From silos to synergy with AI
I just finished reading Microsoft Research’s annual Future of Work report, and it triggered a genuine “aha” moment for me.
Over the last two years, we have focused on AI as a way to make our colleagues and customers individually more productive. Smarter copilot/agents. Faster execution. A 10 to 15 percent boost here and there. Valuable, yes, but also not game-changing.
That approach alone will never make your ROI in AI worth it.
The real opportunity lies elsewhere.
AI’s greatest impact will not come from optimizing individuals, but from amplifying how teams work together.
Today, too much of our collective intelligence is trapped inside departments, projects, and personal experiences. Insights live in silos. Context gets lost at handovers. Our companies tend to forget what they already know. This is where AI changes the game.
If you think of your company as a brain, your departments already function like neurons. Intelligent, specialized, and capable. But neurons without synapses do not create intelligence. They create noise. AI can become those synapses.
Not by replacing people, but by connecting them. By surfacing hidden knowledge across teams. By allowing insights from one project, department, or PU to immediately inform another. By closing gaps that today require meetings (too many and expensive), escalations, or hoping the right people talk to each other. Individual productivity gains are helpful. Organizational intelligence is transformative. If we want to scale impact rather than just effort, this is where we must aim.
From the Microsoft report... which I think fits like a glove on what we all should aim for our own companies in 2026...
"... AI delivers substantial gains in individual productivity. The next frontier, covered in this year’s report, is collective productivity: how teams, organizations, and communities can get better together. AI can bridge gaps in time, distance, and scale, but only if built correctly.
"We must design AI to support shared goals, group context, and the norms of collaboration, and this requires not just new tools but new ways of working."
MS report
At Cegal, we have started creating these synapses, and we are starting to see the benefits. We can help you and your company as well. Reach out if you want to know more and create your company's collective intelligence!
