AI is no longer a luxury—it’s a business necessity. Organizations must prioritize AI adoption today to stay competitive, drive efficiency, and enhance decision-making. This article explores why AI is critical, how to engage business leaders, and why AI is more accessible than ever.
See: Table of Contents
I just participated in a strategic technology roadmap workshop with one of our clients, and the experience left such a profound impact on me that I had to postpone my next meeting and immediately put my digital pen to paper and write this post.
The workshop started like any other—an IT-centric discussion around current systems, desired future states, and the inherent gaps between those two points in time. We systematically walked through your typical topics—networks, infrastructure, security, productivity, and the like. Conversation was lively, everyone was engaged, and there was a palpable sense of excitement as we discussed how to close the gaps effectively and efficiently.
And then AI was introduced as the next topic of discussion, and the tone in the room changed. Hand-wringing ensued, the conversation slowed, and excitement was replaced with overtones of uncertainty and even fear. I was taken aback, and it took me a few moments to recover momentum in the meeting. As the agenda progressed to discussions around more “comfortable” topics, such as virtual machines and content migrations, I couldn’t help but reflect on what had just happened.
It didn’t take me long to come up with three key points that summarize the situation.
AI is a Business Necessity—It’s Time to Prioritize AI
For AI to drive impact, organizations must treat it as a fundamental business tool, not a luxury or future aspiration.
1 — AI Should Be Treated Like Any Other Core IT Investment
When AI hit the business scene in force in 2023 (I’m using the mass awareness of generative AI as a point in time), many started conversations about what AI meant for organizations and what it was capable of. Some explored prototypes or proof-of-concepts and a few even built production AI-enabled systems. But the general sense was that AI was a luxury topic, an aspirational set of tools that would someday soon need further attention and dedicated funding… but not yet.
This mentality needs to change—now! Now is the time to put AI capabilities on the same playing field as collaboration in Teams, file storage in OneDrive or SharePoint, or email in Exchange. I would argue that AI has a greater transformational potential than all those other tools combined. And given the speed of AI advancements, funding and projects must be prioritized now.
2 — Effective AI Discussions Must Include Business Leaders
The next step in engaging with AI is to… engage the business.
- AI is not an IT initiative.
- AI is not a set of technologies to be turned on and handed to the business to “figure out.”
- AI is not going to transform an organization without buy-in.
Working with business teams to find process improvement opportunities is the heart of a successful AI initiative. IT and business teams, together, will:
- Identify redundant and repetitive tasks
- Understand what data insights are needed
- Uncover cost savings and improvements to both the employee and customer experience
These desires—no, needs—have always existed. Now with AI being available as a new set of enablement tools, we have the catalyst to execute real change.
3 — AI is an Approachable, Enterprise-Ready Technology
OK, so you’ve bought into prioritizing AI and engaged the business to find opportunities. Now you are wondering about the cost and timeline required to make AI-enabled solutions real in your business.
I can tell you with certainty that:
- AI is not a budget buster and does not require months or quarters to explore.
- Prototypes—especially in the agentic AI space—can be built in just a matter of weeks.
- The tools do not require a lot of new expertise and can likely be learned by those already on the IT staff.
- Different pricing models exist, ranging from discrete user licenses to consumption-based models, allowing for creative costing options.
There, I feel better. Do you?
If you feel that AI conversations are lagging in your organization, hopefully, these thoughts will help you clear blockers and escalate AI to the top of your priority list.
Get Started with AI—Transform Your Business Today
Reach out if you want to learn more about any of these topics, and if seeing is believing, we are happy to demo different AI capabilities and discuss how to get started.
