UpTrajectory Review

Harvard Business Review has published a piece by Justine Hastings arguing that the real payoff from AI comes when organizations deploy it across departmental boundaries rather than confining it to siloed pilots. The available text is thin, but the headline and thesis are pointed: most companies are rolling out AI function by function, and that approach may be leaving value on the table. Hastings appears to be drawing on new research, though the specific study, sample size, and methodology are not visible in the excerpt provided. The core claim is that cross-functional AI rollouts, where systems touch sales, operations, finance, and customer service simultaneously or in coordinated fashion, generate better returns than isolated deployments.

For a small-business operator, this framing cuts against the conventional wisdom that AI adoption should start small and stay contained. Most small firms do not have the luxury of dedicated AI teams per department, so the idea that cross-functional deployment is actually the smarter path is both counterintuitive and potentially liberating. If Hastings is right, a business owner who implements an AI tool that connects inventory, ordering, and customer communication from day one may see compounding benefits that a single-function tool cannot deliver. The practical implication is that integration and workflow design matter more than the sophistication of any individual model.

What is genuinely new here is the challenge to the pilot-first orthodoxy that has dominated AI adoption advice for years. The standard playbook says pick one use case, prove ROI, then scale. Hastings seems to be arguing that this incrementalism is structurally flawed because AI's value emerges at the seams between functions, not within them. We are sympathetic to this view but would want to see the underlying evidence before fully endorsing it. Cross-functional rollouts are harder to manage, require more upfront coordination, and carry greater risk of failure. The research may show better average returns, but averages can hide wide variance, and small firms have less tolerance for a botched deployment than large enterprises do.

The second-order effects are worth considering. If cross-functional AI becomes the accepted best practice, vendors will shift their product roadmaps toward integrated platforms rather than point solutions, which could raise costs and reduce flexibility for buyers who prefer best-of-breed tools. Employees whose work spans departments, the operations generalists and office managers common in small businesses, may find their roles redefined or expanded as AI absorbs routine cross-functional coordination. There is also a competitive dynamic: firms that adopt integrated AI early could pull ahead of peers still running siloed pilots, widening the productivity gap between tech-forward small businesses and those that wait.

Watch for the full research details when the HBR piece is accessible, particularly whether the findings hold for firms under 100 employees or are driven by enterprise-scale data. In the meantime, operators should audit their current or planned AI tools and ask whether any of them connect across at least two core workflows. If every tool you use or are evaluating serves only one department, that is a signal to rethink the deployment strategy before spending more. Start by mapping where information handoffs create friction in your business, because those handoffs are likely where an integrated AI approach would deliver the most immediate return.

The bottom line is that AI strategy is becoming less about which model you choose and more about how broadly you let it operate across your business. That is a meaningful shift in thinking, and one that small-business owners should take seriously even before the full evidence is in front of them.

“AI systems are most valuable when rolled out across functions, not just within them.” — Harvard Business Review

Takeaway: Evaluate AI tools by whether they connect multiple workflows, not just one department, before committing budget to siloed pilots.