AI Adoption Is Failing the Same Way CRM Did 25 Years Ago

In the early 2000s, companies bought CRM software, gathered their sales teams, and announced: from now on, you log every call, every email, every opportunity. (Remember ACT! and Goldmine? Those were my first two. And yes, I'm showing my age here!)

Anyway, adoption was a disaster. Within a year, most reps had found creative ways to avoid these systems.

25 years later, companies are buying AI tools and telling their teams to "just try it." Same playbook... same result.

I've seen this movie twice now, and the failure pattern is all the same. Technology adoption fails because nobody did the translation work: connecting the capability to how each person actually does their job.

CRM finally clicked when managers stopped demoing features and started showing reps how to prep for a call in half the time. AI will follow the same path.

Most companies figure this out eventually. But the ones who get there faster usually have someone on board who's seen the movie a few times already.