The Shadow Workforce: Managing the AI Your Employees Are Already Using with Alison Wright, Microsoft

Most SMBs are asking which AI tools to adopt. The more urgent question is what their employees are already doing with the tools their employer has not approved. What you will learn: The shadow AI reality: 71 per cent of UK workers are using consumer-grade AI at work without employer approval, and nearly one in four are putting financial data into those tools The three adoption stages: From AI as assistant, to pre-built agents, to autonomous agents running end-to-end business processes with human oversight The four pillars: Microsoft's framework for identifying where AI creates genuine value — employees, customers, processes, and innovation — before touching any tools The agentathon model: How Microsoft is helping SMBs prototype a working AI agent in a single day, using no-code tools, leaving with a concrete outcome they can replicate The boring stuff principle: Why the highest-value AI use cases are almost always the tasks people procrastinate on, not the ambitious ideas that come up in strategy sessions The blank sheet question: What happens when you ask whether you would design your business the same way if you were starting from scratch today The agentic prediction: Ali's view that within 12 months, SMBs will be managing digital employees alongside human ones, and what that means for governance and organisational structure About aibl: We help mid-market and scale-up leaders move AI adoption from stalled pilots into measurable business impact. Our mission is to provide the clarity, confidence, and capability required to navigate the next era of business. Interested in more practical insights like these? Follow our newsletter, the #aiblbrief, where we cover more of this content in-depth. Our next edition features a detailed article on this story, breaking down the specifics and implementation steps mentioned in this video. https://aiblmedia.com/free-ai-newslet... Visit our website: Explore our four pillars of AI adoption at https://www.aiblmedia.com. Join us in October: Secure your place at aiblLIVE London on 20 October 2026, the only hands-on event for mid-market operators: https://live.aiblmedia.com/ Follow our socials Facebook:   / aiblmedia   Instagram:   / aiblmedia   X: https://x.com/aiblmedia Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aiblmedia.bs...