Expert Opinion: Is AI really saving your team time?

Dave Taylor from Stockport-based Amshire IT discusses whether adopting AI and other new technologies is creating more work for your team instead of helping boost productivity.

AI is becoming part of everyday business. From drafting emails and summarising documents to analysing information and automating repetitive tasks, there is no shortage of ways businesses can use it to save time.

But there is a question that is often overlooked: “What if your people are spending more time helping your technology work than actually using it?“

When technology creates more work

Imagine your team working across several different systems.

Information is copied from one platform into another. An AI tool is given additional context. The output is checked and corrected before being copied somewhere else.

Each step might only take a few minutes. But when that happens repeatedly, across multiple people and throughout the working day, those minutes can quickly become hours. Your employees can end up acting as the connection between systems that should be working together.

More AI does not automatically mean more productivity

AI can absolutely make work faster. The problem comes when new tools are introduced without considering the wider technology environment.

One team might adopt an AI assistant. Another might introduce an automation platform. Someone else might find a useful AI feature within software they already use.

Individually, these tools may work perfectly well. Together, they can create a complicated technology landscape where information does not flow as smoothly as it should. That is when workarounds start appearing.

Employees may find themselves copying information, checking data, correcting AI generated content or moving files between applications. The technology is designed to reduce work, but the work has simply moved somewhere else.

The hidden cost

The impact is not just lost time. Manual handoffs create opportunities for mistakes, missed information and inconsistent data. They can also increase the risk of sensitive information being moved into the wrong system.

There is a human cost too. When people spend their day switching between applications and fixing processes, they have less time to focus on customers, decisions, innovation and growth.

Start with the workflow

The answer is not necessarily another piece of technology. Instead, businesses should look at how information actually moves through the organisation.

• Where does your data live?
• Which systems need to communicate?
• Where are people repeatedly copying or checking information?
• Which processes still rely on manual handoffs?

These questions become even more important as AI becomes a bigger part of your technology strategy.

Technology should work for your business

The goal should not be to have the most technology. It should be to have the right technology, working in the right way, for your business.

When your systems connect properly and your processes are built around how your people actually work, AI has a much better chance of delivering genuine value.

That is where the real opportunity for AI productivity for businesses lies. Not simply in introducing another AI tool, but in creating an environment where your people, processes and technology work together.

So, if your team is constantly switching between applications, correcting AI outputs or manually stitching processes together, it may be time to look beyond the individual tools.

The bigger question is whether your technology is helping your people move the business forward.

Because your team should be using technology to create value, not spending their time helping technology talk to itself.