GenAI Moves to the Next Level: How Organizations Are Turning AI into Business Value

Generative AI is rapidly evolving from experimental technology into a strategic driver of business transformation. This was the key message to emerge from “GenAI to the Next Level: Success Stories That Inspire”, a webinar hosted by CRIF that brought together leaders from TIM, HERA, and ING to discuss how organizations are translating AI investments into measurable business value.

Opening the event, Alessandro Vilardi, Digital Solutions Director at CRIF, outlined how generative AI is reshaping areas such as customer service, decision intelligence, risk management, compliance, and operations. As organizations move beyond pilot projects, the focus on scalability, governance, and the ability to generate tangible business outcomes grows.

A recurring theme throughout the discussion was that successful AI adoption requires far more than technology alone. Governance frameworks, executive sponsorship, skills development, cultural transformation, and a strong human-in-the-loop approach emerged as essential enablers for organizations seeking to scale AI initiatives effectively and responsibly.

From the telecommunications sector, Clara Fabiola Oliva, Head of Data Analytics & AI at TIM, shared how the company is accelerating AI adoption through a structured governance model. TIM has established a centralized data science team and a network of AI champions embedded across business functions, helping to foster a digital culture, promote the adoption of AI use cases, and align innovation initiatives with strategic priorities. 

The company’s approach demonstrates how organizational alignment can support the successful deployment of AI at scale. Today, the company has deployed more than 3,000 AI agents across customer care and back-office operations, leveraging conversational AI, speech analytics, and process automation to enhance customer experience, streamline operations, and boost workforce productivity.

A similar business-driven perspective was shared by Emiliano Lorenzoni, Head of Customer Service & Digital Transformation at HERA. He highlighted how the utility group has moved beyond the experimentation phase and is now focused on scaling AI initiatives across the organization, engaging leaders from multiple business functions and supporting organizational change through targeted training programs. HERA’s strategy leverages AI to enhance customer growth, operational efficiency, productivity, and service quality, while maintaining a strong human-centric approach. Through intelligent automation and the integration of machine learning and large language models, the company is improving customer engagement, optimizing operational performance, and strengthening regulatory compliance.

The importance of people and organizational culture was further explored by Liliana Minutoli, Head of Credit Operations & Collection at ING. Her contribution highlighted that long-term success with AI depends not only on technological capabilities but also on an organization’s ability to embrace new ways of working. Continuous learning, employee engagement, and skills development were identified as critical enablers of sustainable AI transformation and long-term business value.

The webinar also gave practical examples of how AI is already delivering measurable benefits. Francesco Caputo, Head of Lending Services at ING, explained how AI is helping streamline lending operations in the organization by reducing manual workloads and improving efficiency across credit processes. By automating repetitive activities such as document collection and validation, bank employees can focus on more complex credit assessments and decision-making activities, while maintaining adequate human oversight. This approach reflects a broader effort to redesign processes around AI rather than simply digitalizing existing workflows.

Despite representing different industries and business environments, all the speakers reached the same conclusion: organizations that generate the greatest value from AI are those that successfully combine technology, governance, people, and process transformation.

The webinar concluded with Mario Calò Carducci, Senior Director, Platform & Capability Management at CRIF, who presented CRIF’s vision for the future of intelligent credit operations. Built around the pillars of Compliance, Productivity, and Autonomy, the roadmap includes solutions designed to improve efficiency while ensuring transparency and regulatory compliance.

The webinar also featured insights from the CRIF GenAI Trends 2026 Report, which explores the technologies and trends defining the next phase of enterprise AI adoption, from agentic AI and domain-specific language models to AI governance and fraud prevention solutions.

Download the CRIF GenAI Trends 2026 Report to explore how leading organizations are transforming AI innovation into measurable business value.