Agentic AI, Experimentation, and Complex Tech Stacks at Opticon 2025

VP of CMS and Web Jim Noellsch and Sales Director Mike Blaney contributed to this article.

“AI doesn’t change the vision. It changes the how of the vision.” That quote came from Optimizely CEO Alex Atzberger at the opening keynote at Opticon 2025 in New York on September 10. He followed that up with, “It’s not AI first. It’s customer first.”

After spending the week in NYC for Opticon, attending the partner forum and conference itself, those quotes succinctly articulate our experience both consuming the content and talking to hundreds of organizations. Agentic AI was everywhere, as was a plea to not lose the pulse of people, because many companies are struggling with tech stack headaches right now.

Let’s dive into the biggest and most common themes inside Optimizely’s Onederverse.

Opal Was Center Stage

If you didn’t know what Opal was (Optimizely’s AI platform) before the show, you certainly did after. That’s because – to again quote Alex Atzberger – ”I believe Opal might be the best piece of engineering Optimizely had ever produced.”

Opal itself has been around since November of last year, but now it boasts a number of more robust features, with more coming soon that attendees were able to see as a sneak peek. These included agent orchestration tools that allow users to create autonomous agents that can:

• Be embedded in their workflows for greater collaboration and efficiency
• Conduct brand context training to help focus the generative output back
• Enrich their content and build and launch full pages 
  Optimize their platforms with GEO strategies and analytics

That last one is particularly interesting. Websites have a new purpose. AI style search and strategies are requiring adjustments because credibility scores are the new ranking. For those unfamiliar with GEO/AEO, figuring out how to show up with large-language model AIs is going to be just as critical (or more) than traditional SEO. And with GEO features now appearing on Optimizely’s SaaS CMS, companies can start getting a head start on the competition.

This shift means companies need to:

• Stop SEO-style keyword stuffing
• Avoid AI content generation slop
• Authentically show up in other arenas (YouTube, etc.)
• Stop content gating

What you’ll notice these features have in common is that they’re designed to help marketers work smarter and more quickly. And that’s critical, because that challenge was top of mind no matter who we spoke to inside the Javits Center.

“What Tools Do I Still Need?”

Marketers are all experiencing similar pain points around the “swivel chair” effect, needing to go back and forth between different systems to complete tasks or trying to get their data to flow between systems. It’s clear there’s an opportunity for consolidation.

I lost track of how many times a marketer commented that they either 1. Didn’t have a single source of truth for their data, 2. Couldn’t get their platforms to communicate and work together, or 3. Knew they had too many tools, but didn’t know which to keep and where to start in terms of finding an answer. And often the challenge was all three.

The new features and tools discussed at Opticon certainly made attendees excited about the potential to consolidate and streamline, but there’s still the question of where and how to begin.

Don’t Forget Organizational Design

To come back to Alex’s quotes at the top of this blog, humans still have a critical role to play in the rise of AI and the agentic workforce. That belief was confirmed by business strategist and author Rishad Tobaccowala, who led the keynote presentation at the Opticon Partner Forum.

Rishad maintained that enterprises will need to rethink their organizational structures, processes, and culture to unlock the true potential of humans and AI. This means moving past individual use cases and on to organizational-level integration. Those who are able to understand their people, workflows, and technology to best apply AI within their walls are the ones who will unlock the most value.

This is an important reminder for companies when it comes to any new technology. Simply implementing a platform or tool doesn’t solve your problems. You have to foster that technology, put it to use in the way that makes the most sense for your business, and continue to evolve it as you evolve.

What’s Next?

The enthusiasm and overall vibe – as the kids say – was strong, but it’s one thing to talk in abstracts or watch a demo, and it’s another to take action and get started. No conference is going to have all the answers, and it’s a big ask for companies to now take it from here on their own.

The best approach is to work with a partner who can evaluate your business and help you determine what to keep, what to toss, and how to make AI and your tools work for you. One way to do that is through our free Experience Lab workshop.