outcomes.

“Customer experience is evolving as AI expands what’s possible—and raises the bar for how organizations deliver it,” said Chuck Malone, Platforms & Customer Strategy Lead at West Monroe. “We believe our inclusion reflects our focus on helping clients move beyond strategy to execution, embedding data and AI into customer journeys in a way that improves engagement, strengthens retention, and delivers measurable business results.”

West Monroe brings longstanding experience helping organizations design and implement customer-centric strategies across industries including healthcare, banking, energy and utilities, insurance, and consumer & industrial products.

As part of the report, Forrester asked each provider included in the Landscape to identify the business scenarios for which clients most often engage them and highlighted extended scenarios that differentiate providers. In addition to the core business scenarios identified in the report—business assessment and analysis, customer research, and vision and strategy setting—West Monroe highlighted prioritization and roadmapping, technology transformation, and workforce enablement among the extended scenarios.

A core focus of the firm’s customer experience work is contact center and service transformation—helping organizations redesign customer journeys, modernize operations, and implement AI-enabled platforms to improve service experiences and reduce cost-to-serve.

The firm’s customer experience work has delivered measurable results for clients across industries, including:

Healthcare: Redesigned critical contact center workflows for a healthcare organization, improving first-call resolution by 68%, reducing clinic task volume by 33%, and increasing patient satisfaction.Energy & Utilities: Built a Salesforce-powered digital portal in 60 days to support solar rebate programs, reducing approval timelines by more than 60% and enabling administration of 25+ clean energy programs.Banking: Led a digital transformation for a mid-market bank, reimagining onboarding, servicing, and program management—driving more than $100M in new deposits, $550K+ in annual cost avoidance, and a 96% platform adoption rate.

Learn more about West Monroe’s customer experience services: https://www.westmonroe.com/services/customer-experience-platforms.

Forrester does not endorse any company, product, brand, or service included in its research publications and does not advise any person to select the products or services of any company or brand based on the ratings included in such publications. Information is based on the best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. For more information, read about Forrester’s objectivity here.

About West Monroe

West Monroe is a global business and technology consulting firm passionate about creating value for our clients. We co-create solutions that accelerate results now and prepare industries to tackle what’s next. We’re excited by the possibilities that technology creates. We work with our clients to deliver on the possible, building on their goals, generating fresh insights and creating inspiring outcomes.

We excel at the intersection of industry, strategy, people and technology—always driving rapid impact. Our all-in approach comes from our unique employee ownership structure. Our clients’ success is our success. From the beginning, our growth has come from putting people at the center. Fortune and USA Today consistently celebrate West Monroe as a top workplace, and we’re recognized as a leading consultancy by Forbes and Business Insider. Let’s find more value for your business.

Share our passion at westmonroe.com

Media Inquiries
Christina Galoozis
Director, Communications & Public Relations
cgaloozis@westmonroe.com
847-302-1762

Shira Cohen
Manager, Public Relations
scohen@westmonroe.com
443-841-6879

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SOURCE West Monroe

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