How to Make Enterprise AI Adoption Successful: Inside the Chief AI Officer Role with Denis Romanovskiy

AI transformation does not start with a massive AI project. In this episode Chris sits down with Denis Romanovskiy, Chief AI Officer at SOFTSWISS, to explore what enterprise AI adoption looks like when someone is actually responsible for turning the technology into business results. Denis explains why the Chief AI Officer role sits at the intersection of technology, operations, change management, security, and employee enablement. They discuss how companies can identify internal AI leaders, why Denis prefers measuring "economic effect" before chasing traditional ROI, and how small employee-led experiments can build momentum across an organization.  Denis also shares lessons from SOFTSWISS's company-wide AI hackathon, including how non-technical employees became active builders when given the right support. For leaders trying to move AI from scattered experimentation into everyday work, this conversation offers a practical look at building adoption, accountability, and human oversight at scale. Chapters: (00:00) Introduction (01:54) What a Chief AI Officer Actually Does (05:35) Why Businesses Need Clear AI Ownership (07:26) Choosing the Right Internal AI Leader (14:38) Measuring AI by Economic Effect, Not Just ROI (19:45) How to Choose AI Use Cases That Build Momentum (22:37) Turning an AI Hackathon Into a Business Tool (27:34) Why Executive Support Drives AI Adoption (29:16) What Non-Technical Employees Can Build With AI Resources: 🔎 Find Out More About Denis Romanovskiy LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dionique  SOFTSWISS: https://www.softswiss.com  🛠 AI Tools and Resources Mentioned: OpenAI: https://openai.com Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com + NotebookLM: https://notebooklm.google  Pre-roll add for my private practice This gives an example from US Compliance and promotes the $50,000 Opportunity Call This version of the post role mentions Chief AI officer and my private practice Support the show