AI Feels New. The Business Mistakes Are Not.

AI Feels New. The Business Mistakes Are Not.

I’m going to date myself but I’ve seen this moment before.

I started my career 30 years ago, working in management consulting in the mid-1990s. It was a period of major technological change. Companies had just started rolling out Windows PCs. Our company email lived on Lotus Notes, where logging in generally required a floppy disk and an “approved” computer!

That era was the start of large-scale Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementations.

Business needs and technology were finally aligned for change. Companies wanted lower risk, simpler systems, consistent processes, and data they could actually use to make decisions.

But here’s the part people often forget:

Implementing ERP was never a software installation.

It forced organisations to redefine core processes, rethink roles and responsibilities, and often change incentives. The real work was in the operational design and the significant change management.

Fast forward to today and déjà vu kicks in.

AI is everywhere. ChatGPT. Claude. Gemini. Automations. Agents. A new acronym every week.

With the pace of change, it’s easy to get pulled into shiny object syndrome. The trap can be experimenting with different tools without stepping back to ask what actually needs to change in the business.

Because just like 30 years ago, AI is not a software install.

Introducing AI and automation forces decisions about processes, roles, accountability, and how work really gets done. The technology is relatively easy. The operating decisions are not.

And the impact on people can be significant.

That’s why I believe the most important question for business owners right now isn’t which tool, but what outcomes they want for their customers, for their suppliers and partners, and for their team.

With one of my clients, we’re using AI automation to reduce the administrative burden in the business. On paper, the time and cost savings could drop straight to the bottom line.

But we’ve chosen a different path.

By removing repetitive admin work, the team can spend more time where it actually matters - with customers.

The belief is simple. Better experiences for customers and more meaningful work for the team compound over time.

That decision had nothing to do with the software. It’s an operating decision.

And those are the real choices business owners face as AI enters their organisations.

In my experience, most businesses already have enormous untapped potential. It’s sitting in their people, their processes, their relationships, and the way work flows through the business. AI doesn’t magically create leverage. It requires a conscious organisational redesign.

Supporting business owners through this kind of change feels familiar to me and, in many ways, like coming home.

Déjà vu, yes. Just with a few more decades of perspective this time.

If AI is on your agenda this year, the real question isn’t ‘what tool’? It’s ‘what do we change because of it?’

Let me know what you think will need to change in your business.

Until next week,

Kylie.