Businesses across South Africa are racing to integrate artificial intelligence into their operations, hoping to unlock greater efficiency, automation and productivity.
Yet despite growing investment in AI tools, many projects fail to deliver the expected results once they move beyond the launch phase, Cape {town}Etc reports.
That challenge has less to do with software and far more to do with people, according to digital transformation consultancy DY|DX, which argues that organisations are often focusing on technology while overlooking the human behaviours that determine whether new systems succeed or fail.
In insights shared by DY|DX, the consultancy says businesses frequently approach AI as a technical implementation exercise instead of a broader organisational transformation journey.
The hidden challenge behind AI adoption
According to Nevo Hadas, who is the founder and partner at DY|DX, the technology itself is no longer the most difficult part of the equation.
‘The technology is no longer the hardest part. AI tools are becoming more affordable, more accessible and easier to implement every month. The real challenge is redesigning the way people work and making new systems something teams actually want to use.’
Picture: Supplied
One model gaining traction is the 70-20-10 framework, which suggests that:
- 70% of success comes from organisational and behavioural change
- 20% comes from skills and capability development
- 10% comes from the technology itself
Hadas says one of the most common mistakes organisations make is introducing AI into processes that are already inefficient.
‘Many businesses are simply creating faster dysfunction. AI layered onto a poor process doesn’t solve the problem. It often amplifies it.’
He argues that many companies fail to account for what DY|DX calls the ‘hidden organisation,’ the difference between official workflows and the way work actually gets done on a daily basis.
While processes may appear streamlined on paper, employees often navigate approvals, relationships, delays and informal workarounds that are rarely reflected in organisational charts.
‘Every organisation has two operating systems. There’s the official workflow on paper, and then there’s the reality of how people navigate approvals, relationships, delays, incentives and interpersonal dynamics every day.’
Understanding those dynamics, Hadas says, is critical before introducing automation or AI-driven workflows.
Another major barrier is behavioural change, as many employees have spent years developing routines and systems that help them navigate their workloads.
Introducing new AI tools often requires people to rethink established habits, learn new processes and trust unfamiliar technologies.
‘One of the biggest barriers to AI adoption is not learning new tools, but unlearning old ways of working. Businesses often underestimate how deeply existing habits, workflows and organisational norms are embedded into daily operations.’
While AI is often promoted as a productivity enhancer, DY|DX believes the bigger opportunity lies in improving the quality of work rather than simply reducing effort.
Hadas says organisations should focus on redesigning workflows to produce better outcomes, richer analysis and more valuable outputs.
‘The real opportunity is not simply doing the same work faster. It’s redesigning workflows so teams can produce materially better outcomes within the same amount of effort.’
As AI adoption accelerates across industries, the consultancy argues that the businesses most likely to succeed will be those that rethink how work is organised, rather than those that simply deploy the largest number of tools.
Summing up the challenge facing modern organisations, Hadas concludes: ‘AI will not replace organisations that move slowly. Organisations that cannot unlearn will replace themselves.’
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