Remember when employees started signing up for Dropbox, Slack and countless SaaS applications without IT’s knowledge? It’s happening again—this time with AI. Across organisations, employees are subscribing to ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Claude, Gemini and other AI tools using company credit cards or expense claims, often with the best intentions. They want to work faster, write better, analyse data and improve productivity.
The challenge is that many organisations have little visibility into these purchases. This isn’t just an IT issue. It’s a governance issue. Without central oversight, organisations can quickly find themselves with:
- Multiple teams paying for similar AI tools.
- Sensitive company data being uploaded to external platforms.
- Duplicate licences and unnecessary spend.
- No clear ownership or accountability.
- Increased security and compliance risks.
The answer isn’t to stop employees using AI. Quite the opposite. Businesses should encourage innovation while putting sensible governance in place. That means:
- Defining approved AI platforms.
- Creating clear usage policies.
- Monitoring AI-related spend.
- Regularly reviewing licences for duplication.
- Educating employees on responsible AI use.
Just as cloud and SaaS transformed the way organisations consume technology, AI is creating a new category of operational spend that requires visibility and governance.
Before you can optimise costs or manage risk, you first need to answer some simple questions:
- Which AI tools are we paying for?
- Who owns them?
- Are we paying twice for the same capability?
- Are employees using approved platforms?
The organisations that will gain the greatest value from AI won’t necessarily be those using the most tools—they’ll be the ones that combine innovation with good governance.
The question isn’t whether your employees are using AI. The question is whether you know where, how much it’s costing, and whether it’s being managed effectively.
