Start With the AI You Already Own

Before you approve a single new AI purchase, there is an important question to answer. What AI have you already paid for and never turned on?

AI features are now built into the systems most companies already run: the accounting package, the CRM, the ERP, the payroll and HR platform, and the Microsoft or Google productivity suite. Turning them on requires no new vendor, no new data pipeline and very little change management support, because people already know the system and already log into it every day.

We can organize the decision on how to adopt AI in our operations into three levels. First, we can use the AI that is already included in the platforms we own. The second is to connect a generic model to your own financial, operational and customer data so the output reflects your language, your processes and your numbers. A very different approach is to build something custom, which is justified only where you don’t have a pre-built option, or where the use you have is so unique that it creates a real advantage.

Most companies will eventually run all three, because each of the three is appropriate for different situations.

But as companies consider where to adopt AI, they are overlooking AI functionality that is currently available to them in their existing software subscriptions.

There is evidence that most companies currently have the technology they need. When Bain asked 1,263 executives what was actually wrong with their commercial technology, the most common answers were having the right tools but incomplete or poor quality data (47 percent), technology that was never configured correctly (44 percent), and having the right tools but using them poorly (39 percent).¹ Only about a third of the answers described a genuine gap in what the company owned.

Spend an hour with your IT provider and your controller going through what software you license. Ask two questions about each system. What AI capability is included in the tier we already pay for, and is there AI functionality that we could turn on by adjusting the level of license we have? The audit provides visibility into opportunities to use AI that you are already paying for or can be easily turned on at a small cost relative to building your own custom AI.

With that information in hand, you will better understand possible next steps as you work to adopt AI in your organization.

Source

¹ Bain Commercial Excellence Survey, January 2025 (n=1,263), reported in Bain & Company, Commercial Excellence and Revenue Growth Agenda 2025.