The groundwork behind meaningful AI adoption

AI capabilities continue to accelerate, but a growing number of technology leaders agree that the real test of AI adoption now lies in how ready an organisation is to work alongside the technology and turn its capabilities into practical value.

That means investing in skills, capturing institutional knowledge, building trusted data foundations, and giving employees the confidence to apply AI effectively in their day-to-day work. This groundwork, more than any single model release, will shape the future of work, influencing how individuals collaborate and how entire organisations compete.

It’s worth remembering how quickly we got here. What began as a promising but experimental capability has, in a remarkably short space of time, become woven into the everyday fabric of business – changing how employees handle routine work, reach decisions faster and surface opportunities that might otherwise be missed. AI Appreciation Day brings the next challenge into focus by asking how organisations can turn that progress into lasting value for their people and their business.

Giving every employee the skills to use AI

As AI becomes embedded across every business function, expectations of employees are changing. AI literacy is now a core workplace skill, regardless of role or seniority.

Meredith Van Eeuwen, Head of People and Culture at SAP UK, says organisations are already adapting how they recruit and develop talent.

“Businesses and their employees are increasingly embracing AI to accelerate innovation, automate routine tasks and solve for end-customer challenges. With that comes a growing expectation that new joiners have the relevant skills. Recent SAP research found that nine in 10 CHROs expect new hires to be comfortable with AI on day one or to learn the tools immediately after joining.

“Businesses that create structured opportunities for employees to develop that blend of skills, for example through hands-on experience and mentorship, can support and enable a workforce that is prepared for what comes next. That is how businesses can continue to lay the foundations for greater innovation and long-term growth.”

Preparing employees to work alongside AI extends well beyond onboarding. Professor David Barber, Director, UCL Centre for Artificial Intelligence & Distinguished Scientist at UiPath, believes organisations should treat AI capability as a strategic investment rather than simply a learning imitative.

“Employees across every level and function should receive formal AI education alongside access to tools, not just those in technical roles. This training must be practical, accessible and continuous.

“Building organisation-wide AI capability should be viewed as a key business priority rather than just a learning and development initiative.”

Why strong foundations matter more than ever

As more AI systems are being deployed into organisations, many organisations are discovering that AI is only as effective as the information and context it can access.

David Torgerson, VP of Technology and Security at Lucid Software, believes businesses should focus on building the organisational foundations that allow AI to deliver consistent value.

“AI Appreciation Day is an opportunity to recognize just how quickly AI has transformed the workplace. It’s a remarkable shift, but we’re still only beginning to unlock its full potential.

“Realising that potential requires organisations to invest in the foundations that make AI effective, including well-documented processes, shared context, and a culture that encourages people to learn, experiment, and continuously adapt.”

For Simba Khadder, Context Engine Lead at Redis, context has become the defining challenge for enterprise AI.

“The two hard problems in agents and AI today are still data and evaluation, we just call data ‘context’ now. All the reasoning ability in the world doesn’t help if the model is working with no data or the wrong data.

“The organisations that win in the agentic era won’t be the ones with the best models. They’ll be the ones who can get the right context to the model when it actually needs it.”

Jim Webber, Chief Scientist, Neo4j argues that creating this context requires organisations to connect information across the business.

“The conversation has shifted from building larger AI models to building smarter AI systems that can better support how people work. The real differentiator today is not just the model itself, but the quality of the context it can access.

“Knowledge graphs are increasingly the foundation for AI systems that can work effectively alongside people and support more intelligent, reliable ways of working.”

Making AI work for people

There is a lot of fear around AI replacing humans, but many experts believe uniquely human skills will become even more valuable.

Lindy Puttkammer, Chief HR Officer at Sinch, says AI should free employees to spend more time on work that technology cannot easily replicate.

“The AI era is creating a workplace paradox; as technology automates more of our work, our uniquely human qualities become our biggest competitive advantage.

“By removing the repetitive administrative tasks that are essential in business but occupy valuable brain space, employees have more time for creative thinking, problem solving and collaboration. This gives us time to focus on judgement, empathy and relationship-building that drives success.”

Julia Lecocq, SVP and UK Country Head at AlphaSense, agrees with this and believes AI should amplify human expertise rather than replace it.

“AI delivers the greatest value when it empowers people rather than replaces them.

“Rather than spending time on busy work that can be automated in seconds, people have greater capacity to apply judgment, critical thinking, and creativity in partnership with AI tools that they can trust.”

To do so, Philip Miller, AI Strategist at Progress Software believes businesses need to focus on helping employees understand where AI can create value.

“Most people do not need to master models, transformers, neural networks or tokens to create value with AI. They need to understand what they are trying to achieve.

“Enablement must therefore move from the ‘what’ to the ‘how’: from explaining features and infrastructure to understanding the user’s goals, mapping the human workflow and identifying where AI can reduce friction.”

This is even more vital in areas like cybersecurity, as Richard Woolfrey, Regional Director, UK&I at Fortinet, adds “as businesses introduce AI into their cybersecurity strategies, they need professionals who understand how to deploy, manage and govern these tools effectively.

“Demand for those skills is growing faster than traditional recruitment cycles can support, so businesses must invest in the people they already have.”

Making AI intuitive and practical will ultimately determine how widely it is adopted across industries.

When AI earns its place at work

For all the progress made, plenty of organisations are still finding it hard to turn their AI investment into real, measurable value. It comes down to giving people the confidence to use AI properly, joining up the knowledge that feeds it, and building it into daily working life in ways employees can trust. Get that right, and AI becomes a trusted part of everyday work. It actively supports better decisions, strengthens the way people work together and, in doing so, earns the appreciation this day is meant to mark.