The transformative potential of AI has started a revolution that is impacting the way we work, live and think. This means that IT departments need to adjust quickly and pivot from being mere infrastructure providers to strategic partners. This article explores how that is possible by integrating AI across teams, the importance of cross-functional collaboration, and the shift towards value-driven outcomes. Harnessing the power and capabilities of AI holds challenges and immense rewards for those ready to embrace this revolution.

Life’s pretty hard in the underappreciated world of enterprise IT service delivery. No CIO or CTO would ever complain about having too many people to meet business demand. In fact, the reality is the “need to do more with less (and less)” is both a truism and an understatement – and that was before this newfangled AI thing jumped straight to the top of the Gartner hype cycle.

It’s also a truism that IT department structures evolve with technology. These days the archetypal IT department tends to be organised around product stovepipes like Microsoft 365, Data/Power BI, Low Code/Pro Code development, and infrastructure teams. Architecture, cybersecurity, and information/data governance teams typically overlay these.

This structure works well most of the time because new initiatives usually fit the stovepipes, so a refrain like “Oh that’s SharePoint, M365 team own it” ensures that new toys get put into their correct toy boxes. Each team is awesome at their toy box too and have their own unique priorities and measures of success to prove it.

Determining ownership of new or novel initiatives can be hard with no single team able to take full responsibility.

But when an opportunity pops up that does not fit neatly, things get tricky. Determining ownership of new or novel initiatives can be hard with no single team able to take full responsibility. Some opportunities get passed around faster than a hot potato, while others get stuck in the purgatory known as IT ownership turf wars.

So, with that picture painted, let’s talk about the barrage of Microsoft AI services that are upon us: Copilot experiences, SharePoint Agents, Copilot Studio, Azure AI Foundry, and governance tools like SharePoint Advanced Management, Purview Information Protection, Power Platform Managed Environments, and Azure Well-Architected Framework.

Wow – that’s a lot of product names you say? Well yeah – that’s the point: AI touches every part of the Microsoft product ecosystem.

So how are stretched IT departments responding to this emerging reality? The anti-patterns are coming thick and fast, for example:

• Assuming AI is just a chatbot when it is so much more. The inline chatbot experience is merely the first generation of AI-powered solutions. AI is rapidly becoming much more ubiquitous, with persona-based AI agents integrated into various Microsoft products. One notable example is Power Platform’s “agent builder,” which promises, over time, to incorporate the tasks typical of a Business Analyst and Solution Architect into the platform.
• Assigning AI implementation to a single team, usually the Data or M365 teams. The problem here is each team may over-focus on familiar areas and under-focus on others. Microsoft’s emerging AI story spans Copilot Agents, Copilot Studio and Azure AI Foundry, so understanding how each fits into the bigger picture is critical.
• Seeking 100% certainty before embarking on the AI journey. This makes sense for IT departments who see themselves primarily as risk mitigators. The urge to get a full understanding is the obvious way to mitigate said risk. But in the ridiculously fast-moving world of AI, complete certainty is never going to come.

So, AI adoption will stress test our existing IT processes, our structures, and our collaborative maturity among our teams. To navigate this shift, we should strive for a shared understanding of the bigger picture before applying razor sharp tactical focus. We do this via:

• Forming a small, cross-functional team including a couple of business representatives to ensure alignment with organisational goals, focusing on the practical implications of AI and ensuring the solutions developed are relevant and valuable. This team cannot be the equivalent of a 30 member Roman Senate so keep it as small as you can.
• Including a Microsoft partner in the team who has insights into Microsoft’s direction and thinking. Good partners with a track record of success can provide guidance on best practices, emerging trends, and potential pitfalls.
• Focusing on value-driven use cases, which can help narrow the scope of what will be delivered, who needs to be involved initially and what Microsoft tooling to focus on. AI is not a platform play – it is a value play.
• Temporarily ring-fencing this team from the standard IT governance processes to facilitate learning and understanding. This does not for a minute mean we are jettisoning these important processes, instead we are taking a leaf from the “fail fast fail forward” playbook and using what we learn to inform the evolution of these tools.

AI adoption will stress test our existing IT processes, our structures, and our collaborative maturity among our teams.

This paradigm change represents a wonderful opportunity for IT to move from being perceived as a cost centre and provider of infrastructure, to a real partner with a seat at the strategic decision-making table. Governance is about opportunity realisation, not just risk management. By fostering a collaborative, iterative approach, we can navigate AI challenges, build on our learnings, and drive meaningful change.

Successful AI adoption hinges on our ability to adapt and evolve. Embrace new technologies, rethink traditional processes, and a hyper focus on value-driven outcomes. This journey has its challenges, but with the right approach and mindset, the rewards can be substantial.