# Agents@Work: Levi Watters (KPMG Partner on AI Adoption) Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU1qThsQ_es Recap page: https://rapidrecap.app/video/WU1qThsQ_es Generated: 2026-01-18T22:04:18.568+00:00 --- ## Quick Overview Levi Watters of KPMG emphasizes that the primary hurdle for AI adoption in enterprises is not the technology itself, which is largely available, but rather the organizational change management required to successfully integrate AI agents, focusing on data readiness, governance, and ensuring AI output aligns with business intent. **Key Points:** - The main challenge for widespread AI adoption in businesses is organizational change management, not technological capability, as the underlying technology is already present (0:00:07). - 90% of what they want to do with agents is ready, but the focus must shift to adoption and managing the organizational change associated with AI integration (0:00:03, 6:06). - Key concerns for leaders evaluating AI/agentic solutions revolve around feasibility, growth, and risk, but the biggest blocker is often the lack of readiness in data and governance structures (1:17, 2:05, 4:34). - Successful AI implementation requires clear understanding of the business pain point, ensuring AI output aligns with intent, and having the necessary data maturity (7:27, 8:48). - KPMG's focus is on back-office/knowledge work AI, emphasizing governance, risk, and compliance, which requires establishing trust among teams and business units (10:31, 11:13). - The ability to be vendor-agnostic and scale across different functions is a key feature for successful AI integration (5:14). - The speaker highlights the necessity of teaching leaders what an agent is and promoting its use, citing successful internal use cases to build trust and accelerate adoption (10:11, 13:56). ![Screenshot at 0:00: Levi Watters, Partner at KPMG, is introduced during the 'Agents@Work' segment, setting the stage for a discussion on AI adoption challenges.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/WU1qThsQ_es/00-00-00.jpg) **Context:** This interview segment, part of the 'Agents@Work' series, features Levi Watters, a Partner at KPMG specializing in AI solutions, being interviewed by Jacky Koh, Founder & Co-CEO of Relevance AI. They discuss the practical challenges organizations face when moving beyond initial AI proof-of-concepts to full-scale, enterprise-wide deployment of AI agents, focusing heavily on the non-technical aspects like culture, governance, and change management. ## Detailed Analysis Levi Watters asserts that the technology for utilizing AI agents is already largely in place; the critical bottleneck for enterprise adoption is the organizational change management required. He estimates that 90% of the required technology is ready, shifting the focus to how organizations actually implement and manage these tools within their existing structures (0:00:03-0:00:07). Key concerns for leaders include risk, but the real barriers are data readiness and governance structures (1:17, 2:05). Watters stresses that successful adoption hinges on clearly defining the business pain point and ensuring the AI's output aligns precisely with the intended business goal (7:27). He notes that KPMG focuses heavily on embedding AI into back-office and knowledge work, where governance, risk, and compliance are paramount. This requires building trust across business units and regions by demonstrating transparent and responsible AI usage (11:13, 12:24). He references a conversation where a client mentioned being two years away from Copilot adoption due to these foundational issues, underscoring that organizations must focus on the 'how'—the process and data maturity—rather than just the 'what' (13:03, 14:08). The key differentiator for success is the ability to be vendor-agnostic and scale across broad functions (5:14, 15:15), which necessitates educating leaders and promoting practical use cases to accelerate the adoption curve (17:01, 19:50). ### Challenges to AI Adoption - The primary hurdle is organizational change management, not technology availability - Focus must be on data readiness and governance frameworks - Risk concerns often highlight underlying structural issues (0:00:03, 1:17, 2:05) ### KPMG's Focus Areas - Concentrating efforts on back-office and knowledge work AI implementation - Emphasis on establishing clear governance, risk, and compliance structures (10:31, 11:13) ### Keys to Successful Implementation - Understanding the specific business pain point is crucial - Ensuring AI output aligns with business intent through strong monitoring and transparency (7:27, 12:24) ### Future Outlook - AI development is accelerating rapidly, which means companies hesitant to adopt risk being significantly left behind (10:09, 13:38) ### The Role of Leadership - Leaders must actively promote AI use and educate teams on what an AI agent is to build the necessary trust for widespread adoption (16:16, 19:50) ![Screenshot at 0:19: The 'Agents@Work' series title graphic appears, featuring pixelated characters and an isometric office illustration, signaling the start of the interview segment.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/WU1qThsQ_es/00-00-19.jpg) ![Screenshot at 0:34: Levi Watters \(KPMG Partner\) and Jacky Koh \(Relevance AI Founder & Co-CEO\) sit for the interview against a backdrop of large, angled windows overlooking a city view.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/WU1qThsQ_es/00-00-34.jpg) ![Screenshot at 0:28: A screen capture displays a complex workflow diagram, likely demonstrating an agentic system architecture, illustrating the technical side of AI deployment.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/WU1qThsQ_es/00-00-28.jpg) ![Screenshot at 1:05: Jacky Koh reviews notes on paper while Levi Watters gestures, indicating a focused discussion on specific topics.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/WU1qThsQ_es/00-01-05.jpg) ![Screenshot at 1:16: Levi Watters uses hand gestures to illustrate a point during his explanation regarding the key concerns in AI implementation.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/WU1qThsQ_es/00-01-16.jpg)