Building AI-ready organizations

I know what you’re thinking: “Not another AI article”. Yes, AI is everywhere, dominating your feed, headlines, dinner party conversations, and certainly almost every industry you can think of. But I’m here to uncover an uncomfortable truth – access to the technology doesn’t translate to transformation. According to The Economist, only an estimated 10% of businesses are using AI effectively. The other 90% are risking falling dangerously behind. This gap is not caused by a lack of tools but by a lack of decisive leadership and confidence.

Business leaders – you need to either lead the AI revolution or watch competitors seize the value while you play catch-up.

When we say that, we don’t just mean adopting a few tools. We’re talking about reshaping your strategy, culture, and governance to make AI an engine of growth. It sounds complicated but it doesn’t have to be. Here is how to start your AI journey:

Place AI at the heart of strategy

AI should not be treated as an experiment or side project. It should be integrated into the core of your business strategy, with clear, measurable objectives regarding:
• Where it can create breakthrough value in your industry.
• How it can make your business faster, leaner, and more competitive.
Then communicate that vision relentlessly. When leaders visibly embrace AI – drafting strategies, analyzing data, or engaging clients with AI-powered insights – they signal that adoption is not optional.

Lead cultural transformation, not just tech deployment

Technology alone doesn’t drive change, people do. Employees need to see AI as empowerment, not a threat. Do this by:
• Positioning AI as augmentation, not replacement.
• Giving employees explicit permission to experiment and fail fast.
• Celebrating early wins to make adoption aspirational.

Culture will determine whether AI adoption takes root or dies on the vine. We found that many of our employees initially felt uncertain using AI, wondering if it would be considered as “cheating”, or if they needed permission. By openly demonstrating how, as leaders, we were applying AI in our work, we normalized its use and built a culture where curiosity outweighed fear.

Empower your team with the right skills

AI moves too fast for one-off training. Create an always-on learning environment. Invest in foundational AI literacy for everyone, from frontline staff to the boardroom. Use a “train-the-trainer” model to cascade expertise, ensuring relevance to each role.

At Brandpie, we encouraged a group of internal champions with deeper AI knowledge to cascade learnings across teams, ensuring training was relevant to our business context, and, in turn, creating an internal network of trusted experts.
Without widespread skills, adoption stalls. With them, the entire organization accelerates.

Provide tools with guardrails

If you don’t provide secure, approved AI tools, employees will improvise with “shadow AI” – that risks data leaks and compliance breaches. To protect data security and compliance, act early to roll out approved tools and clear policies, making experimentation safe without slowing momentum:
• Provide sanctioned platforms that meet security and ethical standards.
• Start with off-the-shelf solutions, then scale into bespoke systems once ROI is proven.

It’s a tricky balance that leaders must strike: encouraging experimentation, while protecting the business.

Establish governance and accountability

Every organization needs an AI leadership council spanning strategy, HR, legal, IT, and operations. Its mandate being:
• Define AI strategy and priorities.
• Set clear policies for responsible and ethical use.
• Track progress and pivot as technology evolves.

AI adoption cannot be left to chance. It requires orchestration at the highest level. We’ve been through a number of iterations of this as we’ve moved from strategy and planning to operationalization and innovation.

Mobilize early adopters and peer learning
Your innovators and early adopters are your accelerators. Empower them as role models, give them platforms to share successes, and let their influence ripple across the business. Create forums for experimentation.

We created a fortnightly AI Labs forum, which has become a powerful driver of adoption. In this, employees share real-world use cases and their lightbulb moments.

This is how adoption becomes contagious.

Look beyond your walls

AI is a collective journey. No single company has all the answers, but there is a vibrant ecosystem of peers, communities, and experts. Engaging with them accelerates learning and avoids blind spots. Leaders who isolate themselves risk repeating mistakes already solved elsewhere.

Shape the future

AI is a new way of running businesses. Success requires bold vision, cultural transformation, and disciplined governance.

The bottom line is, it’s already shaping your industry – will you lead the change, or be left behind?

If you’re ready to move from uncertainty to confidence with AI but are unsure of where to start, Brandpie AI Labs can help.

This immersive workshop gives leaders and teams the strategic agility and practical steps to cut through complexity, reduce risk, and start applying AI right away. Get in touch to start your AI journey.