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The friction tax: Hidden work is AI’s biggest enterprise opportunity

What the data reveals

  • Work is more broken than leaders realize

    Employees are losing hours every day to stalled systems and fragmented workflows, often finding workarounds instead of reporting issues. This invisible friction slows productivity and leaves leaders with an incomplete picture of the true operational cost

  • AI is being deployed in the wrong conditions

    The biggest barrier to AI success isn’t the technology; it’s the environment. Broken workflows, poor integration, and lack of visibility mean AI is often layered on top of inefficiency instead of fixing it.

  • The opportunity is clear, and both sides agree on it

    Employees want less friction and better work quality, while leaders want efficiency and ROI. The path forward is the same: apply AI to eliminate everyday friction first, and build trust through real, visible impact.

In today’s enterprises, AI adoption is accelerating, but productivity gains are often elusive. According to our survey, 61% of employees have delayed or avoided important work and 88% employees lose some time daily because of stalled systems and broken workflows. These metrics highlight the hidden friction that slows organizations down every day. Leaders see some of these challenges, with 47% experiencing 3 or more hours of productivity loss per week themselves.

 

But much of the problem remains invisible, leaving AI tools to operate on incomplete information. The report reveals that the most successful AI initiatives don’t start with high-level decisions. They begin by tackling the everyday friction that employees face, building trust through small, meaningful wins, and creating measurable impact where it matters most.