Keith Yandell is Executive VP of Innovation at FORTÉ, a global provider of communication and collaboration solutions.getty​For years, the path from idea to implementation followed a familiar rhythm. This involved:• Spending months building a proof of concept• Earning buy-in with key stakeholders• Securing funding/budget approval• Getting the green lightNext, you move into pilot, bring in a subset of users, pressure-test the solution and determine what it did (or didn't do) for the business. Then, it’s time for production. Depending on the solution, the whole cycle might take a year or more.Think about the AI capabilities that come at us today within a one-year window. Solutions evaluated at the proof-of-concept stage are irrelevant by the time you're ready to launch. And so, you find yourself stuck in what I'd call a pilot loop. The solution you're piloting gets replaced by a new feature or capability and you pilot that instead. You constantly play catch-up with innovation rather than moving the business forward.At a recent industry conference, I heard the same message repeatedly from business leaders:The traditional pilot model no longer matches the pace of AI innovation.​The Real Cost Of Staying Stuck In Pilot ModeThe competitive risk is obvious. A company more willing to take measured risk can deliver the same outcomes at a fraction of the cost. Vibe coding is a useful example. A traditional development approach charges clients for the hours it takes to build something from scratch. A team that has thoughtfully embraced AI-assisted development can produce the same deliverables faster and cheaper.There’s also a workforce dimension to this. People are more likely to stay engaged at organizations they believe are investing in their future. Providing teams with modern tools isn’t just about efficiency or output; it also shapes how employees perceive the company’s willingness to evolve and support their growth.​​The subtler cost is what I call "pilot fatigue." When an organization's unwillingness to commit keeps cycling through evaluation after evaluation, the question stops being, "Is this ready?" and becomes, "Are we ever actually going to launch anything?"Getting Two Things Right Before You ScaleWhen I advise organizations through these transitions, two pillars must be in place before an organization expands any AI capability.1. GovernanceAI governance means knowing what's being built and used inside your organization, who owns it and how it's being managed. Agent sprawl is a real problem right now, and I've seen organizations with hundreds of "ghost agents" that are unmanaged and unmonitored. An AI council with SMEs across your business is one practical approach.2. SecurityYour data needs to be siloed appropriately so people don’t access information they shouldn't. If you're building AI tools that query your data, make sure you work from mirrors rather than production systems. When you establish these conditions, you can move with confidence.The Part Most Leaders UnderestimateLet me be candid. The thing most organizations get wrong is how much work it takes to drive behavioral change.I've learned this firsthand at FORTÉ with our company rollout of Copilot. Even though we were methodical in our approach, some people went right back to doing things the way they always had as soon as our initial adoption support ended.It was a good reminder that adoption is never a one-and-done effort. We need an ongoing approach to behavioral change: champions, internal communications, celebrating the people who use the tools effectively and a constant cadence of "did you know you could do this?" That kind of sustained internal marketing is what makes the difference.The Acceleration Window​For enabling tools within an existing platform ecosystem, a more realistic pace today is a focused 30-day acceleration window.​Identify an "advanced group" of SMEs from across your key business units. Their role is to test a new capability from the moment it’s available, through the lens of their specific function (e.g., marketing asks how it accelerates the marketing process). Each group runs hard for 30 days, and then the capability extends through your council structure to the broader organization.The Question CIOs Should AskIf you’re sitting on a pilot right now, I encourage you to ask yourself what the top points of risk are if you launched today. Be specific about what could hurt the business, and be honest about how much of that risk is real versus how much is just the way you've always approached these decisions.Even in the most risk-conscious environments, there are usually parts of the business insulated enough to move faster than the rest. The question is whether you're using that as a reason to accelerate somewhere, or as a reason to stay cautious everywhere. The organizations that I see succeeding right now are the ones more willing to commit.​​​Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?