Interest in AI and automation certainly hasn’t gone away, but organisations are becoming much more deliberate about how they invest in and adopt new technology. Rather than starting with a specific tool and asking what it might be capable of, many are starting with a much simpler question: what problem are we actually trying to solve?
That might be information spread across multiple systems, meeting actions that disappear into email chains, content that nobody is quite sure can be trusted anymore, or processes that have evolved over time into something far more complicated than they need to be. The technology still matters, but it increasingly feels like part of a wider conversation about operational effectiveness, ownership and confidence.
What I’ve noticed most is that organisations are asking sharper questions. They’re spending more time understanding the problem before jumping to the solution, and they’re looking much harder at the foundations that sit underneath automation, AI and digital workplace change.
Here are five themes I’ve seen coming up repeatedly.
We’re having fewer conversations that open with “We want to do Copilot” or “We need Power Apps.”
Now, conversations start with an operational challenge that’s creating friction somewhere in the business. That could be customer information stored across multiple systems, manual handovers between departments, difficulty tracking actions and decisions, or stale intranet content that’s accumulated over the years.
People usually come to us knowing they want to use Microsoft 365 to solve a challenge, but without a fully formed solution or a clear view of whether SharePoint, Copilot, Power Platform or a combination of tools is the best fit. So the first conversation tends to focus on how work happens today, where things break down, where the greatest risks lie and what good would look like if the problem were solved. Once we have that shared understanding, then the technology conversation can begin.
To me, that’s a sign that organisations are becoming more mature in how they approach digital transformation. Projects are much more likely to deliver lasting value when you start with the problem, not the technology.
AI is still one of the most common conversation topics, but the discussion itself is evolving.
A lot less time is spent discussing AI in broad or theoretical terms. Instead, organisations are exploring very specific use cases where there’s a clearly defined outcome, a trusted source of information and an obvious way of measuring success.
We’ve seen examples including an agent to triage incoming marketing enquiries, using Copilot to support meeting governance, and making policy information easier for employees to find and use.
What connects all of these examples is that they’re grounded in a genuine business need rather than a desire to use AI for its own sake.
There’s also much more emphasis on where human judgement remains part of the process. One particular example involved using Copilot to draft meeting minutes and actions, while keeping human review and approval before anything was formally issued. The approach reduced the administrative effort involved while keeping decision-making, accountability and oversight firmly with people.
Starting small, solving a defined problem and learning from it before expanding further is proving to be a much more effective way to make progress with AI.
Information sits at the centre of most digital workplace conversations. And it almost always comes back to two questions.
Can people find what they need, and can they trust it once they do?
That challenge shows up in a few ways. Some organisations are trying to understand whether important information is stored in the right place. Others are reviewing years of accumulated content and questioning what’s still useful, what’s redundant and who should ultimately be responsible for maintaining it. In some cases, organisations are dealing with document estates containing millions of files, where even understanding the current state of the environment becomes a significant exercise in itself.
One stakeholder we spoke with summed the issue up particularly well – and it comes back to something unbelievably simple.
“People just want to be able to search for something and find it.”
Although it’s a simple observation, it captures a challenge many organisations are wrestling with. Employees don’t think about information architecture, metadata or retention policies. They want confidence that the information they’re relying on is accurate, up to date and easy to access.
As AI becomes more embedded into everyday work, that challenge becomes even more important. AI can provide faster access to information, but it can’t automatically resolve issues around outdated content, duplication or unclear ownership. If anything, it places a bigger spotlight on the quality of the information that already exists.
Governance remains one of the strongest themes we’re seeing, although the nature of the conversation has evolved.
Most organisations no longer need convincing that governance matters. The discussion is much more likely to focus on how governance works in practice, who owns it and how it can support innovation without creating unnecessary friction.
Questions around ownership, accountability and visibility are appearing across Power Platform environments, AI initiatives, document management programmes, migration projects and employee experience platforms. Organisations are trying to establish who’s responsible for what, how decisions are recorded, how risks are managed and how useful work can continue to move forward safely.
What I find encouraging is that the most forward-thinking organisations aren’t viewing governance as a barrier to progress. They’re recognising that good governance gives people the confidence to move faster because expectations, responsibilities and guardrails are clear from the outset.
Without that clarity, organisations often end up facing the same problems repeatedly: duplicated solutions, unclear ownership, inconsistent practices and uncertainty about who is ultimately accountable for the outcome.
Perhaps one of the most interesting developments has been the growing appetite for evidence before large decisions are made.
More organisations are investing time in discovery, assessment and planning work before committing to significant implementation programmes. They want to understand the scale of the challenge, the available options, the likely risks and the most sensible route forward before making major investment decisions.
That feels particularly relevant when organisations are dealing with complex content estates, legacy systems, migration programmes or new AI initiatives. Making assumptions in those environments can become expensive very quickly.
Effective discovery work gives organisations the confidence to move forward with greater clarity. Establishing a baseline supports informed decisions and helps focus investment where it will have the greatest impact.
Across many of the conversations we’ve had recently, there’s been a clear desire to move away from guesswork and towards evidence-led decision making. Organisations want a clearer understanding of where they are today before deciding where they need to go next.
Looking across all of these conversations, the common thread isn’t AI, governance, automation or even Microsoft 365 itself.
It’s the fact that organisations are becoming more deliberate about digital workplace change.
They’re taking a closer look at the quality of their information, the effectiveness of their processes, the clarity of ownership across teams and the evidence behind investment decisions. Technology remains an important part of the conversation, but it’s increasingly being evaluated in the context of real operational challenges rather than in isolation.
Taking the time to understand the problem, put the right foundations in place and be clear about where technology can genuinely help gives change a much better chance of delivering something meaningful.
In my experience, that’s what creates lasting value. Not just implementing new tools, but helping people work with greater confidence, make better decisions and spend more time focusing on the things that genuinely move the organisation forward.
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