Turning AI Anxiety Into Advantage: A Leaders Guide to the Future of AI in Business

As I was prepping my keynote presentation for the UNITE 2025 customer conference, my mind kept coming back to the emotion that many of us experience when we think about AI: fear. Between job security worries, ethical concerns, security unease, fear of missing out or not knowing first steps, there's undoubtedly a significant level of AI anxiety circulating.

It reminded me of a time I had to face down one of my own fears. I was just out of college, and I’d landed a prestigious engineering job. My father was thrilled; but within a year, I knew it wasn’t the life I wanted. So at 22, I quit and took a job that paid a third as much but was more fulfilling. I faced a fork in the road and chose growth over comfort.

Today, with AI, we’re all standing at a similar crossroads. It doesn’t help that studies show that AI projects aren’t yet achieving their full potential—MIT found that AI initiatives fail to generate return on investment (ROI) 95% of the time. That makes it look like enough of a longshot that many people will just rule out the prospect. Others might get stuck in “analysis paralysis,” convinced that they have to carefully analyze and calibrate every step at a granular level before they can even get started.

But even those individuals who are too fearful or unsure of AI to be leaning into it would admit that by hesitating, they are taking a risk. With each day that passes, they and their businesses are falling behind those that are diving in, because while the latter are likely doing their fair share of failing, they’re learning even more. They’re developing exciting new tools, not to mention the expertise that it’ll take to compete in the Industry 5.0 era.

To help leaders move past fear on to meaningful action, let me share some practical recommendations for getting started with AI—strategies that build confidence, reduce risk and create early wins. I’ll also show how Aptean is leading that journey with our all-in-one enterprise AI platform, AppCentral, and our purpose-built Aptean Intelligence, designed specifically for the industries we serve.

AI and the Future of Business: Understanding Trends To Move Forward Fearlessly

I think few would argue that now is a time to wait, rather than act. However, knowing that it's time to do something and knowing how to do it are different things. The question I get most often about AI is a simple one—where do I start?

The first step is to establish a sound AI adoption framework and make sure you remain grounded in it. That means accepting the truth that because AI is relatively new and we’re all still exploring what’s possible, not every initiative will succeed. Move forward with these best practices in mind:

• Stay focused on the problem you’re trying to solve and continually iterate on how you apply AI so your teams keep moving toward meaningful outcomes.

• Value every learning moment—including failures—because each experiment builds the knowledge and confidence your organization needs to mature its AI use.

• Think beyond today’s constraints and don’t let current expectations or limitations box you in; the future is arriving fast, and bold ideas win.

• Use AI to make software work for you, automating manual tasks, uncovering insights you’d miss and keeping your organization agile as change accelerates.

• Build the right foundation with an integrated, cloud-deployed platform so your data flows, your systems work together, and you can get the most from AI.

I’m excited to say that we’ve built just such a platform in Aptean AppCentral, an intelligent ecosystem with purpose-built hubs tailored for the industries we serve. Designed to help your business quickly and easily leverage the transformative power of AI, it has robust AI capabilities at its core and lets you manage your entire business, end to end, through a single pane of glass. It puts endless possibilities at your fingertips and supports broad enterprise AI adoption.

AppCentral and Aptean Intelligence: Top-Tier Technology From a Trusted Partner

I understand the hesitation many leaders feel about AI—it’s unfamiliar territory, and the adoption challenges can seem daunting. But I’ve learned firsthand that progress rarely comes without a little uncertainty. And the good news is, you don’t have to take the leap alone. Partnering with a technology provider that already has deep AI capabilities can make all the difference, and that’s exactly why we’ve built AppCentral to guide you through every stage of AI adoption.

Our platform is much more than a collection of applications. Whether you’re using a single ERP or multiple tools across order management, production and supply chain, the ecosystem connects your data and gives you full visibility across your business. By combining deep industry-specific functionality, broad operational coverage and purpose-built AI, AppCentral provides your business with a future-proof platform for success—pre-built and ready to go, mitigating typical AI fears and adoption challenges.

It’s the AI engine inside AppCentral, Aptean Intelligence, that transforms how your software works for you. It puts AI directly into your workflows, automating tasks, delivering instant answers from across your data and providing full visibility into your supply chain. What once took hours can happen in seconds, and AI agents can predict needs and act autonomously with human oversight.

Imagine if…

• You could talk to your business and your data in natural language, asking questions, exploring insights and letting an intelligent assistant guide your next steps.

• You could automate workflows, offloading everyday tasks so your teams can focus on higher-value work.

• You had an AI-powered personalized workspace, surfacing the information, tools and recommendations that matter most to you in the moment.

• You could use predictive intelligence to plan with confidence, getting accurate demand forecasts that inform procurement and help you stay ahead of shifting needs.

With our Intelligence as a Service offering, we’ll be right there beside you—supporting you in the development and deployment of AI agents and intelligent workflows that work for your business. Whether it’s tackling a stubborn process, reimagining your strategy or fine-tuning a single workflow, we’ll guide you every step of the way to ensure Aptean Intelligence truly delivers results and helps you move beyond the fear of AI.

And as we move forward, responsibility and trust remain our foundation. Responsible AI usage and data security are central to everything we build. We understand the concerns around AI, and we take them seriously. Your data is always your own—protected, private, and handled according to industry-leading security standards. Because at Aptean, innovation and integrity go hand in hand.

Embrace the Future With Confidence

Take it from me: Transformation isn’t easy. When I quit that job as a young man, I knew I was taking a risk. And when we set out to become an AI-led organization, we knew we’d make mistakes along the way. But we also knew that standing still wasn’t an option. Now we’ve built something truly transformative with AppCentral and Aptean Intelligence, and we’re ready to bring that same spirit of progress and possibility to your business.

As you begin exploring what AI can do for your organization, it helps to have a partner who brings not just technology, but clarity. That’s why we’ve invested so deeply in building capabilities that remove barriers and make AI adoption feel achievable rather than abstract. Our role is to carry some of that weight with you—to make the journey less intimidating and far more rewarding.

And throughout that journey, trust and responsibility remain our guiding principles. When you pair that foundation with the right strategy and a willingness to lean into progress, AI becomes not just a new technology, but a powerful catalyst for transformation.

The future belongs to those willing to take the leap and overcome their fear of AI. With AppCentral, Aptean Intelligence and Intelligence as a Service, we’re giving you the tools, insight and support to take that next step with confidence—and shape what’s next for your business, starting today.

Want to learn more? Feel free to contact us or request a personalized demo. You can also take your free AppCentral product tour to see what all the buzz is about.