Where should we start with AI?
November 2026
The short answer
Start with your people, not a tool. Get everyone to the same basic understanding, pick one assistant, write down three tasks you do every week, and agree the rules. Then build from there.
The order that works
This is the order we use with every business, and it is the same whether you are five people or five hundred.
- Teach the basics to everyone. What AI is good at, where it gets things wrong, how it is charged, and what not to put into it. Half a day is enough to start.
- Pick one main assistant. Usually the one that fits the software you already run: Copilot if you live in Microsoft 365, Gemini if you are on Google Workspace. Running several at once splits your effort and your budget.
- Write a one-page policy. What it is for, what data stays out, who to ask.
- Choose three weekly tasks that follow roughly the same steps, and turn them into skills.
- Check what you got back. Did it save time, and was the work right? Then pick the next three.
What the numbers say
Staff in the Australian government’s Copilot trial estimated saving up to an hour on a single summary, first draft or search. Australia’s Treasury worked out that a mid-level employee only needs to free up about 13 minutes a week for a licence to pay for itself. The bar is low. The risk is spending on tools nobody has been shown how to use.
What not to do
- Do not buy licences for everyone before anyone has been trained.
- Do not start with the hardest problem in the business. Start with the most repeated one.
- Do not leave people to use personal accounts because the business one has not been set up yet.
Sources