Most organisations today understand that AI matters. Many have pilots, tools, and even formal AI strategies in place. Yet far fewer are seeing sustained competitive advantage from those investments.
The difference isn’t access to technology. It’s how AI and data are embedded across the organisation — and whether they are treated as foundational capabilities or bolt-on innovations.
At our Frontier Firm event in London, Martin Brierley, Practice Lead: Data & AI, and Simon Blewitt, CTO at Makutu, part of ANS, shared their insights into how Frontier Firms get this right.
Competitive advantage isn’t a breakthrough — it’s marginal gains
A useful way to think about this comes from outside technology altogether.
When Lando Norris stood on the top step of the Formula One podium as World Champion, the image was of a single driver celebrating success. But no F1 team wins championships because of one individual or one innovation. Victory is the outcome of thousands of small, data driven decisions made consistently across the organisation.
As Martin Brierley, Head of Data & AI at ANS, put it during our Frontier Firm event:
“Performance at the frontier is never accidental. It’s engineered over time, through thousands of small, data informed decisions made collectively and consistently.”
Formula One teams collect hundreds of millions of data points across a race weekend — from telemetry and tyre degradation to weather conditions and pit strategy. None of those signals matter in isolation. But combined, analysed in real time, and acted on with confidence, they create decisive advantage measured in milliseconds.
The same principle applies to modern organisations.
AI doesn’t create advantage on its own — it amplifies what’s already there
One of the most common misconceptions we see is the belief that AI can fix underlying data problems. In reality, it does the opposite.
AI is an amplifier. It scales whatever data, structure, and behaviours already exist in the organisation — good or bad.
As Simon Blewett, CTO at Makuta (part of ANS), explained:
“AI doesn’t clean up messy data. It magnifies it. If your data is inconsistent, poorly governed, or fragmented, AI will simply help you make bad decisions faster.”
This is why so many AI initiatives stall after early pilots. Tools are deployed at the “top of the house” — copilots, agents, automation — while the foundations underneath remain weak. Poor data quality, unclear ownership, and siloed systems eventually surface as risk, inaccuracy, or loss of trust.
Frontier Firms take a different approach.
Frontier advantage starts with data foundations, not tools
Becoming a Frontier Firm is not about chasing the latest AI capability. It’s about building the conditions that allow AI to deliver value safely and at scale.
That starts with data treated as a strategic asset, not a byproduct of operations.
Frontier organisations invest in:
- Unified data platforms that bring information together across systems
- Governance and security that make data trustworthy and auditable
- Clear ownership so people know what data exists and how it can be used
- Realtime data flows that support decisions as events happen, not weeks later
This foundation enables AI to operate with confidence — grounded in data that is current, relevant, and controlled.
As Martin noted during the session:
“AI isn’t the starting point of the journey. It’s the outcome of a well-structured data strategy.”
Competitive advantage is organisational, not technical
Another defining characteristic of Frontier Firms is that AI and data are not confined to specialist teams.
Just as not every member of an F1 team drives the car, not everyone in a Frontier organisation needs to be a data scientist. What matters is that people across the business can access, trust, and act on data as part of their everyday work.
This requires:
- Data literacy, so teams understand what insights mean and how to use them
- Cross functional ways of working, where domain experts collaborate with data and technology specialists
- Cultural confidence to challenge gut instinct with evidence
Only around a quarter of organisations today describe themselves as truly data driven. Frontier Firms close that gap by embedding data informed decision-making into how the business operates — not by mandating dashboards, but by making insight easier than guesswork.
From experimentation to operating model
Many organisations are already “doing AI”. What differentiates Frontier Firms is that AI becomes part of the operating system of the business.
It shows up in:
- How leaders make decisions
- How teams prioritise work
- How processes adapt in real time
- How insight flows across the organisation
AI is no longer a separate initiative. It is human led and AI enabled — accelerating expertise, reducing friction, and unlocking productivity without burnout.
Crucially, this shift does not require a multiyear transformation before value appears. Frontier Firms establish a baseline, build incrementally, and scale with governance built in from day one.
Our perspective: AI and data as a competitive system
At ANS, our perspective is simple: competitive advantage in the AI era comes from systems, not silver bullets.
Organisations that win will not be those with the most data, the most tools, or the biggest AI teams. They will be the ones that:
- Build strong data foundations
- Empower people with trusted insight
- Apply AI where it matters most
- Scale safely, with control and confidence
This is what it means to move from AI readiness to AI realisation — and ultimately, to become a Frontier Firm.
Practical takeaways for leaders
If you’re thinking about how AI and data can create real advantage in your organisation, consider these questions:
- Is your data trusted enough for AI to act on it?
If not, AI will expose problems rather than solve them. - Do people know who owns critical data — and how to access it?
Governance should enable progress, not slow it down. - Are decisions informed by real-time insight, or retrospective reporting?
Competitive advantage increasingly depends on speed as well as accuracy. - Is AI embedded into workflows, or confined to experiments?
Pilots create learning; operating models create value. - Do you have a clear baseline before you build?
Measuring readiness is essential before scaling AI safely.
Start your AI Readiness Assessment
Becoming a Frontier Firm is a journey — but it’s one that starts with clarity.
If you want to understand where your organisation stands today, and what it will take to unlock real world value from AI and data, the first step is a structured AI Readiness Assessment.
At ANS, we help organisations:
- Identify gaps in data, governance, and skills
- Build a clear, prioritised roadmap
- Move safely from experimentation to realisation
- Unlock productivity, growth, and resilience with AI — without the risk
