Redesigning Workflows Is Key to Unlocking AI Returns
Ticker News had me on Social Intelligence with Dr Karen Sutherland, joining from California, to break down a new study: businesses are more than three times as likely to get strong returns on AI when they redesign their workflows, instead of just adding AI to the tasks they already do.
What We Covered
- Rethink the work, not just the tool. Why companies have to change how work gets done to unlock the real value of AI.
- Measure more than time saved. Whether AI is improving productivity, business outcomes and overall performance, and how to judge the real return on the investment.
- Give agents room, keep control. As AI agents take on bigger jobs, how much independence to give them while keeping oversight, accountability and safeguards in place.
My Take
This is the line I keep coming back to on stage and in AI Money Group:
Most people don't have an AI problem. They have a workflow problem.
Bolt a chatbot onto a broken process and you get a faster broken process. The returns show up when you decide what the work should look like first, write it down, and then give the AI a real job inside that design. It's onboarding, the same way you'd onboard a new hire.
Why This One Matters
This wasn't a product pitch. It was a news desk asking someone who builds and runs AI Employees every day to explain what a study's numbers mean for a real business. That's the conversation most owners need to hear, because the gap between companies that get value from AI and companies that don't is mostly a workflow gap.
