Notes from the ERP data coalface.

Govern Your AI Agents Before They Run Riot

BCG says centralised AI governance cuts agent deployment from weeks to a day — a 10x speed-up. UK SMEs should inventory their AI tools, tier agents by risk, and log what each one does.

An AI Agent Joins Your Team — Who Manages It?

McKinsey says AI agents need owners, managers and clear roles in your org. UK SMEs should decide who manages each agent before it touches live data.

Why Your Leaders Still Think AI Is Just a Support Tool

McKinsey's State of Organizations 2026 survey of 10,000 leaders shows most expect AI to stay a support tool — while younger leaders expect autonomous AI roles. UK SMEs should plan for both.

Stop Automating Tasks. Rebuild the Workflow.

BCG and MIT Sloan say the firms winning with AI agents stopped asking "which step can we automate" and rebuilt whole workflows instead. Here's how UK SMEs should approach it.

AI Agents Take Five Months to Pay Off — Plan For It

S&P Global and McKinsey data shows only 31% of enterprises run AI agents in production, with median time-to-value of 5.1 months. UK SMEs should budget for the runway, audit data first, and pilot one workflow properly.

AI Agents Are Everywhere Now — So Where's the Value?

Gartner says 40% of enterprise apps will embed AI agents by end of 2026, yet 79% of firms still struggle to see returns. The gap isn't smarter tools — it's clean data, one owned workflow and proper governance. Three practical steps UK SMEs should take.

AI Adoption Is a Management Problem, Not a Tech One

HBR says AI fails because firms treat it as a tech purchase, not a change project. McKinsey says 88% use AI but only 39% see profit impact. 42% scrapped AI initiatives entirely. Three practical steps UK SMEs should take.

Your AI Tools Don't Talk to Each Other — and It's Killing Value

HBR's field research at Walmart, Amazon and Ericsson shows individual AI tools create task-level gains but fail without orchestration. VentureBeat says most “agents” are just chatbots. Three practical steps UK SMEs can take.

85% Have AI Access, Only 25% Actually Use It

IBM says 85% of staff have AI tool access but only 25% use it regularly. HBR calls it a management problem, not a tech one. Three practical steps UK SMEs can take to close the real gap.

Everyone Has AI, Nobody Gets Value From It

HBR says 88% of firms use AI but deployment is wide but shallow. BCG says 9 in 10 CEOs see initial value but can't scale it. The fix isn't more tools — it's picking one workflow and redesigning it properly.

62% of Firms Are Stuck in AI Pilot Purgatory

McKinsey says 88% of firms use AI but only 23% are scaling agents. The gap between pilot and production isn't technology — it's data, ownership and governance. Here's what UK SMEs need to do.

80% Have AI Agents, Only 31% Use Them

Gartner says 80% of enterprise apps now embed AI agents, but only 31% of firms run one in production. The gap isn't technology — it's data quality and governance. Here's what UK SMEs should do before switching agents on.

AI Management Is the Skill Nobody Taught You

MIT Sloan and BCG research shows firms combining organisational learning with AI learning are 60-80% more effective. The scarce skill isn't using AI — it's managing it. Here's what UK SMEs should actually do.

AI Spend Is Doubling but Only 1% Are Mature

BCG's AI Radar 2026 found corporate AI spend has doubled to 1.7% of revenue, yet only 1% of firms consider themselves mature. Buying tools doesn't create value — redesigning workflows does. Here's what UK SMEs should actually do.

AI Is Now a Margin Race — and SMEs Are Losing

HBR and Deloitte research shows only 5% of firms achieve real AI value at scale. The prize isn't productivity — it's margin. Here's what UK SMEs need to do before bigger competitors pull away.

Your AI Agent Doesn't Just Say Wrong Things — It Does Wrong Things

McKinsey's 2026 trust report found only 30% of firms have proper AI governance for agentic systems. Here's what UK SMEs need to do before letting agents touch live ERP, CRM or finance data.

Everyone Has AI, Almost Nobody Gets Value From It

McKinsey says 88% of firms use AI somewhere. BCG says only companies that redesign processes see real value. Here's what UK SMEs should actually do instead of bolting AI onto broken workflows.

Why Replacing People With AI Backfires

BCG's 2026 research warns that treating AI as a substitute for human roles erodes accountability and kills projects. 42% of firms binned their AI initiatives last year. Here's what UK SMEs should do instead.

Gartner Says 40% of AI Projects Will Be Binned by 2027

Gartner predicts 40% of agentic AI projects will be cancelled by 2027. The reason isn't bad tech — it's bad data, no governance, and no workflow redesign. Here's what to do instead.

31% of Firms Run AI Agents Now — Most Aren't Ready

MIT Sloan and BCG research shows 31% of enterprises now run AI agents in production. But most SMEs are skipping the data foundations and governance that make agents actually work.

Buying AI Tools Won't Fix Your Business

BCG and McKinsey research shows companies redesigning workflows around AI agents see 3x productivity gains. The ones just buying tools see almost nothing.

Buying AI Tools Won't Fix Your Business

McKinsey's 2026 research shows only 11% of companies reach real AI value. The ones that do redesigned their workflows first — 5.3x more likely to see returns.

Why UK Law Firms, Accountants and Clinics Need Private AI (Not ChatGPT)

Regulated firms cannot put privileged or special-category data into public AI tools like ChatGPT, because that sends client data to a third party, usu

Power BI data quality issues: why the dashboard is not the real problem

Most Power BI data quality issues are not caused by the visual layer. They come from unmanaged source data, duplicate master records, inconsistent def

Single source of truth for SMEs: why leadership teams argue over numbers

A single source of truth is not one dashboard. It is a controlled way of agreeing which system owns each number, what the KPI definition means, who si

Data quality audit checklist for finance and operations teams

A data quality audit should not end with a vague list of bad records. It should produce a ranked backlog of duplicates, blanks, invalid values, source

Why your OTIF report causes arguments instead of action

OTIF and SLA reports cause arguments when one KPI definition is forced across operations that work differently. The fix is not a prettier dashboard. I

How one barcode mistake caused 14 products to be sent instead of 1

Barcode and unit-of-measure mistakes can make ERP stock look correct while the warehouse picks the wrong quantity. In one Infor LN example, the same b

Your ERP went live, but the warehouse was still working around it

If warehouse users skip ERP process steps after go-live, the system stops reflecting physical reality. In one Infor example, skipped pallet scans left

Why Power BI can match the ERP and still disagree with the ERP report

Power BI can match ERP source data and still disagree with an ERP report if the report uses hidden business logic. In one Infor LN margin issue, the d

The ERP data migration mistake that almost sent products to the wrong customers

A data migration can load successfully and still be dangerously wrong. If customer IDs, names, addresses and contacts are not reconciled at field leve

ERP go-live worked, but the reports didn't: what to fix first

If ERP go-live worked but the reports did not, the usual problem is not the ERP software. It is missing report ownership, changed data structures, unv

When should an SME bring in data migration help?

An SME should bring in data migration help before ERP cutover when source data is messy, owners are unclear, reports do not reconcile, or the vendor n

ERP data migration checklist for SMEs: what to fix before cutover

An ERP data migration checklist should cover source-system ownership, duplicate records, field definitions, source-to-target mapping, cleansing rules,

Data management consultant: when messy operational data becomes board risk

A data management consultant helps an SME make operational data trustworthy by fixing ownership, definitions, duplicates, source-system gaps, quality

Your AI Agents Are Making Things Worse (And You Don't Even Know It)

This article gives UK SMEs a practical way to understand the operational issue, spot where data or process risk is building, and decide what to fix fi

Why Your Data Project Stalled (And What to Ask For Instead)

This article gives UK SMEs a practical way to understand the operational issue, spot where data or process risk is building, and decide what to fix fi

Nobody Wants Data Quality

This article gives UK SMEs a practical way to understand the operational issue, spot where data or process risk is building, and decide what to fix fi

95% of Firms Get Nothing Back From AI: Here's Why

This article gives UK SMEs a practical way to understand the operational issue, spot where data or process risk is building, and decide what to fix fi

The Hidden Problem Killing Digital Transformation Projects

This article gives UK SMEs a practical way to understand the operational issue, spot where data or process risk is building, and decide what to fix fi

The Spreadsheet Tax: how a free Excel habit becomes a £42k reporting drag

Excel is not the problem. The hidden cost is the weekly ritual around it: export, copy, paste, reconcile, explain, repeat.

The Dashboard Debt Index: why ten quick reports become one meeting nobody trusts

Every extra dashboard feels useful when it is built. Six months later, nobody knows which number is right.

The Approval Lag Index: how a two-day sign-off becomes a cashflow problem

Slow approvals feel like admin. Across invoices, purchase orders and quotes, they become trapped cash and operational drag.

Why Only 6% of Companies Actually Win at AI

This article gives UK SMEs a practical way to understand the operational issue, spot where data or process risk is building, and decide what to fix fi

My Dad Has Been Building AI Before AI Existed

This article gives UK SMEs a practical way to understand the operational issue, spot where data or process risk is building, and decide what to fix fi

Treat AI Agents Like Team Members, Not Software

This article gives UK SMEs a practical way to understand the operational issue, spot where data or process risk is building, and decide what to fix fi

The AI Agent Trust Gap: Why Only 10% of Functions Are Actually Scaling

This article gives UK SMEs a practical way to understand the operational issue, spot where data or process risk is building, and decide what to fix fi

AI Agents vs RPA: What Actually Works

This article gives UK SMEs a practical way to understand the operational issue, spot where data or process risk is building, and decide what to fix fi

94% of AI Projects Make Zero Money, Here's Why

Stop Treating Your AI Agents Like Employees

This article gives UK SMEs a practical way to understand the operational issue, spot where data or process risk is building, and decide what to fix fi

Why Your Infrastructure Decides If AI Agents Actually Work

This article gives UK SMEs a practical way to understand the operational issue, spot where data or process risk is building, and decide what to fix fi

Your Team Already Wants AI, You're Just Not Letting Them Use It

This article gives UK SMEs a practical way to understand the operational issue, spot where data or process risk is building, and decide what to fix fi

AI Agents - Your Real Secret Weapon

This article gives UK SMEs a practical way to understand the operational issue, spot where data or process risk is building, and decide what to fix fi

AI Agents: Ready for Your Business (If Your Infrastructure Isn't Rubbish)

This article gives UK SMEs a practical way to understand the operational issue, spot where data or process risk is building, and decide what to fix fi