A recent report from SharePoint intranet specialist Silicon Reef has found that many UK organisations are sceptical of the hype around AI and are switching instead to good old-fashioned hard evidence. The document, entitled “Q3 Digital Workplace Trend Report,” shows that organisations are no longer leading with tools like Power Apps or Copilot and are instead working backwards from the actual problems they want to solve.
Silicon Reef is keen to point out that interest in artificial intelligence-enabled tools remains substantial among the firms it spoke to, but the emphasis is shifting. Company executives and leaders are no longer assuming that AI is automatically beneficial for their workflows. Instead, they are looking for evidence it can assist performance in ways that matter to them.
This approach represents a change in focus to “evidence and clear outcomes.” AI is no longer just a marketing gimmick that companies use to demonstrate their tech-forwardness.
According to Silicon Reef, five trends are currently dominating UK organisations’ use of AI:
- Picking problems to solve before choosing tools. For example, they are identifying challenges in customer service or operational efficiency before looking for solutions.
- Working with people to improve accountability. Many processes still require a person to review and sign off on AI work, limiting productivity gains.
- Trusted information as a critical component of AI performance. Companies need to know that they can rely on AI outputs and that such outputs are compliant.
- AI governance as a regular part of daily operations. Companies are actively assigning people to ensure AI follows regulations while minimising risks.
- AI discovery work takes place before companies commit. Firms are no longer willing to spend large sums of cash on artificial intelligence before it’s proved its worth.
A spokesperson from Silicon Reef said the following:
“Companies are becoming more sceptical about AI but still want to invest in the promise of artificial intelligence. Proper implementation has real potential to dramatically improve outcomes for companies, but this relies heavily on execution.”
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