Inside the PEI Operating Partners Forum: How AI Is Changing the Rules of Value Creation

At Private Equity International’s 2025 Operating Partners Forum in New York, leaders from across the private equity industry gathered to tackle one of today’s most urgent questions: Where can AI actually deliver real commercial impact?

Revenue Analytics was there in full force, with Sarah Porter, Jared Wiesel, and Greg Rich connecting with operating partners, investors, and innovators driving the next wave of value creation.

Jared Wiesel, SVP of Manufacturing & Distribution at Revenue Analytics, joined a powerhouse panel alongside Alexis Underwood (Wynnchurch Capital), Chris Tanner (Paceline Equity Partners), Cathy Francis (The CapStreet Group), and Zorian Rotenberg (Charlesbank Capital Partners) to explore how AI and advanced analytics are reshaping value creation strategies across industries.

While many sessions focused on AI’s potential, this panel stood out for its focus on real, measurable results. It showcased how PE firms are already leveraging AI and analytics to create tangible commercial advantages across their portfolio companies.

Here are the biggest takeaways:

1. AI’s Promise Is Huge, But Impact Depends on Focus

Across sessions, one truth stood out: AI’s potential is undeniable, but success stories remain uneven. Many firms are still experimenting with pilots that haven’t yet moved the needle. The panel zeroed in on where AI is ready now to drive value, specifically in pricing, commercial analytics, and operational decision-making. The takeaway: value creation starts when AI meets execution.

2. Leveraging NLP and Data for Margin Improvement

Cathy Francis shared how The CapStreet Group is experimenting with natural language processing (NLP) to query internal data sources and detect early signs of margin erosion. It’s a powerful example of how AI can help teams gain earlier visibility into hidden risk factors and enable proactive decision-making — not months later, but in real time.

3. Speed to Insight: Can You Clean and Cut the Data Fast Enough?

Data alone doesn’t create value, speed and clarity do. During the panel, Alexis Underwood raised the critical question: “Can you clean, cut, and analyze the data quickly enough to support commercial decision-making?” With markets moving faster than ever, operational agility is becoming the true differentiator. Firms that can transform data into action fastest will gain a true competitive advantage.

4. Meeting Each Company Where They Are

No two companies are the same. Each has different systems, skillsets, and levels of readiness for analytics transformation.

The panel emphasized that lasting impact requires meeting each business where it is, building adoption, trust, and alignment to ensure that AI-driven initiatives stick long after implementation. True commercial transformation depends on partnership, not prescription. There’s no one-size-fits-all playbook; success depends on fit-for-purpose approaches.

5. Two Common Implementation Hurdles

Two recurring blockers stood out:

• Data Readiness: Many companies still lack clean, connected data sets.
• Resource Constraints: Few have a dedicated pricing or analytics function.

That’s why solutions need to be intuitive, supported, and scalable — enabling teams to act quickly without relying on specialized analysts.

6. Selling on Value: AI as a Force Multiplier

As Zorian Rotenberg shared, AI isn’t replacing human intuition; it’s scaling it. The most effective firms use AI to create consistent messaging, enable data-driven selling, and tell a clearer ROI story to customers and investors alike.

The Bottom Line

AI isn’t a magic wand — it’s a multiplier. The firms seeing results are the ones that focus on practical application and partnership, not theory and buzzwords.

At Revenue Analytics, we see this every day. Our AI-powered Pricing Solution helps PE firms and their portfolio companies uncover hidden margin opportunities, accelerate decision-making, and drive measurable, compounding ROI.

Want to learn more?
Explore how Revenue Analytics helps PE firms unlock smarter, faster, and more profitable decisions through AI-powered commercial analytics at https://www.revenueanalytics.com/industries/private-equity/.