Episode 92: AI at work in Insight

In Episode 92 of the Transforming Insight podcast, James is joined by IMA Head of Content, Emma Jones, and IMA Senior Adviser, Roy Hammond, who have been leading the discussion about AI adoption at the Insight forums this month.

Emma shares the results of a recent survey of IMA members, which shows that the proportion of Insight teams “regularly adopting” or “rapidly embracing” AI has moved from 10% in 2024 to 56% this year. But adoption alone isn’t the whole story: we need to explore quality standards, skills gaps, trust issues, governance challenges, and the cultural variations in organisations that go a long way to explaining the context in which this transformation is happening.

Roy offers a framework to help make sense of that journey: a 5-step model of AI adoption running from discovery and experimentation through to optimisation, standardisation, and ultimately transformation. Most Insight teams are somewhere in the middle of that arc. Roy's practical advice for teams at each stage will give listeners something genuinely useful to take back to their own organisations.

But throughout the conversation we keep coming back to the parallel ways in which we can think about AI: is it the technology behind a set of tools forced upon us to enable our organisations to cut costs, or a treasure trove of opportunities which, handled carefully, could enable your Insight team to provide faster, better and cheaper insights and simultaneously enable you to move upstream and add more value?

There’s much to be said for exploring what lots of new technology can do for us, but we should also remember that we must see new opportunities and threats in the context of the evolution of Insight in our organisations. As James reminds us at the end, it’s an Insight leader’s role to shape the definition, development and decisions of an Insight-driven organisation; how can AI help you to do that?

Please listen to find out more!

Topics Discussed

• Current Trends of AI Adoption in Insight Teams (1.06)
• The Dual Perspectives of Insight Teams on AI (05.11)
• Examples of AI Applications in Insight Processes (11.09)
• Framework for AI Adoption in Insight Teams (17.39)
• Transforming Insight Roles in an AI-Driven World (23.05)

This is episode 92 of the Transforming Insight podcast.

If you have the ambition to transform your Insight team and the role it plays in your organisation, please tune in to future episodes. Not only will we explore the 42 secrets of successful corporate Insight teams as outlined in the Transforming Insight book, and the 9Ps of The Insight Leader’s Playbook, we will also talk to senior corporate Insight leaders, delve into books that have inspired us, and discuss new best practice research carried out with the IMA’s corporate members.

You won’t want to miss this! So please subscribe - and thank you for listening.

About James Wycherley

James Wycherley was Director of Customer Insight and Analytics at Barclays Bank from 2005 to 2015 when he became Chief Executive of the Insight Management Academy (IMA).

He published his first book, Transforming Insight, in 2020, and his second, The Insight Leader’s Playbook, in 2025, and he hosts the Insight forums and the Transforming Insight podcast.

An entertaining keynote speaker, he has presented over 60 times at Quirk’s events, a global record, and has provided thought leadership in the UK, USA, Europe, Canada, Australia, India and the Middle East.

The Insight Management Academy is the world’s leading authority on transforming corporate Insight teams, and its vision is to inspire and support every Insight leader to transform the impact of Insight in their organisation.

Resources:

If you would like more information on any of the ideas discussed in this episode of the Transforming Insight podcast, please visit www.insight-management.org

Disclaimer

The Transforming Insight podcast is published by the Insight Management Academy and produced by Zorbiant.