The question has shifted.
Twelve months ago, executives were asking whether to adopt AI tools. Now they’re asking why their teams aren’t actually using them.
I’ve been in that room more than once lately. GitHub Copilot licensed across the org. Cursor installed. Claude available. A CTO who can’t name a single team that’s genuinely changed how they work.
This is the part the strategy decks skip.
Buying access is not the same as building capability. The gap between those two things is where most AI investments quietly stall — not with drama, just with underuse, vague skepticism, and budget conversations that look fine until someone asks what actually changed.
Most organisations don’t need another tool. They need to understand what’s blocking the ones they already have.
The leaders I’m watching with interest aren’t asking “what should we add?” They’re asking: what would it take for one team to genuinely work differently? Start small. Make it real. That’s the proof of concept that actually travels.