May 2026 - Cumulus Global

The initial AI hype is wearing off, and a growing backlash is setting in. Now, your plans and investments need to reflect what’s actually happening.

As recently reported in Inc., a Boston Consulting Group (BCG) study found significant gaps between AI expectations and reality.

Leadership expectations for AI do not match the messy reality of rolling the technology out to frontline workers and managers. And while the study focused on larger enterprises, these challenges apply directly to small and midsize organizations.

The AI Gap

Gaps between expectations and reality manifest in three key areas:

1Expected ROI

Many businesses are investing heavily in AI but aren’t seeing the promised returns yet. The BCG study shows only 20% of leaders feel their adoption rate is correct. The other 80% feel they’re moving too slowly or inconsistently.

The study attributes this to the AI hype cycle and a limited understanding of AI among non-technical business leaders. Fear of missing out (FOMO) is driving urgency rather than clear strategic goals.

2Trust

Business leaders trust AI more than frontline workers and managers. While leadership sees pure potential, the employees using the tools are highly skeptical. Many worry that working with AI tools is just training their eventual replacements.

3Training

Executives and upper management want quick AI adoption, but their staff commonly struggle with when and how to use these new tools. The study notes that AI leadership is often unclear, leading to conflicting expectations and priorities. Your team needs hands-on training to integrate AI into their workflows, along with an easy way to provide feedback.

Steps You Should Take

Given the gaps and their potential to slow or halt AI efforts, we recommend you take the following five steps for your AI projects and efforts.

1)Create an AI
Appropriate Use Policy

A robust AI Appropriate Use Policy creates a foundation for why, when, and how your team uses AI. It also sets solid expectations for data security, privacy, and governance.

2)Define and Share your
AI Goals and Strategy

Communication builds trust. When you share your AI goals and strategies, your team will understand how AI supports their daily work. This sets healthy boundaries and removes the fear of the unknown.

3)Clearly Establish AI
Leadership and Governance

Consistent direction, priorities, and expectations reduce friction while creating predictable results. Top-down leadership provides a uniform approach that demonstrates your commitment to responsible AI usage.

4)Identify and Focus on
Specific Use Cases

AI for the sake of AI will fail. Look closely at your daily workflows, especially repetitive or data-intensive tasks, and define clear use cases. Pinpoint your desired outcomes so that you can easily review and refine the rollout.

5)Setup and Follow a
Change Management Process

Don’t just let AI happen. Instead, make it happen. Treat your transition to AI like any other mission-critical project. Regular updates, feedback loops, and clear timelines will help you stay ahead of issues. Your team will be able to spot and fix problems before they stall your progress.

Help is Here

We are here to help you succeed. If you want to learn more, check out our AI Landing Zone, send us a message, or book a meeting with our Cloud Advisors.

About the Author

Bill is a Senior Cloud Advisor responsible for helping small and midsize organizations with productive, security, and secure managed cloud services. Bill works with executives, leaders, and team members to understand workflows, identify strategic goals and tactical requirements, and design solutions and implementation phases. Having helped hundreds of organizations successfully adopt cloud solutions, his expertise and working style ensure a comfortable experience and effective change management.

Google Workspace Business Starter is a robust, affordable productivity suite that handles the essentials of secure email, calendar, and document sharing services. But as your business grows, those entry-level features can start to feel like a constraint.

If you are outgrowing the limits of Business Starter, here are seven reasons to consider upgrading to a Business Standard or Business Plus subscription.

1 Massive Storage Increases:

Business Starter caps you at 30GB per user. This fills up fast when you consider high-resolution images, video files, and years of email history. Upgrading to Business Standard or Plus bumps your capacity to 2TB or 5TB per user, respectively. Furthermore, this storage is pooled across your entire organization, which gives your heavy users the flexibility they need.

2 Shared Drives:

Shared drives provide a centralized way to manage your folders and permissions. Ownership resides with the system instead of individuals, so access remains consistent even as your team changes. You also benefit from more precise access controls and a streamlined process for sharing files externally.

3 Appointment Scheduling:

This feature allows you to eliminate the cost of third-party tools like Calendly. By upgrading, you can create professional booking pages directly within Google Calendar. Simply set your availability and share a link to let clients book time with you, which removes the friction of back and forth scheduling emails.

4 Professional Meeting Tools:

Don’t rely on third-party AI extensions to capture your meetings. With a Business Starter or Business Plus Subscription, you unlock the ability to record Google Meet sessions and use built-in AI note-taking. These features are secure and fully integrated, ensuring your team never misses a follow-up item or a key decision.

5 Gemini AI Assistance:

Gemini AI is now built directly into Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Chat, and Meet. Whether you need a first draft of a proposal, a summary of a long email thread, or a custom image for a slide deck, Gemini acts as a force multiplier for your daily tasks. It helps your team move from a blank page to a finished product faster.

6 The Gemini App and Custom Gems:

Beyond the side panel in your documents, an upgrade provides secure access to the full Gemini LLM at gemini.google.com. You can create Gems, which are custom AI personas tailored to your specific brand voice or workflows. They allow you to schedule automated actions to keep your business moving efficiently.

7 NotebookLM:

This tool is a significant advantage for data-driven teams. NotebookLM allows you to create private and secure learning models using only your specific data. It functions like a research assistant that has read your internal documents and can synthesize information or answer complex questions instantly.

What About the Cost?

While upgrading comes with marginal increases in your per user licensing fees, the vast majority of small and midsize organizations can offset the increase.

With the expanded capabilities of Google Workspace Business Standard and Business Plus subscriptions, you can eliminate fees for:

Calendaring and appointment scheduling tools
Online meeting services
Standalone Gen AI subscriptions
External AI note-taking services
Additional cloud storage providers

Help is Here

We are here to ensure you have the right tools for your specific goals. If you want to learn more, check out the blog posts and eBooks in our AI Landing Zone, send us a message, or book a meeting with our Cloud Advisors.

About the Author

Allen Falcon is the co-founder and CEO of Cumulus Global. Allen co-founded Cumulus Global in 2006 to offer small businesses enterprise-grade email security and compliance using emerging cloud solutions. He has led the company’s growth into a managed cloud service provider with over 1,000 customers throughout North America.