There was a time, dear reader, when the phrase “bring your own device” sent IT managers into fits of cold sweat and Sysadmins to the nearest bottle of Pepto-Bismol. Yet in the blink of a silicon eye, we find ourselves in a workplace so soaked in AI tools that your future colleague just might ask you, “Did you bring your own copilot today?” If you didn’t, someone from the new generation of workers—the TikTok native, ChatGPT-fluent talents—will probably raise an eyebrow and wonder if you’re using a rotary phone at home.
Kirstie Tiernan, principal with BDO Digital and board member, sagely observes that AI is now firmly cemented in the employee toolkit. Whether you’re the suspicious CFO, forever wary of change, or the keen intern automating half their job before lunch, the expectation is set: AI access isn’t an IT luxury, it’s the new oxygen in the workplace. According to Microsoft’s 2024 Work Trend Report, a whopping 75% of people are already using AI, even if only one out of fifty CFOs is willing to admit it.
Pause for effect: If your senior management is lagging, prepare for a workforce revolution powered by unofficial AI access—complete with employees juggling two laptops like time-pressed magicians just to keep their AI stash alive. When the IT department goes from being “the department that says no” to “the department that helps you go,” that’s how you know you’ve crossed the AI Rubicon.
There’s a comedic underbelly to this workplace transformation. The expectation isn’t simply that new hires know Excel shortcuts or can pivot a table blindfolded; it’s that they’ll raise their hand if you don’t give them access to the latest suite of AI copilots and assistants. If you don’t, they might politely (or not) ask which year your company thinks it’s still in.
The real-world implication? If companies want to future-proof their workforce and boost morale, they should stop treating AI tools like forbidden fruit. Executive buy-in isn’t just nice to have; it’s essential to get everyone rowing in the same direction. The alternative? Clandestine AI usage, and perhaps a side hustle in digital espionage.
Let’s take a moment to laugh at the irony: for years the C-suite demanded innovation, agility, and digital transformation. Now that AI’s at the gates, it’s the staff with their dual laptops who become the real disruptors. If only we could train AI to explain ROI to skeptical board members; maybe we’d finally see some unified adoption.
Each business function gets its own custom set of modules—today an audit, tomorrow a tax return, always ready to calculate at the speed of, well, a very caffeinated accountant. It’s not just about automating forms or mind-numbing tasks; it’s about freeing up some of the organization’s sharpest minds to actually do what only people can do: think, innovate, strategize… or at the very least, have a coffee break without being tethered to a spreadsheet.
For anyone tasked with transforming enterprise productivity, these numbers translate into music for the CFO’s ears—even if those very same CFOs are still wrapping their heads around how a virtual assistant isn’t just a rebranded chatbot from 2015.
The golden lesson? AI is not a perpetual motion machine. You still need diligent validation, ongoing support, and, let’s be honest, a modest appreciation for the occasional hallucination. If the spreadsheet suddenly predicts a 300% profit increase in the lemonade stand division, don’t pop the champagne just yet—double-check the prompt history.
Yet there’s wisdom here: organizations that chase AI without a clear ROI strategy are doomed to spin-up instance after instance in search of transformative value, only to realize months later that they’re hemorrhaging resources on a fleet of AI copilots that spend more time drafting memos than driving revenue.
The real-world risk: neglect these essentials and you’re not just risking a failed investment, you’re risking regulatory hot water, catastrophic downtime, or—worst of all—a PR headline about “AI Gone Rogue.” For the IT pro in the trenches, every new AI agent is a double-edged sword: potential hero or costly scapegoat.
Tiernan’s advice for the risk-averse: perform rigorous security assessments, optimize your cloud licensing with the enthusiasm of a bargain-hunter on Black Friday, and—always—consider the impact of data quality and potential bias. In other words: don’t let your AI agent moonlight as Judge, Jury, and Random Text Generator.
The evolution goes deeper with AI-driven AP/AR automation and integration with Robotic Process Automation (RPA). The message is clear: every workflow, from the all-hands brainstorm to the accounts payable black hole, is fair game for AI augmentation.
The IT crowd may chafe at the prospect of another layer of abstraction (“Another bot to manage?! Are you trying to rob me of my patch Tuesdays?”), but if it means less time spent massaging legacy systems and more energy channeled into strategic projects, perhaps even the most battle-hardened sysadmin can be convinced to relinquish the sacred Post-It note.
BDO’s own path underscores an important truth: even with 9,000 active users, some modules see more action than others. Adoption is rarely even, and culture eats strategy for breakfast—doubly so if your company culture is built on risk-aversion or glacial change management cycles. The real differentiator isn’t deploying the smartest copilot, but creating an environment where it becomes not just accepted, but expected.
Companies clinging to outdated security policies or one-size-fits-all governance are at risk, not just of inefficiency but of irrelevance. If your next generation of talent is authoring code or research on dual laptops just to sidestep corporate red tape, you’ve already lost both the security battle and the war for innovation.
Here’s an inconvenient truth for legacy-bound IT leaders: you’re not just competing against rival firms, but against the very consumer technologies your employees use at home. If a teenager can produce a deepfake video for a school project in less time than it takes your team to provision a virtual meeting room, maybe it’s time to rethink your approach.
The future, as seen through Tiernan’s lens, belongs to businesses that combine AI copilots, cloud infrastructure, and digital dexterity. Not just rolling out tools for the sake of it—but driving real business outcomes, with a keen eye on ROI and a commitment to ethical, well-governed innovation.
But tread carefully—ensure you’re not oversold on promises of AI magic that fizzles out after the demo. The mature enterprise approach is to cherry-pick use cases, engage stakeholders at every level, and, crucially, track ROI like a hawk. Remember: the aim is meaningful transformation, not simply boosting the number of pilots with the latest “AI” acronym.
So, to every IT leader, Operations guru, and hopeful AI champion: Embrace the change, manage the risks, and—crucially—make sure your C-suite isn’t the last to the Copilot party. Who knows? Maybe next year, you’ll spot your CFO spinning up their own RPA-bolstered, cloud-conquering AI agent … and actually smiling about it.
And if all else fails, at least you can say you survived the age where employees brought not their own coffee mug, but their own AI. Good luck, and don’t forget to back up your bots.
Source: Cloud Wars AI Agent & Copilot Podcast: BDO's Kirstie Tiernan Details Powerful ROI of AI Initiatives
AI: The Ultimate Employee Perk (That HR Can’t Put in a Gift Bag)
Kirstie Tiernan, principal with BDO Digital and board member, sagely observes that AI is now firmly cemented in the employee toolkit. Whether you’re the suspicious CFO, forever wary of change, or the keen intern automating half their job before lunch, the expectation is set: AI access isn’t an IT luxury, it’s the new oxygen in the workplace. According to Microsoft’s 2024 Work Trend Report, a whopping 75% of people are already using AI, even if only one out of fifty CFOs is willing to admit it.Pause for effect: If your senior management is lagging, prepare for a workforce revolution powered by unofficial AI access—complete with employees juggling two laptops like time-pressed magicians just to keep their AI stash alive. When the IT department goes from being “the department that says no” to “the department that helps you go,” that’s how you know you’ve crossed the AI Rubicon.
There’s a comedic underbelly to this workplace transformation. The expectation isn’t simply that new hires know Excel shortcuts or can pivot a table blindfolded; it’s that they’ll raise their hand if you don’t give them access to the latest suite of AI copilots and assistants. If you don’t, they might politely (or not) ask which year your company thinks it’s still in.
Generational Divides: AI Adoption Isn’t Just for Tech Bros
While the stereotype endures that millennials and Gen Z are the torchbearers for AI adoption, Tiernan’s findings reveal age segregation at the executive level. Imagine a corporate auditorium: 60% of the crowd are quietly running AI processes on the sly, while only one lonely CFO, in a see of seasoned skepticism, dares to admit they’ve test-driven Copilot.The real-world implication? If companies want to future-proof their workforce and boost morale, they should stop treating AI tools like forbidden fruit. Executive buy-in isn’t just nice to have; it’s essential to get everyone rowing in the same direction. The alternative? Clandestine AI usage, and perhaps a side hustle in digital espionage.
Let’s take a moment to laugh at the irony: for years the C-suite demanded innovation, agility, and digital transformation. Now that AI’s at the gates, it’s the staff with their dual laptops who become the real disruptors. If only we could train AI to explain ROI to skeptical board members; maybe we’d finally see some unified adoption.
BDO’s AI Success Story: Internal AI Assistant Turns Time into Gold
In August 2023, BDO—hardly a name you’d associate with the frenzied world of tech startups—rolled out an internal AI assistant, unimaginatively but efficiently named BDO Intelligent Virtual Assistant (BDO IVA). The results? Out of 12,000 employees, 9,000 are active users and those users have recouped a stunning 489,000 hours of time and resources.Each business function gets its own custom set of modules—today an audit, tomorrow a tax return, always ready to calculate at the speed of, well, a very caffeinated accountant. It’s not just about automating forms or mind-numbing tasks; it’s about freeing up some of the organization’s sharpest minds to actually do what only people can do: think, innovate, strategize… or at the very least, have a coffee break without being tethered to a spreadsheet.
For anyone tasked with transforming enterprise productivity, these numbers translate into music for the CFO’s ears—even if those very same CFOs are still wrapping their heads around how a virtual assistant isn’t just a rebranded chatbot from 2015.
ROI: More Than Just “Return on Imagination”
Here’s where BDO deserves a gold star—and possibly a reality TV contract for “AI Makeover: Enterprise Edition.” Tiernan outlines a refreshingly pragmatic approach to AI ROI. Their calculations don’t just weigh labor cost savings, but factor in software, hardware, cloud resources, and the time spent double-checking AI’s sometimes creative outputs.The golden lesson? AI is not a perpetual motion machine. You still need diligent validation, ongoing support, and, let’s be honest, a modest appreciation for the occasional hallucination. If the spreadsheet suddenly predicts a 300% profit increase in the lemonade stand division, don’t pop the champagne just yet—double-check the prompt history.
Yet there’s wisdom here: organizations that chase AI without a clear ROI strategy are doomed to spin-up instance after instance in search of transformative value, only to realize months later that they’re hemorrhaging resources on a fleet of AI copilots that spend more time drafting memos than driving revenue.
The Allure (and Anxieties) of AI for IT Decision-Makers
It’s not all rainbows and digital unicorns. In BDO’s own journey—as shared by Tiernan—there’s a frank recognition of the challenges. Compliance-heavy sectors, from finance to healthcare, can’t just drop AI in and pray for disruption. Governance frameworks, ethical oversight, and rigorous security assessments are as essential as the technology itself.The real-world risk: neglect these essentials and you’re not just risking a failed investment, you’re risking regulatory hot water, catastrophic downtime, or—worst of all—a PR headline about “AI Gone Rogue.” For the IT pro in the trenches, every new AI agent is a double-edged sword: potential hero or costly scapegoat.
Tiernan’s advice for the risk-averse: perform rigorous security assessments, optimize your cloud licensing with the enthusiasm of a bargain-hunter on Black Friday, and—always—consider the impact of data quality and potential bias. In other words: don’t let your AI agent moonlight as Judge, Jury, and Random Text Generator.
Custom AI Agents and Automation: The New Office Power Players
The rise of agents isn’t just hype. BDO’s strategic vision marches toward a future where AI agents can do more than compose emails or answer FAQs. They’re piloting custom modules for RFP responses, proposal building, and even interview prep. Imagine, if you will, the efficiency boost when your AI can auto-generate the first draft of that 40-page client proposal—leaving the human team to do the actual thinking, collaborating, and innovating.The evolution goes deeper with AI-driven AP/AR automation and integration with Robotic Process Automation (RPA). The message is clear: every workflow, from the all-hands brainstorm to the accounts payable black hole, is fair game for AI augmentation.
The IT crowd may chafe at the prospect of another layer of abstraction (“Another bot to manage?! Are you trying to rob me of my patch Tuesdays?”), but if it means less time spent massaging legacy systems and more energy channeled into strategic projects, perhaps even the most battle-hardened sysadmin can be convinced to relinquish the sacred Post-It note.
The Realities Behind the Miracles
Of course, every AI-driven fairy tale deserves a healthy dose of skepticism. System downtime, buggy releases, non-stop “your case is being escalated” emails from that overworked virtual assistant—these are not mere hypotheticals. The road to AI utopia is littered with failed pilots, executive skepticism, and end-users who simply want to get through their day with the fewest possible pop-ups.BDO’s own path underscores an important truth: even with 9,000 active users, some modules see more action than others. Adoption is rarely even, and culture eats strategy for breakfast—doubly so if your company culture is built on risk-aversion or glacial change management cycles. The real differentiator isn’t deploying the smartest copilot, but creating an environment where it becomes not just accepted, but expected.
Talent Wars and the AI Arms Race
Let’s not gloss over one of the quiet revolutions highlighted by Tiernan: attracting and retaining talent now hinges on having AI tools baked into your employee value proposition. The best and brightest, from new grads to cross-trained professionals, want the frictionless experience of using AI the way they use Spotify or TikTok—anytime, anywhere, on any device.Companies clinging to outdated security policies or one-size-fits-all governance are at risk, not just of inefficiency but of irrelevance. If your next generation of talent is authoring code or research on dual laptops just to sidestep corporate red tape, you’ve already lost both the security battle and the war for innovation.
Here’s an inconvenient truth for legacy-bound IT leaders: you’re not just competing against rival firms, but against the very consumer technologies your employees use at home. If a teenager can produce a deepfake video for a school project in less time than it takes your team to provision a virtual meeting room, maybe it’s time to rethink your approach.
Cloud, Copilots, and the Quest for Digital Dexterity
All these changes rest on one inescapable foundation: the cloud. BDO’s AI achievements, built on the Azure OpenAI platform, illustrate how the convergence of cloud computing and AI agents can turbo-charge traditional businesses. It’s a reminder that cloud isn’t just about scalable storage and shiny dashboards; it’s about enabling the kind of agility, security, and integration that even the most jaded IT pro can appreciate.The future, as seen through Tiernan’s lens, belongs to businesses that combine AI copilots, cloud infrastructure, and digital dexterity. Not just rolling out tools for the sake of it—but driving real business outcomes, with a keen eye on ROI and a commitment to ethical, well-governed innovation.
What’s Next: From Experimentation to Enterprise Maturity
Where does this leave the average IT professional, knee-deep in migration schedules and subscription management hell? Take heart: the AI transition is no longer a question of “if,” but “how well.” With each success story, from time savings to talent retention, the case for broad, structured AI adoption grows stronger.But tread carefully—ensure you’re not oversold on promises of AI magic that fizzles out after the demo. The mature enterprise approach is to cherry-pick use cases, engage stakeholders at every level, and, crucially, track ROI like a hawk. Remember: the aim is meaningful transformation, not simply boosting the number of pilots with the latest “AI” acronym.
Final Thoughts: Don’t Let Your AI Become Shelfware
Kirstie Tiernan’s assessment is as much a rallying cry as it is a blueprint. Enterprise AI isn’t just another IT trend to be absorbed, halfheartedly implemented, and quietly abandoned after the annual audit. It’s a revolution in how work gets done, who does it, and what tools they expect. Ignore the groundswell, and you’ll find your brightest minds doing their best work… somewhere else.So, to every IT leader, Operations guru, and hopeful AI champion: Embrace the change, manage the risks, and—crucially—make sure your C-suite isn’t the last to the Copilot party. Who knows? Maybe next year, you’ll spot your CFO spinning up their own RPA-bolstered, cloud-conquering AI agent … and actually smiling about it.
And if all else fails, at least you can say you survived the age where employees brought not their own coffee mug, but their own AI. Good luck, and don’t forget to back up your bots.
Source: Cloud Wars AI Agent & Copilot Podcast: BDO's Kirstie Tiernan Details Powerful ROI of AI Initiatives
