Our AI Flow Talks podcast series shares real-life stories from the world of AI to help organizations navigate their AI transformation more easily. In this episode, we examine the AI revolution from the perspectives of business and IT services. In the discussion, Fluentia CEO Sami Vaskuri and Siili Solutions’ CEO Tomi Pienimäki analyze how AI transformation affects IT services and what current and future impacts it has on companies’ business operations.
This episode explores why the AI revolution represents a greater transformation than any previous technological revolution. Previous revolutions, such as the internet, mobile technology, and the cloud, primarily changed where and how work is done. Artificial intelligence brings about a more comprehensive change, leading to the reinvention of many processes.
The impact of artificial intelligence extends widely across all industries. Its ability to enable the creation of something new – rather than merely the utilization of data – is becoming particularly significant.
Although artificial intelligence significantly lowers the barrier to building applications and testing ideas, that doesn’t mean everyone will start building their own systems. Developing high-quality, scalable, and secure solutions still requires expertise, infrastructure, and governance.
Pienimäki believes that artificial intelligence will primarily influence how existing services are delivered in new ways, rather than creating entirely new business models. Company processes no longer need to conform to off-the-shelf solutions; instead, with AI, it is cost-effective to create systems tailored to a company’s operations.
Artificial intelligence is also challenging the traditional IT consulting business. AI significantly speeds up coding, and the focus of work shifts to specification, understanding context, and quality assurance. The role of developers is increasingly becoming that of a kind of orchestrator who directs and monitors the activities of AI agents. This highlights the importance of business acumen and holistic management alongside – and instead of – technical work. Organizations need partners who understand the broad potential of AI across various industries and can help them leverage it in practice.
Hourly billing no longer fits into a world where work is becoming significantly faster. New models, such as monthly flat rates and usage-based pricing, may take its place.
In many areas, Finnish companies have adopted a wait-and-see attitude, even though they should be keeping pace with the transformation and jumping in with both feet. The AI transformation is advancing at such a rapid pace that if we just sit back and wait, it will be impossible to catch up with those who are moving forward. We should actively experiment and build new operating models.
Pienimäki also emphasizes that isolated experiments are not enough and are often ineffective. Instead, it would be better to start with a clean slate and, rather than modifying old processes, build new ones alongside them that are genuinely AI-native. This way, we can see where the real benefits lie. If the pilot goes well, the new process can be put into use immediately.
There is inevitably a lot of hype surrounding artificial intelligence, but AI is here to stay. In the short term, its impact may be overestimated, but in the long term, it will likely be even greater than current estimates suggest.
In the midst of the AI revolution, it is important to keep in mind that this is not merely about technology, and that the business benefits it brings do not depend on the technology itself, but rather on organizations’ ability to adapt and keep pace with change.
The episode is also available on Spotify
