Businesses are entering a new phase of digital transformation, one where AI is no longer a question of if, but how well leaders can govern, deploy, and extract value from it. The challenge ahead is not adoption alone, but capability, confidence, and clarity of purpose. 

Queensland businesses are feeling this shift acutely. Our 2025 Digital Future of Work Report shows 52% of businesses now report a strong or critical need for new skills and training to cope with technological change, and 82% believe leadership skills must evolve to capitalise on technologies like AI. 

The new expectation: Leaders must set the direction 

AI has opened the door to designing and reshaping technology in ways that were never previously accessible. It puts powerful capability in the hands of the whole business but can only create an advantage when leaders provide clarity, create strong governance, and invest in capability. 

The National AI Centre’s Guidance for AI Adoption reinforces this. It outlines six essential practices every organisation should follow: 

• Decide who is accountable 
• Understand impacts and plan accordingly 
• Measure and manage risks  
• Share essential information 
• Test and monitor 
• Maintain human control 

These practices give leaders a clear, nationally recognised governance spine. Importantly, they also reinforce that AI adoption must be driven by leadership decisions, not by vendor hype or isolated experimentation. 

The purpose of AI: More, better, different 

AI’s real value lies not in its features, but in what it enables. 

Businesses should design AI strategies with a clear ambition to improve efficiency so they can achieve: 

• More (Growth): Expanding capacity by serving more customers, completing more work, and driving growth without equivalent increases in cost or staffing. 
• Better (Quality): Lifting accuracy, consistency, and decision‑making by removing bottlenecks and reducing error‑prone tasks. 
• Different (Innovation): Unlocking new offerings, new service models, and entirely new ways of creating value that weren’t previously possible. 

AI won’t replace leadership, it will redefine it 

If 2026 is the year of AI adoption, then it’s also the year leaders must choose purposeful adoption.  

What Queensland businesses need most is clarity; clarity about where AI delivers value, the guardrails that keep it safe, and the capabilities required to use it well. 

Those who lead decisively now will be the ones shaping the state’s economy in the years ahead. 

If you’re looking to take the first step towards implementing AI in your business, join us at our upcoming NBN Connects with Microsoft event, happening in Brisbane.