AI is everywhere, hailed as the most transformative technology of our time. Yet while most organisations have dipped their toes in the water, few have had the courage to dive deep. The difference between winning and lagging in the AI revolution isn’t about who experiments first; it’s about who has the boldness to rip up outdated ways of working and completely reinvent themselves around what AI can truly do.

The sobering reality? According to McKinsey, just 20% of enterprises are seeing quantifiable economic gains from AI. MIT researchers found that 95% of generative AI pilots failed to generate economic benefits. But here’s the crucial insight: it wasn’t the technology holding them back, it was organisations’ inability to integrate it effectively.

The exception, not the rule

There are compelling success stories. Airlines have used AI to slash rebooking times from 12 hours to less than 10 minutes, saving millions of dollars. JP Morgan has cited AI’s role in boosting wealth management sales by 20% while dramatically cutting costs. But these transformative examples remain largely the exception.

For most companies, AI has been relegated to marginal productivity gains; co-pilots chipping away at repetitive tasks, saving minutes per employee. Useful, yes, but hardly the revolutionary change promised. These incremental improvements fall far short of setting the world on fire.

As Alex Hunter, former global head of digital at Virgin Group, puts it: “Figure out what you’re trying to do first, and then work out the tools you need to do it.” Too many organisations flip that order, chasing AI tools because competitors are, rather than solving their real business challenges.

The incrementalism trap

Why are so many organisations stuck in this pattern? Faced with economic volatility and pressure to preserve profit margins, they’ve treated AI as a cost-cutting add-on rather than a tool for fundamental reinvention. This cautious approach, while understandable, is dangerously shortsighted.

Matt Higham, ServiceNow’s UKI Chief Digital Officer and CTO, warns: “Ten years ago, digital transformation caused the most significant reordering of the FTSE 350 for decades. The magnitude of change that AI is going to unleash will be much larger. If companies don’t start to move now, they’ll quickly find themselves not just behind the curve, but in a position where they won’t be able to catch up.”

The problem, according to Higham, is a fundamental lack of boldness. “Businesses need to rip the band-aid off and go much faster.”

Learning from the disruptors

Relying on size and market dominance won’t be a sustainable strategy. New businesses building AI into their core operating models from day one are already disrupting established sectors. Think Octopus in utilities, or Yonder in financial services. With AI handling traditional enterprise functions, their people are free to focus on creative, value-adding work, and it’s showing up directly in business performance and customer satisfaction scores.

Established companies need to learn from these upstarts’ success. If a business were starting today, would it follow an enterprise design that’s likely unchanged in 20 or 30 years? The honest answer is almost always no.

Reinvention, not revision

This is the critical pivot. Instead of bolting AI onto existing processes, businesses must reimagine the processes themselves. As Higham explains: “Leverage the technology for what it’s good at now. It’s highly proven, adds very little risk to your organisation and will eradicate the waste you’ve built up over time—you can create services that are 80-90% more efficient than traditional ones.”

Paul Mukherjee, CTO at Defra, frames it perfectly: “AI is part of the toolkit, but the real value comes when we apply it to our own data and reinvent how we deliver services.” Boldness comes not from playing with generic models, but from reshaping core processes around your unique assets.

Moving the needle

How can established businesses begin this transformation? They need to identify use cases with clear and ambitious business targets. Instead of shaving costs off finance or HR processes, they should tackle much bigger questions:

• How can AI expand your addressable market?
• What new revenue streams could it unlock?
• How could you transform your supply chain end-to-end with agentic AI?

Partnership revolution

Being bold also means fundamentally changing how you work with partners. Traditional procurement won’t deliver breakthrough innovation. As Higham stresses: “Businesses need to build a muscle in their organisation for co-innovation with software vendors. This will enable them to really weaponise AI in areas that allow them to achieve stretching business goals.”

This shift from buying solutions to co-creating them is where true competitive advantage will emerge. Companies that embrace co-innovation will move faster, experiment more safely, and deploy AI where it matters most.

Building the foundation of trust

No bold AI strategy can succeed without trust. Yet fewer than 20% of organisations have governance structures dedicated to AI, and fewer still have ethics boards addressing its broader implications. Without trust, adoption stalls; employees won’t use the tools, customers won’t engage, and regulators won’t approve.

Building trust doesn’t mean slowing down. It means putting structures in place to deploy AI responsibly and transparently, so stakeholders see its benefits, not just its risks. All organisations need frameworks to address stakeholder concerns and deliver AI responsibly.

Time to rip off the band-aid

The risks of AI are real and must be managed thoughtfully. But the greater risk is paralysis. Companies must shed the risk aversion that’s become embedded over recent years and look beyond limited cost savings to grasp the true value AI can deliver; for their business, their customers, their people, and the broader economy.

The companies that will win in the AI era won’t be the ones cautiously piloting productivity co-pilots or making marginal improvements. They’ll be the ones with the courage to tear up outdated processes, co-innovate at speed, and completely reinvent themselves to capture a bigger slice of their addressable market. In the race for AI transformation, boldness, and not just being first, will define the leaders of tomorrow.

The time to start? Now.

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