Bridging AI hype and real-world business impact
AI and small business
This week we will host SBX to talk about bridging the gap between SMEs and the ever growing chasm of AI. And, in preparation for that discussion, I wanted to distill some of my thoughts.
In 2025, Artificial intelligence has entered the corporate lexicon with the force of religion. Every board deck features it, every investor asks about it and every conference panel invokes its inevitability. Yet beneath the rhetoric lies a more sobering truth. Most companies remain stuck in pilot purgatory. They talk about AI, they experiment with it, but few have embedded it into the arteries of their business. The gap between hype and impact is wide, and it is widening.
Why is this happening?
The reasons are not purely technical. Yes, large models hallucinate. Yes, bias persists. Yes, infrastructure is costly. But these are surmountable with time and investment. The harder barriers are cultural and structural. Many executives struggle to frame AI in business terms. Too often, projects are launched as proof-of-concept novelties e.g. chatbots, demos or experiments in marketing, rather than initiatives tied to productivity gains, revenue growth or customer retention.
The results, therefore, are predictable. Pilots that showcase potential but never scale, leaving executives frustrated and employees sceptical. AI runs a risk of becoming a buzzword rather than a driver of performance.
The leadership challenge
What separates the few companies that will succeed is… leadership clarity. Simple, yes. Easy to execute, no. These companies resist the temptation to showcase AI as magic and instead translate it into business outcomes. They begin not with the technology, but with the question. That shift is deceptively simple. It forces executives to distinguish between theatre and utility, between chasing headlines and creating value.
Leadership also matters in setting cultural tone. Employees are often caught between excitement and fear. They want tools that make them faster and smarter, but they fear replacement. Leaders must therefore demystify AI, explaining its limits as clearly as its capabilities, and invest in reskilling. Machines may process language but they cannot process trust. Without cultural confidence, even the most advanced models will languish.
Avoiding the mirage
The clear and present danger is that AI becomes this decade’s equivalent of the dot-com bubble, a technological revolution diluted by empty promises. Already, inflated valuations and overblown claims are attracting scepticism. The companies that survive will be those that demonstrate tangible results, not dazzling prototypes.
The test is whether AI improves the basics i.e. speed of decisions, accuracy of forecasts, personalisation of service, efficiency of operations. These are not glamorous goals, but they are the foundation of competitive advantage. Leaders who stay focused here will outlast those who chase the next viral demo.
The long game
AI will (we’re quietly confident) eventually be as mundane and essential as electricity, a utility embedded into every process, invisible until it fails. The leaders who bridge the gap today will be remembered not for flashy announcements, but for building organisations that used AI to quietly, steadily outperform peers.
The hype right now is deafening, but the impact will come from silence. From supply chains that adapt in real time, from employees who spend less time on drudgery, from customers whose needs are anticipated before they ask. That is the work of leadership, turning potential into practice.
Conclusion
Hype is easy. Integration is hard.
The companies that win the decade ahead will be those whose leaders had the patience to ignore the noise, the humility to learn alongside their employees and the discipline to anchor AI not in dreams of disruption, but in the everyday mechanics of better business.
This is where new organisational infrastructures will matter. Platforms such as DecidrOS are emerging to help leaders operationalise intelligence at scale, embedding AI as the decision layer of the organisation. It is not the technology alone that will define the next era, but the systems and leadership choices that turn intelligence into action.
If you’d like to hear more about how you can integrate AI into your business, please join us on September 11. Register here.
