- Asana data shows 82% of businesses have faced unexpected AI bills in the past year
- Risky AI results have affected more than half (53%)
- AI systems lack context and workers are forced to pick up the pieces
Four in five (82%) UK IT managers say their organization has experienced unexpected or unplanned AI-related cost increases in the past 12 months, with many investing heavily in the technology but unable to predict the true full breadth of costs, including implementation, governance, integration and scaling.
The data, revealed by Asana, suggests that companies are indeed moving from pilot to scaled adoption, but they don’t consider the cost changes associated with wider deployment.
Organizations are also struggling to prove their ROI, but IT leaders are under increasing pressure to deliver to the board.
AI bills skyrocket
“The challenge now is to turn that into measurable business value,” commented Asana UKI and Northern Europe Head Christina Francis.
Three in five (61%) UK ITDMs say they are either very or fully responsible for AI-driven business outcomes, but these outcomes don’t always turn out to be so positive. Half (53%) say an AI tool or agent has taken action in the past year that got them into trouble, such as financial harm, legal trouble or reputational damage.
Actual implementations may not be as well thought out either, with half (46%) saying AI projects often fail because they lack complete context without access to workflows, internal knowledge and business processes. More than a third (37%) of knowledge workers even spend up to 30 minutes each day correcting AI output due to a lack of context.
“AI is most powerful when it has context: the goals, decisions and workflows that sit around the work,” Francis added.
Asana also revealed the extent of shadow – or unauthorized – AI, which leaves businesses paying for services that aren’t always used. One in four (25%) say they often used unauthorized AI, and two fifths (38%) regularly use personal AI accounts for work-related tasks.
Ultimately, the report concludes that workers are prepared to accept faster ways of working, but they will also find alternatives if approved tools are not up to the task. As always, the best advice is for companies to meet employees where they are and build a strategy around them to deliver the best return on investment and cost savings.
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