Most conversations about artificial intelligence in the C-suite focus on the future. We talk about what AI will eventually do, how it might transform whole industries, or where the technology is heading next.  

That focus is incomplete.

AI does not transform an enterprise on its own. The real determinant of value is whether an organization has built the operational and cultural readiness to absorb, scale, and discipline its application.  

At Avery Dennison IT, our approach to AI is grounded in a simple reality: before you can capture the exponential benefits of advanced intelligence, you must establish the operational discipline, process clarity, and human readiness to support it. 

We do not claim to have perfected this journey. True process redesign across a global footprint is complex, iterative work, and we continually refine our approach. But by focusing on core enablement alongside concrete, measurable value, we are turning enterprise AI into a practical driver of performance.  

Grounding adoption in tangible scale

To build genuine organizational capacity with AI, adoption cannot be treated as an isolated experiment. It requires broad, everyday engagement paired with a clear cadence of execution.  

In IT, we operationalize and track our AI execution across four primary enterprise focus areas:

Commercial & innovation enablement: Advancing sales, marketing, R&D, and sustainability capabilities through data-driven digital solutions that improve speed and decision-making.  

Factory excellence: Enhancing manufacturing, supply chain, procurement, and logistics performance through connected operations, standardized processes, and automation. 

Functional empowerment: Strengthening core functions like Finance, HR, Legal, and IT by simplifying processes, boosting productivity, and improving collaboration.  

Enterprise foundations: Providing the secure, scalable digital architecture, infrastructure, and technology standards that power the entire company.  

Tracking our progress across these areas shows where adoption is taking root. In the second quarter alone, 76% of all our Google Gemini license holders proactively leveraged the technology in their daily work. Across the enterprise, those interactions accumulated to hundreds of hours of productivity saved in a single quarter.  

The numbers matter not because they reflect technology usage, but because they represent time returned to our people. When routine administrative tasks are streamlined, employees gain the capacity to focus on strategic execution, cross-functional collaboration, and high-value decision-making.