Technology Hype Does Not Create Value

High expectations surrounding artificial intelligence often emerge before businesses have established what it can genuinely achieve. “Companies are confused by the sheer amount of change,” Drago Cmuk, Partner at Forvis Mazars, tells ICTbusiness Media – ICTbusiness.info. He sees uncertainty as a predictable response to a market in which new technologies and claims appear almost continuously.

Cmuk describes a recurring pattern in technology adoption. Initial excitement creates expectations that may exceed practical capabilities, followed by anxiety or disappointment when results prove more complicated. Only later does a more grounded phase of implementation begin. “We have seen these cycles before,” Cmuk says, cautioning against treating every new announcement as a business breakthrough.

The difficult part is not installing software. Companies must understand their processes, organise data, structure internal knowledge and determine precisely where a technology can solve a real problem. Without that foundation, even sophisticated tools risk adding complexity rather than reducing it. “You need to understand the problem before choosing the technology,” Cmuk explains.

He also favours shorter planning and learning cycles in a fast-moving environment. Within his own team, he describes identifying what people need to learn over the next three months and then reassessing the direction. Such an approach allows organisations to adapt as the technology changes rather than rely exclusively on long, rigid plans. “We plan around what we need to learn,” Cmuk says.

Cmuk is particularly sceptical of communication that looks polished but lacks genuine relevance. He points to AI-generated emails as an example: a technically fluent message can still fail if it does not reflect the recipient’s needs or the relationship between sender and reader. “Sometimes it is obvious that a message was written by AI,” he observes.

A further paradox is that access to more information does not necessarily create more knowledge. Users may accept confident answers without challenging the assumptions behind them, reinforcing existing misconceptions. For Cmuk, the scarce skill is therefore not merely operating new software, but recognising the underlying issue and translating it into a workable solution. “We need people who can solve complex problems,” he concludes. That capability, rather than enthusiasm for the latest tool, will determine much of the technology’s business value.