AI Speeds Up Individual Work But Leaves Organisational Bottlenecks Untouched

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Companies are investing heavily in AI tools, with spend rising 110% in a single year according to a ServiceNow and ThoughtLab survey of 4,500 executives, yet the share of organisations reporting streamlined, integrated workflows fell from 30% to 16% in the same period. AI accelerates the work of individual users but leaves downstream processes — reviews, approvals, deployments — running at the same pace as before. A BCG survey of nearly 12,000 employees found that 61% have little or no guidance on how to use the time AI saves them, and 45% are not redirecting it toward strategic tasks. The result is that faster individual output floods unchanged pipelines, creating longer backlogs rather than faster delivery. Analysts point to fragmented platforms and siloed data as the core obstacles preventing AI speed gains from translating into measurable organisational progress.

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