Tom Amies-Cull
19 Dec 2025
93% of AI budgets are going into the tech, with just 7% into the people expected to use it.
That was the standout stat in yesterday's Fortune piece quoting Deloitte’s CTO, Bill Briggs. Troubling, but not surprising. And it reinforces a few things I’ve said before:
𝗔𝗜 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆, not sit beside it. That means looking beyond the tech to include your clients, culture, and commercial mechanics. If it’s not holistic, chances are it won’t scale beyond a POC, or deliver any meaningful value.
T𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲. You need the triple T: 𝘛𝘦𝘤𝘩 + 𝘛𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵 + 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. Yes, invest in the platforms and data but also in your people (culture fit, re/up-skilling) and in the transformation journey (new operating models, new ways of working).
𝗔𝗜 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗻’𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿. It should help you 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲: whether that’s new products, new commercial models, or reimagining your role in the ecosystem to reach new segments.
Too many board-level 'do more AI' mandates are driving panic reesulting poorly concieved plans. Stop chasing shiny objects and start building executable strategies - ones that take full advantage of AI, without being blindly driven by it.
Fortune article here: https://fortune.com/2025/12/15/deloitte-cto-bill-briggs-what-really-scares-ceos-about-ai-human-resources/
Article first published on LinkedIn Dec 16 2025