You've invested. You've allocated the budget, hired the talent, and announced your commitment to an AI-driven future. 

Yet, the promised growth remains elusive. The radical business transformation you were sold has failed to materialise, and a growing sense of unease is setting in. Now, stakeholders are starting to ask the hard questions, the ones about ROI.

If this scenario sounds uncomfortably familiar, you're not alone. Many organisations find themselves caught in a cycle of high activity but low impact.

Their AI strategy has become more about appearances than tangible business results.

The most common question in business leadership meetings is no longer whether they will adopt AI, but where and how to begin.

This uncertainty creates two dangerous traps that snare well-intentioned organisations:

The first is the trap of ‘paralysis by analysis'. 

The second is the trap of directionless investment.

Put simply, the difference between a successful AI launch and a high-cost failure is the clarity of the strategy.

It’s been hard to miss the retail-related headlines over the past year but in the slight chance you did, we’ll set the scene. In the spring of 2025, a coordinated wave of cyberattacks hit some of the UK's most prominent high-street names in what experts have dubbed the "UK Retail Cyber Siege."

This wasn’t an isolated event. The retail sector is now considered one of the most targeted industries for ransomware, with attacks causing massive disruption, from shuttering online services to halting payments and bringing supply chains to a standstill.

Don't just collect data—act on it. A Data Assembly Line moves your factory from insight to action. Learn how to leverage your unified IT and OT data to predict machine failures, prevent quality issues, and dynamically respond to supply chain disruptions. This article details the tangible ROI of a smart factory, powered by Google Cloud, turning your data into your most profitable asset.

Demand in business is never constant; it has peaks and valleys. This can make finding the right infrastructure for your business seem impossible. Do you build a setup capable of handling your peak demand? Or do you build one to suit your average usage needs, which may not be fit for purpose if your demand spikes?

But why should you have to choose?

Stop losing profits to disconnected data. Your factory's IT and OT systems aren't talking, and it's costing you. Learn how to build a unified "Assembly Line of Analytics" with Google Cloud to connect your shop floor to the top floor. This blueprint helps you turn siloed data into actionable insights, enabling predictive maintenance and smarter, faster decisions. Bridge the data gap and unlock your manufacturing potential.