How to Balance the Three Pillars of AI and Transform Your Business

Every six or seven years, a technological inflection point reshapes how businesses operate. From PCs and networks to the internet and cloud computing, today’s pivot point is AI, and while some IT providers are telling clients to avoid it entirely, smart businesses are asking a different question: how do we harness its power safely?

I had a revealing conversation recently. A business owner mentioned their IT provider “hated AI” and had barely touched ChatGPT. My immediate thought? If your IT partner hates the technology that’s reshaping business, you’ve got a bigger problem than any security risk AI might pose…

Here’s your quick read brief:

  • AI can dramatically increase your profitability, revenue, AND risk: ignoring any pillar is dangerous
  • Many IT providers still resist AI like they resisted cloud computing, leaving clients behind
  • Your business needs a practical framework for smart AI implementation

Let me share what I’ve learned helping businesses through this critical transition.

The Next Great IT Inflection Point

Just as businesses that ignored the internet or cloud computing fell behind, those dismissing AI today risk obsolescence tomorrow.

History doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes. Personal computers transformed how we work. Networking connected our teams. The internet opened global markets. Cloud computing freed us from server rooms. Each innovation arrived roughly every six or seven years, and each time, businesses faced a choice: adapt or fall behind.

With each wave, there were IT providers who resisted. “The internet is just a fad.” “Cloud computing isn’t secure.” “Why change what’s working?” Today, I’m hearing the same resistance to AI. Yet 82% of enterprise workloads now reside in the cloud (Techjury, 2024). The businesses still clinging to on-premise servers are hemorrhaging money and opportunity.

Over 98% of organizations now use cloud services in some way (AAG IT, 2025). I’m still encountering businesses running expensive on-premise servers because their IT provider didn’t understand, or didn’t like, cloud computing. These businesses are paying more, getting less, and falling behind competitors who adapted to the change.

AI represents our current inflection point. Unlike previous shifts, this one’s moving faster. ChatGPT reached 100 million users in two months, an adoption rate that took the internet years to achieve. When an IT provider says they “hate” AI or tells you not to use it, they’re not protecting you. They’re anchoring you to the past while your competitors sail ahead.

The Three AI Pillars Every Business Must Balance

AI brings three dramatic impacts to your business, and to successfully adapt requires addressing all three.

Pillar 1: Dramatically Increase Your Profitability

AI isn’t just another tool; it’s a profit multiplier. I see businesses implementing AI reporting up to 40% in time savings on routine tasks. That’s not theoretical; that’s real hours returned to your team every week. Consider what automation means for your bottom line: fewer errors, faster processing, and staff freed to focus on high-value work that grows your business.

If a business is spending 15 hours weekly on manual data entry and reporting, with AI automation, this could drop to just 3 hours. That’s 12 hours per week, over 600 hours annually, that can be redirected to revenue-generating activities. At an average hourly rate, the productivity gains alone can justify the investment.

Pillar 2: Dramatically Increase Your Revenue

AI doesn’t just cut costs; it creates new revenue streams. Businesses are using AI to offer enhanced customer experiences, develop new services, and identify opportunities hidden in their data. When you can analyze customer patterns instantly, personalize at scale, and predict needs before they’re expressed, you’re not just competing. You’re playing a different game entirely.

Just as businesses that embraced cloud computing found new revenue streams through improved scalability and service delivery, AI adopters are discovering similar opportunities. The revenue potential extends far beyond cost savings, from offering AI-enhanced customer experiences to developing entirely new service lines powered by predictive analytics.

Pillar 3: Dramatically Increase Your Risk

Here’s where the conversation gets serious. Nearly every business we’ve examined has failed to implement proper AI safeguards without help. Evidence of Shadow AI or BYOD AI appears everywhere: employees using personal ChatGPT accounts, uploading documents to AI tools, hoping fake names satisfy compliance requirements.

Here’s a concerning scenario: if an employee asks an AI tool about executive compensation and your systems aren’t properly secured, the AI will likely find and share that information. The hesitation you feel before connecting your work account to an AI tool? That’s not paranoia. That’s your risk, speaking loud and clear.

Building Your AI Foundation: Five Essential Steps

While other providers say “don’t touch it,” we say “let’s implement it smartly with eyes wide open.”

Through our work with hundreds of businesses, we’ve developed a framework that balances AI’s tremendous potential with prudent risk management:

  1. Identify objectives for engaging AI. Start with business goals, not technology. What problems need solving? Where could efficiency gains impact your bottom line most? AI without purpose is just expensive experimentation.
  2. Choose the appropriate AI tools. Not all AI is created equal. Cloud-based tools make everything accessible to the world: one wrong upload and your competitive advantage becomes common knowledge. Internally-run tools offer more security, but can access any data your employees can access. Choose based on your specific needs and risk tolerance.
  3. Develop company policies for proper usage and security. Clear guardrails help prevent and mitigate disasters. Your policies should address what data can be shared, which tools are approved, and how to handle sensitive information. Without these guidelines, employees will create their own rules, and that rarely ends well.
  4. Provide AI training for employees. Your team needs to understand both the power and the perils. Training isn’t just about using tools effectively; it’s about recognizing when AI use could compromise security, violate regulations, or expose confidential data. 70% of workers using ChatGPT at work hide it from their employers (Josys, 2024). That’s not malicious; that’s a training gap.
  5. Implement security systems to segregate data. Protect confidential information proactively. This means network segmentation, access controls, and monitoring systems that can detect when AI tools are accessing sensitive data. If an employee asks an AI about executive salaries and your systems aren’t properly secured, the AI will find and share that information.

Can I Afford To Ignore AI? What Waiting Really Costs

You can’t afford to ignore AI, but you can’t afford to implement it carelessly either.

While 92% of organizations have embraced multi-cloud strategies (Flexera, 2024), some businesses still resist, clinging to outdated on-premise systems. They’re paying more for less capability, all because someone told them the cloud wasn’t safe or necessary.

Don’t let AI become your next missed opportunity. Every day you wait, competitors are automating processes, enhancing customer experiences, and discovering insights that drive growth. The compound effect of falling behind on innovation curves isn’t linear; it’s exponential. Miss one wave, and you’re playing catch-up. Miss two, and you might not recover.

But rushing into AI without proper safeguards is equally dangerous. The businesses thriving with AI aren’t the ones that jumped fastest. They’re the ones who moved smartly, with clear objectives and robust protections.

Adopt Responsibly and Innovate Intelligently

AI will upend your industry whether you participate or not. The question isn’t whether to adopt AI; it’s how to adopt it intelligently.

You need an IT partner who’s weathered previous technology transitions and understands that innovation and security aren’t opposites. They’re complementary. A partner who won’t tell you to avoid transformative technology but will help you implement it with eyes wide open to both opportunities and risks.

The difference between businesses that thrive and those that merely survive the AI inflection point won’t be about who adopted first. It will be about who adopted wisely, balancing the three pillars of profitability, revenue, and risk with equal attention.

Get Help To Move Ahead

Is your current IT provider helping you navigate AI’s opportunities, or are they stuck in the “we hate it” camp? Let’s discuss how to implement AI strategically for your business. Contact Sagacent Technologies to schedule an AI consultation. [https://sagacent.com/schedule-a-consultation/]

 

Glossary of terms:

IT Inflection Point: A major technological shift that fundamentally changes how businesses operate, occurring roughly every 6-7 years

Shadow AI: AI tools being used by employees without IT department approval or oversight, similar to Shadow IT but specifically for artificial intelligence applications

BYOD AI: Bring Your Own Device AI, where employees use personal AI accounts or tools for work purposes without company oversight

Extra reading, some cited in newsletter:

#AICybersecurity #BusinessTransformation #DigitalStrategy #ITSecurity