Who’s Connecting the AI Dots in Your Organization?

According to McKinsey research, companies that effectively integrate AI across their organization see a 20-30% increase in EBITDA, yet only 12% of companies report significant financial benefits from their AI investments. In my experience, it’s not about having more AI tools or bigger budgets. It’s about having someone dedicated to identifying integration opportunities across organizational silos. While 89% of companies have invested in AI technologies, a recent Deloitte survey reveals that 76% struggle with implementation and cross-departmental coordination. This suggests to me that we’re facing an organizational challenge rather than a technology problem. I believe there’s a mission-critical role missing from many company structures.

The Missing Piece in Your AI Strategy

From what I’ve seen and heard, most companies approach AI implementation in one of two ways. Either they hire external consulting firms to sweep in with recommendations, or they assign AI responsibilities to already-busy department heads and technical teams. I’ve found that both approaches often fall short of expectations.

External consultants typically make impressive slide decks but rarely stick around for the crucial implementation, adoption, and refinement phases. They tend to parachute in, deliver recommendations, and leave your team to figure out execution without the strategic context that informed those recommendations. In my view, these consultants usually lack the deep understanding of your company’s unique brand voice, values, and positioning that’s required for truly integrated AI solutions. Your brand is likely your most valuable asset, yet consultants with limited exposure to your organization probably can’t represent it authentically in AI implementations.

Meanwhile, I believe asking existing leaders to add “AI transformation” to their already full plates sets them up for mediocre results. Not only will these leaders naturally prioritize their core responsibilities, but they’ll also likely bring a subconscious protectionist mindset to the task. Even the most forward-thinking manager might hesitate to radically transform processes they’ve spent years perfecting and for which they’re currently accountable.

A Potential Solution: A Dedicated AI Integrator

I’d suggest that what organizations might need is a dedicated role focused exclusively on identifying and implementing AI opportunities across the entire business. This wouldn’t be just another technology position. It would be a strategic role requiring a unique combination of technical understanding, business acumen, and change management skills.

The AI Integrator could serve as connective tissue between departments, identifying opportunities where AI can enhance processes, create new capabilities, or solve persistent problems. They might spot integration points that siloed teams naturally miss, recognizing how a solution in marketing could transform operations in customer service, or how a manufacturing improvement could create new product possibilities.

Perhaps most importantly, this person would become deeply immersed in your company’s brand, culture, and values. They could ensure that every AI implementation authentically represents who you are as an organization, something that, in my experience, external consulting firms struggle to achieve during brief engagements.

Who Might Fill This Role?

In my opinion, the ideal AI Integrator isn’t necessarily your most technical person. Rather, I’d look for these key traits:

• Cross-functional experience: Someone comfortable working across multiple departments who understands how different business functions interact
• Strong generalist mindset: A problem-solver who can quickly grasp diverse business challenges without needing deep specialization
• Technical curiosity: Not necessarily a developer, but someone genuinely interested in technology and capable of understanding capabilities and limitations
• Fresh perspective: Often an external hire can bring valuable objectivity without the “this is how we’ve always done it” mentality
• Entrepreneurial background: Experience building or growing companies provides the perfect blend of opportunistic thinking and execution focus
• Brand sensitivity: The ability to understand and internalize your company’s unique voice, values, and positioning
• Product management experience: The skill to translate business needs into technical solutions and shepherd them through development

Experienced Product Managers would make excellent AI Integrators because they’re already skilled at identifying needs, developing solutions, and navigating organizational structures to bring ideas to life. They understand how to balance business goals with technical constraints while maintaining a user-centric focus.

Former entrepreneurs or early startup employees also excel in this role because they’re accustomed to wearing multiple hats and identifying creative solutions with limited resources. They’ve typically developed the pattern recognition to spot opportunities others miss.

Structuring the Role for Success

While I don’t think hiring an outside consulting firm is ideal, bringing in an individual contractor or consultant can work well, provided they focus exclusively on your company and commit for at least 12-18 months. This gives them time to develop the necessary organizational understanding while maintaining their outsider perspective.

Unlike consulting firms that make recommendations and disappear, this dedicated person stays through the crucial implementation and adoption phases, iterating based on real user feedback and measuring actual outcomes. They become accountable for results, not just recommendations.

Whether you hire externally or promote from within, I’d suggest structuring this as a dedicated position reporting directly to senior leadership. The role requires authority to work across departments and visibility into the entire organization.

Success can be measured through clear before-and-after metrics for each implementation. Rather than complex tracking systems, consider focusing on documenting specific improvements: How much time did this process save? What costs were eliminated? What new capabilities were enabled?

The Potential Cost of Inaction

I believe that without someone connecting these dots, your company’s AI investments might remain isolated point solutions rather than transformative tools. Departments may continue optimizing their own processes without recognizing cross-functional opportunities. Your competitors with dedicated AI integration roles could steadily pull ahead.

From what I’ve observed, the companies seeing dramatic returns on AI investment aren’t necessarily using more advanced technology. They simply have someone whose sole focus is identifying where and how to integrate these tools throughout the organization. Someone who knows the company intimately but thinks like an entrepreneur. Someone who becomes immersed in your brand values and ensures they’re reflected in every implementation. Someone whose success is measured by transformation, not maintenance of the status quo.

So perhaps it’s worth asking: Who’s connecting the AI dots in your organization?