AI in Strategy Work? A Pilot Study from Real Life
AI is on everyone’s lips. Expectations are high, but so is uncertainty. What can the technology actually contribute? How can organisations avoid being dazzled by hype and instead create real value? In such situations, running an AI pilot can be an excellent first step – not trying to do everything at once, but testing, learning, building competence, and creating value in a concrete use case.
Past spring we and a customer in the business of energy carried out an AI pilot designed to strengthen strategic analysis work – with a particular focus on horizon scanning, trend analysis, and scenario building.
A Growing Need for Support in Strategy
Like many organisations, our client invests considerable resources in foresight and strategy. Yet much of the work was still manual: collecting information, reading reports, summarising, analysing, communicating. There was a strong desire to work more efficiently and consistently, alongside a growing ambition to explore how AI could be practically applied. These were the two starting points of the pilot.
From Workshop to Use Case
The project began with a digital workshop where key people from across the organisation described how they currently work with information gathering, analysis, production, and communication. It quickly became clear that while the needs were shared, the working methods varied significantly.
To identify possible use cases where AI could add real value, participants mapped their working practices and needs in advance of the workshop. Together we prioritised the cases against two criteria: potential business value and feasibility.
The selected case focused on building a solution for horizon scanning and strategic analysis using generative AI.
From Idea to Working Solution
We tested several AI tools and finally selected a solution that combined an AI chat function with a customised knowledge base and a prompt library. This enabled users to pose questions to the AI and receive fact-based answers directly linked to uploaded source material. The prompt library included ready-made templates for trend descriptions, scenarios, consequence analyses, and strategic options.
Alongside the solution itself, we created a user guide, a simple system for managing source material, and video tutorials demonstrating how the tool worked – all designed to lower the threshold for adoption.
Results and Insights
The test period showed that the solution worked well, especially thanks to the traceability of AI answers back to their original sources. One of the major benefits was reducing manual work in the analysis phase, while improving the quality of input material. Instead of starting by reading hundreds of pages, users could begin with a specific question and quickly gain an overview.
Feedback from users was consistently positive. A recurring theme was that it wasn’t only about saving time – it was also about being able to work in a more transparent and reliable way.
Lessons from the Pilot
For us at Kairos Future, a consulting firm specialising in foresight and strategy, several factors stood out as crucial in creating value:
- Start with the needs. Technology is never the solution in itself – it is how it is applied that matters.
- Set boundaries. By choosing a concrete use case, the work becomes focused and manageable.
- Build on existing practices. AI should not replace what already works – it should enhance it.
- Put people first. An AI tool is never better than the user experience it delivers.
Ready to Take the First Step?
We see growing interest in AI pilots across many sectors – from foresight and strategy to communication and internal efficiency. At Kairos Future, our methodology is designed to quickly identify valuable use cases, test solutions, and build organisational competence along the way.
Would you like to explore how AI can strengthen your strategic capabilities and future-proof your organisation? Get in touch with us today – we’ll help you take the first step, from idea to working solution.
Contact our AI profiled consultant Olivier Rostang, constantly investigating implementation of new tools.