In early 2023, a couple of months after ChatGPT launched and became the fastest-growing consumer application in history, I remember feeling both excited but also a bit overwhelmed by the rapid pace of AI. The barrage of news, product launches, and innovative use cases was relentless.
We held an executive meeting at that time and decided to immediately reassign additional teams from other long-planned initiatives to double down on AI. We saw an opportunity to deliver even more value to our customers.
My experience is not unique. Across the board, leaders have been aggressively implementing AI to improve productivity, lower costs, and improve communication—but the results have been disappointing to date for many organizations. Only 34% of organizations say their AI projects have returned a positive ROI for most or all initiatives, according to Lucid’s AI readiness survey.
Unlocking the tremendous value AI offers isn’t a technology problem. It’s an operational one. Leaders need to be more intentional about their workflows and practices to realize AI’s vast potential.
OPERATIONS ARE DRAGGING AI INITIATIVES DOWN
In the race to keep pace with AI, businesses are moving quickly. But their emphasis on speed comes at a cost. About 61% of knowledge workers said in the survey that their firm’s AI strategy is only somewhat to not at all well aligned with operational capabilities. Most are glossing over foundational steps today that jeopardize their chances for success tomorrow.
One notable example is documenting company processes and knowledge, a critical input for AI initiatives. The survey found that most organizations lack process documentation for their AI initiatives. Only 16% of survey respondents replied that their workflows are extremely well documented. The top obstacle to documenting knowledge at scale is a lack of time, according to 41% of respondents. Before implementing AI, leaders should ensure their teams understand the importance of documenting processes so that they always make time for it. Teams can’t harness AI to its fullest without well-documented, clearly structured processes. If an organization is already well into its implementation but didn’t prioritize this upfront, it’s never too late to course-correct. It’s actually critical to do so.
The next top barrier to knowledge documentation is the lack of tools (30%). Recently, I met with a Fortune 500 executive whose company is mandating AI to drive significant efficiency and productivity gains, yet relying on a legacy tool to collaborate that was never built for teams and centered on the individual user.
If companies want AI to be adopted across the enterprise, they need a common space for brainstorming, decision making, planning, and collaborative documentation. Even with all of AI’s transformative capabilities, the fundamentals of successfully integrating technology into a workplace still apply. Companies need the right tools that enable better collaboration and help them document current processes and best practices easily.
FRICTION AROUND COLLABORATION LIMITS AI’S IMPACT
A while back, our executive team tackled a strategic challenge together. A product leader used AI to generate an impressive preparatory memo in a short timeframe, summarizing the challenge, benchmarking solutions, and offering recommendations.
But the AI-generated memo was the starting point, not the end. We still needed to debate nuances specific to Lucid’s context, prioritize actions and assign ownership, and document takeaways and define next steps.
Even with the amount of work that can be accelerated and automated with AI, collaboration is still critical. The survey found 23% of respondents say collaboration is often or always the bottleneck in complex work. Implementing AI is a major undertaking. Only by consistently engaging key stakeholders for in-depth discussions, clarifying decisions, and ensuring shared understanding can these bold initiatives succeed.
THE NEW COMPETITIVE EDGE IN AI
The success of a company’s AI strategy is only as strong as its execution, and a large perception gap proves this. The survey found that 61% of C-suite executives feel their AI approach is well considered, but a much smaller percentage of managers (49%) and entry-level employees (36%) agree.
Closing this gap requires more than just a good plan; it requires operational readiness. Organizations must build stronger processes, improve documentation, and foster better collaboration to successfully implement AI. Harnessing the power of this revolutionary technology requires a level of rigor most organizations have yet to demonstrate. The new competitive advantage for AI adoption lies in the operational systems behind it.
Dave Grow is CEO of Lucid Software.