In recent years, few topics have dominated the conversation more than AI. Many still view the technology as a practical feature — a chatbot in customer service, an automated report, or a copilot for developers. But the truth is, we’ve only seen the beginning. For the companies of the future, AI won’t just be a feature; it will be a fundamental condition — a driving force that challenges us to rethink strategy, culture, and how we deliver value.
A shift in business logic
In the IT industry, we’re already seeing the consequences. Projects that once required 10,000 hours can now be delivered in 5,000–7,000 hours. The deliverables are the same, but the number of hours drops dramatically. If a business measures success purely by hours, it will become a bad business over time.
This forces us to ask the question: What are we actually being paid for?
More and more, value is shifting from time spent to outcomes achieved. Consulting services are no longer sold simply as “x number of hours,” but as concrete results: reduced time-to-market, higher margins, or ensured compliance.
The business model is evolving — from licenses and hourly billing to usage- or outcome-based models. The delivery model changes when AI agents move from helping on the sidelines to driving entire processes. And the economics change as cost-per-task drops, delivery speeds increase, and quality improves.
Leadership as the key to success
Our CEO, Lars Berthelsen, has often emphasized that leadership is where the difference between success and failure lies when it comes to AI.
Too often, companies begin their AI journey with small experiments — a chatbot in customer service, an analytics tool in finance, a content generator in marketing. Each project creates value on its own, but together they form a fragmented picture with no clear direction.
To prevent AI from becoming an unmanageable landscape of isolated solutions, leadership ownership is essential. Top management must define a strategic direction, establish governance, and ensure AI is integrated into the company’s most critical systems and processes.
Ultimately, AI is not just a technical discipline — it is a leadership discipline.
New roles require new skills
AI is changing not only the business itself but also the roles within it.
Developers move from coding everything themselves to co-creating with AI. New roles are emerging — people who design and monitor agent flows, validate outputs, and ensure that the solutions create real value.
This creates demand for new profiles, sometimes called AI Managers or Orchestrators. They must understand both technology and business, connect AI solutions across the organization, and ensure what is produced truly adds value.
This transformation is happening beyond the tech industry. In finance, advisors use AI to analyze complex datasets in seconds. In retail, staff are freed to focus on customer experience while AI optimizes logistics and inventory. In manufacturing, we see planning and quality assurance shift from manual click-flows to real-time agent-flows.
AI doesn’t remove people — it changes roles and creates a need for broad reskilling. Leadership’s actions are crucial to ensure the business keeps pace.
80% is not about technology
There’s a lot of hype around AI — often driven by those with something to gain. It’s important to have a “noise filter” when listening to all the messages out there. But at the same time, we can’t dismiss the fact that AI is fundamentally changing the rules of the game.
The truth is, only a small part of the work (around 20% ) is about technology. The remaining 80% is about strategy, business, culture, and adoption.
The technology is already here. What makes the difference is how organizations apply it to create real value. That requires strong leadership focus, an experimental culture, and an awareness of security and responsibility.
Building on a solid foundation
The organizations that succeed are those that build on a solid technological foundation. They modernize their core applications, connect data and systems across departments, ensure high developer productivity, and build solutions where AI is not an added layer — but an integrated part of the core.
This approach makes it possible to move from isolated features to a holistic way of running a business. It enables scalable, adaptable, and robust solutions that create lasting competitive advantages.
The next 1–3 years will make the difference
AI is becoming as ubiquitous as electricity. The next three years will be decisive. For companies that act now, AI will become a competitive advantage. For those that wait, it will become a risk.
For a mid-sized manufacturing company, it might mean using AI for predictive maintenance to increase machine uptime. For a service company, it could mean personalizing the customer experience on an entirely new level. And for a public organization, it might mean freeing up employee time for core tasks by letting AI handle routine work.
Across all industries, the challenge is not just to adopt the technology — but to build businesses that can think strategy, culture, and value proposition around it.
From features to foundations – where do you start?
The question isn’t if AI will change your business — but how and when. The answer is to start now — but start for the right reasons. AI shouldn’t be an add-on; it should be an integrated part of your strategy, culture, and value proposition.
We help companies implement AI — from features to foundation.
Curious to see what that could look like for your organization?
