Everyone is investing in AI—but technology alone will not win the game. Ian Kingstone explains why organisations that succeed put people, creativity, and alignment at the heart of transformation.
When businesses rush into AI, some believe the technology itself will drive change. But according to Ian Kingstone, Business Transformation Advisor at Columbus, the key to success lies elsewhere.
“Any transformation takes courage, whatever the technology,” he says. “It’s about reimagining possibilities, using data and imagination to drive change, and showing every stakeholder what’s in it for them.”
Kingstone’s core message is simple: when everyone has AI super-tools, human creativity will be the differentiator.
“The organisations that win won’t just copy; they’ll imagine new possibilities,” Kingstone explains.
“That requires aligned mindsets and envisioning. AI and the new automation technologies can be abstract and hard to visualise, so you need experimentation, testing, and learning. Be brave!”
There have been many reports of AI pilots failing to get off the ground. Kingstone says there can be many reasons for this, but he believes it is often wise to be bold and move forward in parallel with developing a strategy.
Any transformation takes courage, whatever the technology
- Ian Kingston
“In every business and every industry, there are low-hanging fruits in processes that can be automated to save considerable time. It may not automate a process 100 per cent, but if you eliminate 80–90 per cent of a routine or time-consuming task, you have still proven that AI creates real value for the business. That builds enthusiasm among those involved, key stakeholders, and across the organisation,” says Kingstone.
“Enthusiasm is essential for getting teams to pull in the same direction. With the new technology and AI tools, we can automate a lot more than we could in the past so employees can focus on the creative work and the best possible use of AI tools to create value.”
Two approaches to improving operations
This new shift is unfolding through two distinct, yet complementary, approaches.
The first approach is a top-down strategy, which involves identifying operational pain points, uncovering new opportunities, and deploying targeted AI and automation solutions to deliver measurable business value.
“Through continuous development with our customers, we are building solutions that generate tens of millions in value,” Kingstone says.
You can read more about these projects here.
The second approach is emerging from the ground up. Today, employees are independently using CoPilot, ChatGPT, Claude, and Google Gemini to become more efficient in their daily tasks— often termed "shadow IT." While this brings individual productivity gains, the upside of implementing a structured, business-wide approach is incredible.
A structured approach involves introducing an "intelligence layer" composed of microservices and AI agents tailored to your specific industry and business needs. By integrating this layer with your company's data and processes, you provide employees across every department—from finance and production to marketing and sales—with an intelligent digital colleague.
This intelligence layer becomes a powerful asset. It learns from your organization's unique knowledge base (Domain language models), adapting to individual roles to deliver context-specific insights and recommendations.
Kingstone emphasizes that it evolves with user patterns and preferences, drawing upon your business history, proprietary processes, and innovations. The result is a powerful competitive advantage that cannot be replicated.
The four pillars of successful AI transformation
Kingstone has distilled his experience into a framework of four interconnected pillars—a roadmap for avoiding stalled AI and other tech initiatives and unlocking real business value.
- Start with a value vision (The why)
Most organisations focus on technology before purpose—but Kingstone warns that’s a critical mistake.
“Many build a business case to secure investment,” he says, “but they don’t manage that value through delivery. They reach the end and wonder why they didn’t get the outcomes.”
Success begins with envisioning bold possibilities, not just automating existing processes. When stakeholders agree early on what “good” looks like—and see their role in achieving it—they actively pull the change, rather than having it forced onto them.
- Align people and mindsets
AI transformation fails when teams are not pulling in the same direction. Kingstone begins every engagement by asking simple questions:
“I ask key stakeholders, ‘What do you expect to get out of this?’”
Surprisingly, the answers often vary dramatically—even within the same leadership team. “That’s a clear signal: we need a conversation to align expectations,” Kingstone says. “It can be uncomfortable, but it’s essential.”
Without alignment, the technology creates complexity instead of clarity.
- Build transformation capabilities
AI isn’t a one-off project—it’s a capability you need to develop.
“It takes different skills to change the organisation than to run it,” Kingstone explains. As AI evolves rapidly, organisations must accelerate their ability to adapt. That means investing in skills, empowering employees, and fostering an experimentation mindset.
- Deliver at the right pace
Finally, Kingstone stresses the importance of balancing ambition with adoption.
“Sometimes it’s about pilots and small steps; sometimes it’s more ambitious,” he says. “The right pace depends on your organisation—but without people on board, progress slows.”
Move too fast, and teams feel overwhelmed. Move too slowly, and competitors overtake you. The art is in capturing value quickly enough to matter—but thoughtfully enough to bring stakeholders along.
Making AI simple and strategic
Businesses have different approaches is their application processes of AI. Some establish an AI First strategy, and others create a strategy where they look at the processes they can improve and the capabilities they can develop. And then they take it step by step.
For Kingstone, AI isn’t just about tools; it’s about transformation. The winning formula blends automation, smarter workflows, multi-mode agents supporting individual interactions with business systems and empowered people.
“That's why we begin with stakeholder interviews and ideation sessions,” he explains. “We identify pain points, assess business impact, and prioritise where to start.”
When paired with autonomous agents and powerful automation tools, AI creates real business impact—but only when guided by a clear value vision and aligned teams. "Put human creativity at the centre,” Kingstone concludes. “Use technology to augment it—and above all, be brave and bold.”
