Global and local experience shows many AI initiatives stall at the pilot phase or quietly consume resources without delivering business value, warns Laczkó Gábor, founder-owner of Stylers Group and AI strategy advisor. He notes that financially only about 5 percent of projects pay back, and three quarters of that return is concentrated in 20 percent of the companies implementing AI developments.
Strategy vs ad hoc adoption
According to Laczkó Gábor, organisations that build on a mature AI strategy can be up to twice as likely to deliver successful projects compared with those that introduce solutions ad hoc, fail to scale them across the organisation, and do not engage employees from the outset.
He emphasizes that AI should be treated as an operational capability, not merely another tool. While starting a pilot is relatively straightforward, real business impact arises only when AI is embedded into daily decision-making and processes. For him, AI today is primarily an organisational issue rather than a purely technological one.
Where do companies go wrong? — five systemic failures
Stylers Group experts outline in a free practical e-book the recurring, system-level mistakes that cause organisations to unknowingly burn through budgets. The publication identifies five main problems:
- Stuck at chat-level — lack of cognitive workflows
- Many organisations limit AI use to simple prompting (for example, copywriting or quick answers). While useful, these activities rarely create standalone business value. Progress requires integrating AI into structured, multi-step workflows to support complex tasks rather than only answering single queries.
- The mindset barrier — "AI will do it for me"
- A common misconception is that AI can solve business problems autonomously. This leads to passive use, where employees do not develop the skills needed for effective human–machine collaboration. Successful adoption demands active, deliberate use where humans and technology complement each other.
- "Silo-AI" — organisational units that do not communicate
- In many companies, AI tools appear in isolation across departments. This causes parallel developments, duplication, and fragmented knowledge. True value emerges when AI solutions are coordinated and support cross-functional collaboration at organisation level.
- The risk of "shadow AI" — uncontrolled usage
- Employees often start using their own, uncontrolled tools in their work. While this can boost efficiency in the short term, it creates significant data security, compliance, and risk-management issues over time. Companies should not simply ban such use but channel it into regulated frameworks.
- Misunderstanding AI transformation — not just an IT project
- One of the most frequent mistakes is treating AI implementation purely as an IT initiative. In reality, it requires organisational transformation affecting processes, decision-making and corporate culture. Companies that recognise this holistic nature are far better positioned to generate business value.
A practical example: an onboarding assistant
An AI assistant for onboarding will not substantially reduce workload if it is not built on up-to-date internal materials and is not integrated into existing training processes. Conversely, a well-designed solution can deliver tangible efficiency gains in a short time.
What the Stylers Group e-book offers
In response to these challenges, the Stylers Group free e-book presents practical ways to turn AI from experimental pilots into tools that create real business value. The publication aims to help companies avoid common pitfalls and to design AI strategies that intentionally embed the technology into organisational operations so it delivers the expected business outcomes.
