Research & Data
The Number That Moved
One data point from the automation research landscape — a failure rate update, a new McKinsey finding, an EY survey — read carefully and placed in context. What it means, not just what it says.
Insights / Newsletter
The DRIFT
Report.
Published monthly
One issue a month. No filler, no vendor hype. The DRIFT Report covers what the automation industry gets wrong — with data, analysis, and the practitioner perspective that doesn't make it into the vendor's pitch deck.
Subscribe — it's free88%
of automations fail — the number we track every issue
1×
per month — no weekly noise, no daily digest spam
3
named practitioners writing every issue — no anonymous content
What you get
One issue. Everything the industry doesn't want you to know.
The DRIFT Report is written for operations and IT leaders who need the real numbers — not vendor-sponsored optimism. Each issue covers the data the automation industry buries and the AI and automation developments that actually matter to mid-market organizations.
- Industry failure stats & researchEach issue tracks the automation failure rate — Bain, McKinsey, Deloitte, EY — and interrogates the research the industry cites without reading. What the data actually says about why initiatives fail and what distinguishes the 12% that don't.
- AI & automation industry updatesNew platform releases, agentic AI developments, RPA market consolidation — analyzed through the Process First lens. What's real capability and what's marketing. What mid-market organizations should watch and what they should ignore for now.
- No vendor sponsorship. No affiliate links.The DRIFT Report is editorially independent. Nobody pays to appear in it. The analysis is practitioner-verified before it publishes.
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Recent topics
Agentic AI riskRPA failure rate 2025Process DebtShadow ProcessAutomation ReflexMid-market AI readiness
Every issue
What lands in your inbox each month.
Each issue follows a consistent structure. No surprise formats, no guest takeovers, no sponsored segments.
Industry Updates
What Changed in AI & Automation
Platform releases, agentic AI announcements, RPA market moves — filtered for signal over noise. The two or three developments mid-market operations leaders actually need to track, and the ones that can wait.
Process First Lens
The DRIFT Element of the Month
One of the five DRIFT elements examined through a current-events lens. How Disconnected Drivers, Undocumented Rules, Invisible Execution, Fragmented Processes, or Technology-First Thinking shows up in this month's headlines.
Who writes it
Three practitioners. One publication.
Every issue is written by a named Axiant practitioner. No anonymous analysis, no AI-generated filler. Each voice covers the territory it actually knows.
01
Operational & Philosophical Voice
Jeff Woodham
Covers the industry failure data and the organizational patterns that produce it. Why the Automation Reflex persists. What DRIFT looks like from the inside of a stalled initiative. The culture questions that don't appear in the vendor's case studies.
02
Technical Implementation Voice
Curtis Siemens
Covers the platform landscape and the technical developments worth watching. Power Automate updates, agentic frameworks, Shadow Process mapping in practice. What the new release notes don't tell you and what the integration actually costs.
03
Executive & Capital Voice
Thomas Mandry
Covers the 88% Problem from the board's perspective. Capital discipline, ROI accountability, and the cost of Automated Chaos at scale. The questions a CFO should be asking before the next automation budget is approved — and rarely does.
Issue archive
Past issues.
Volume 1, Issue 1 — coming soon
The first issue publishes this quarter.
The DRIFT Report is launching now. Subscribers will receive the first issue directly — the archive builds here as each monthly edition publishes. There are no back issues yet because we haven't cut corners to manufacture them.
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