AI in the Workplace: What’s Everyone Really Doing?
One question I hear a lot when talking about technology change — especially AI — is:
“So… what’s everyone else doing?”
It’s a fair question. Sometimes it feels like everyone’s caught up in the AI hype without really knowing why. That’s not new — we’ve seen this “hype stage” before in the Gartner Hype Cycle, where excitement is followed by the inevitable trough of disillusionment. But AI feels different this time.
Scroll through LinkedIn and you’ll see vendors and MSPs gushing about their brand-new “in-app” AI features delivering “mega value.” But strip away the marketing spin and ask:
Who’s actually using AI — and how are they benefiting?
I’ve talked a lot about Microsoft Copilot, seen demos where an AI agent can help a shopper pick the right golf club based on their swing speed, or suggest the perfect candle scent for a dinner party vs. a study session. It’s fun, it’s clever even — but does it translate into measurable sales ?
Some companies are now moving past the “let’s have a look” stage. They’re assigning budgets for Proof of Concept projects, and even creating AI Steering Committees. But that brings us back to the real question: Where are the benefits?
When Copilot first launched, the focus was all about end-user perks:
- Summarise emails
- Draft presentations
- Create documents faster
- Transcribe Teams meetings
That all sounds great — but did it actually make or save the company money? If someone is 5% more efficient in their daily tasks, does that boost the bottom line? Or does it just mean they spend an extra 15 minutes a day scrolling through cat videos on TikTok on the toilet? (Boosting a different kind of “bottom line.”)
Moving to the Back End: Agents & Studio
The conversation has now shifted to back-end gains with features like Agents and Studio, where you can pre-prompt AI to handle repetitive tasks and queries.
Imagine onboarding a new starter without the usual chaos:
- No more “their manager isn’t in today” awkwardness
- An Onboarding Agent greets them via laptop, plays a welcome video, shares a cyber awareness course, sets up their email, gives them the org chart, and books 15-minute intro calls with each department head.
Or picture HR creating a SharePoint hub with policies on expenses, company cars, payroll, parking, visitor processes, health & safety, etc. An Agent can then answer natural language queries like:
- “What’s my lunch allowance with a client?”
- “What’s my line managers mobile number ?”
- “What time can I get into the building?”
Does that save enough time to boost productivity? Possibly. Does it reduce HR interruptions and therefore free up HR resource? Definitely.
The Shadow AI Problem
Maybe the bigger question isn’t “How should we use AI?” but “Is AI already being used without us knowing?”
The answer is almost certainly yes.
This “shadow IT” trend isn’t new — remember when employees used WhatsApp for work before Teams Chat existed? Or Dropbox before OneDrive? People used these tools because they were useful, eveif they were (unintentionally) leaking company data.
The fix wasn’t to ban them — it was to provide sanctioned alternatives that offered the same benefits without the security risks.
Sanction It or They’ll DIY It Anyway
AI is now part of everyday life. People will use it at work, whether you provide it or not. If you don’t offer a safe, compliant option, they’ll just bring their own.
Even if you do roll out something like Copilot for Microsoft 365, expect that employees will also use ChatGPT for personal tasks — and that’s fine, as long as company data stays in Copilot, where it’s protected inside your tenant.
Bottom line: The question isn’t whether AI will be used in your business — it’s how it will be used, and whether you’re giving people a secure, approved way to do it that leaves you in control and your data secure. Whether time saved by staff translates to more output, higher profitability or simply more cat videos watched on the loo depends just as much on how you integrate AI into your business culturally as it does technically, but that’s for another post…
Now, where’s that cat on roller-skates video…
Simon.
Test comment