TL;DR
- AI adoption fails without someone owning it day-to-day
- The “AI Advocate” bridges the gap between the roadmap slide and its execution
- They get people on board, track what works, and keep things moving forward
- This really should be someone who already works across departments and has C-suite access
So, you’ve completed the AI/44 assessment and now you have a roadmap. You know where your team stands with AI, what’s holding them back, and exactly where AI could make their workflows… well “flow” easier. OK, that’s the good news.
But here’s the reality check: that data-informed, well-thought-out roadmap isn’t going to execute itself.
Most companies get stuck right here… or shortly thereafter. They have the approved plan right in front of them, they see the opportunities, but then six months later they’re still holding meetings about “getting started with AI” while their competitors are already celebrating results with cake parties. Oh, at least I imagine they are.
The difference? Companies that make progress assign someone to actually make it happen, at Twenty44 we call that person the AI Advocate. We did toy around calling them the “AI Ambassador”, but they need to actually get things done, not just attend meetings and claim diplomatic immunity when projects stall.
Why Most AI Adoption Roadmaps Collect Dust
Here’s what we’ve learned working with our clients, which include banks, manufacturers, healthcare companies, and marketing agencies: the technical stuff usually isn’t the problem. The AI/44 Assessment may have already confirmed that your employees are using ChatGPT or Gemini. They’ve probably experimented with a few other AI tools on their own.
The problem is coordination. Getting everyone aligned. Making sure the legal team doesn’t panic. Helping that one department head who thinks AI will eliminate jobs. Tracking which experiments or pilots are working and which ones aren’t.
An AI Advocate isn’t your IT person or a new hire for HR to worry about. They’re someone who already knows how to get things done across your organization, maybe a director, department head, or senior manager who can walk into the C-suite and give updates without an appointment.
Here’s why every company that wants AI to actually work (not just talk about it) needs one.
1. Someone Actually Makes Things Happen
The AI adoption roadmap we provide to clients identifies the gaps that need closing, the opportunities that are waiting and sets priorities to get them moving. But unless someone owns the task of turning that roadmap into reality, it runs a real risk of joining the pile of those “great strategies we never quite got around to implementing.”
The AI Advocate turns “we should try AI for customer service” into “by next month, we’re piloting an AI tool that handles routine inquiries, and here’s how we’ll measure success.”
They’re not just tracking what should happen, they’re coordinating who makes it happen and when. Without that ownership, even the best roadmap becomes another forgotten PowerPoint.
2. They Get Everyone Moving in the Same Direction
AI touches everything: legal wants to review policies, IT needs to ensure security, finance wants to see ROI, and your frontline staff just want to know if this makes their job easier or harder, and how many new things they have to learn.
Without someone connecting all these conversations, you get AI adoption chaos… or CH”AI”OS (see what I did there?). Legal blocks everything until they write new policies. IT creates barriers “for security.” Departments work on competing pilots that don’t talk to each other, and no one is sharing learnings and successes.
The AI Advocate makes sure everyone’s working toward the same goals. They keep leadership informed, get input from different teams, and make sure the customer service AI pilot actually connects with your CRM system, and not the office coffee machine (though honestly, that might get more user engagement).
3. They Help People Actually Use the Tools
Let’s spill some tea here. The truth nobody talks about: even the most amazing AI tools fail if your people don’t adopt them. And people don’t adopt tools just because you buy licenses, send an email announcement and hope for the best.
The AI Advocate is your internal champion. They run or facilitate training sessions that don’t suck. They celebrate quick wins. Most importantly, they help people understand that AI is here to make their work better, not replace them.
When your accounting team sees how AI can handle expense reports in minutes instead of hours, or your sales team discovers AI can pull together competitive analysis and market research in minutes instead of hours, adoption happens naturally.
4. They Keep the Important Stuff in Check
AI adoption comes with real responsibilities: protecting customer data, avoiding bias, staying compliant with regulations, maintaining trust with your clients and employees.
Your AI/44 Assessment identifies these risks, but someone needs to make sure they’re managed as you roll out the roadmap. The AI Advocate partners with HR, legal, security, and compliance to create guidelines that actually work, not just theoretical policies that sit in a folder.
This means every new AI use case gets properly vetted before it goes into implementation, protecting both your business and your reputation.
5. They Prove It's Working (And Keep the Momentum Going)
AI is always evolving and adoption isn’t a one-time project. It’s a series of experiments where each success creates momentum and inspires the next one. But without proof of progress, executives lose interest and teams get distracted by other priorities.
The AI Advocate tracks and communicates results clearly: “The customer service AI is handling 40% of routine inquiries, freeing up our team for complex issues” or “Our content team is producing 30% more social posts that are getting better engagement since they started using AI for research and first drafts.”
These visible results give leadership confidence to invest more and keep teams motivated to try even more new applications of AI.
Making Your AI Investment Actually Pay Off
AI has incredible potential. But since the concept of work began, most companies stall in the same place: turning plans into practice.
You’ve got the AI/44 Assessment reports, and an AI Adoption roadmap. You see the opportunities in black and white. But without someone whose job includes making AI adoption happen, you’ll keep having the same “we should really get moving on AI” conversations six months from now.
The AI Advocate changes that. They transform your strategic plan into daily practice. They give leadership confidence, bring employees along, and keep everything grounded in both results and responsibility.
You’ve invested with Twenty44 to help you understand where AI can help your business, the next step is obvious: assign someone who can work with us and make it real. The companies that do this see AI deliver lasting impact. The ones that don’t? They’re still stuck in pilot purgatory, wondering why nothing ever seems to stick.
Ready to move from AI strategy to AI results? Learn more about our AI/44 Assessment and how it creates a clear roadmap for a people-first AI adoption.
Randy Matheson
Randy Matheson is an innovation strategist with a 25+ year proven track record of turning ideas into digital products. He specializes in working with Generative AI for content creation and using cutting-edge AI tools to create and interact with virtual audiences. He operates out Hamilton, Ontario where he resides with his partner and two large dogs.