Most businesses are using AI now and most aren’t getting much back

Earlier this year, a report from MIT’s NANDA research initiative landed with a thud on LinkedIn. The finding getting most of the attention: despite somewhere between $30 and $40 billion in enterprise investment in generative AI, only around 5% of AI pilot projects are reaching production at scale with measurable business impact.

LinkedIn responded predictably. Pages of profound observations followed, most of them – I’ll be diplomatic here – somewhat repetitive and suspiciously well-formatted.

I don’t want to add to that pile. But the underlying finding is worth talking about properly, because it confirms something a lot of practitioners have been sensing for a while.

We’re now more than halfway through the financial year. If your organisation committed to doing something meaningful with AI tools in FY2025-26, November is a reasonable moment to ask honestly how that’s going.

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This article was first published on the ENVEE Digital blog.  

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What Should a Small Business Website Actually Do in 2025?

In 2025, small businesses need more than just a website – they need a digital solution that supports business goals, builds trust and helps customers take action.

The days of a website that is simply a passive “business card” are long gone. Today, your online presence should be actively working for you to connect with customers, validate your credibility, and generate leads.

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This article was first published on the WebSolutionZ.com.au blog.  

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Your website isn’t invisible: it just isn’t showing up where people are looking

Most businesses built their online presence around one idea: rank well on Google, get found, get enquiries. It worked well for twenty years, but then something shifted.

A client came to me earlier this year having noticed exactly this problem. Traffic to their website was up year-on-year. Rankings for their key search terms looked solid. And yet enquiries weren’t keeping pace. Something wasn’t adding up.

When we dug into the data, the picture became clearer – and it’s a pattern I’m now seeing across multiple SME clients. AI-powered search is changing how people find information online, and the gap between “ranking well” and “getting found by people ready to enquire” is widening for businesses that haven’t noticed the shift yet.

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This article was first published on the ENVEE Digital blog. 

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Is Your Website Content Holding You Back? How to Audit for AI Visibility

As AI-powered search tools like Copilot, ChatGPT and Perplexity become more common, many businesses are starting to realise their website content no longer performs the way it used to – not because people search differently, but because search results are now presented differently.

Recently, a client asked for help improving their search visibility. Their site looked fine on the surface, but after a quick audit it was clear the content hadn’t been touched in years. Service pages were thin, FAQs were buried in blog posts, and key offerings weren’t described in detail. Another client had migrated to a new platform but hadn’t updated legacy content – the structure was solid, but the messaging was still stuck in 2016.

Here’s how we approach content audits to improve visibility in AI-powered search results.

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This article was first published on the WebSolutionZ.com.au blog.  

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Corporate Social Engineering 101

Another day, another Australian corporation actively encouraging social engineering. 🤦‍♀️ 

For YEARS, RACV has called from a "Private Number" to discuss a claim, and immediately asked me to confirm my full name, date of birth, and address “for security purposes.” (They're not the only Australian company that does this, but they are today's example).

Whose security?! 

Let’s be clear:

You called me. From a hidden number. Asking for personal details.

That’s not security. That’s textbook social engineering.

When I push back, they read out an obvious script along the lines of "if you're not comfortable with this we will send an SMS to your mobile with details on how to call us back". So they know this is a problem. Yet they persist.

Kevin Mitnick was doing social engineering in the 1990s ("The Art of Deception" was published in 2002). It’s 2025. With scams and identity theft at an all-time high, why are large organisations still normalising insecure behaviour?

We need to stop training customers to hand over personal data to anyone who sounds official.

Do better, for all of our sakes.

This article was first published on LinkedIn

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What Cloudflare’s AI block means for SEO and strategy

Cloudflare has started blocking AI crawlers from accessing its clients’ websites by default. This matters because it changes the fundamental economics of publishing online content.

For the past twenty years, the deal was straightforward: search engines crawled your content, indexed it, and sent you traffic in return. You got visitors, they got comprehensive search results, everyone benefited.

AI models broke that arrangement. They crawl your content, extract what they need and generate answers - without sending traffic back. No attribution, no visibility, no return. You did the work but they take the value.

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This article was first published on the ENVEE Digital blog. 

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Meta’s Latest Attack on Privacy

I've long had an interest in online privacy. I use Brave browser on my Android which blocks a lot by default, disable location except when I need it, and log out of Facebook everywhere. I've used Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)'s Privacy Badger and a number of other Chrome extensions on my desktop Chrome for years. I still use Firefox/Developer for development work. This setup works OK, but its always irritated me that Android Chrome doesn't allow extensions, which is why I have it installed but rarely use it.

Last week I took my daughter to the Gold Coast for a few days, to celebrate completing her undergrad studies. We spent a day hitting the shops at Pacific Fair. An hour after we got back to our hotel, I started getting ads on Instagram & Facebook for a shop I'd WALKED INTO earlier that day. I was in there less than 3 minutes, didn't try anything on, neither of us have ever bought anything from this store, we don't follow it on social media, and neither of us have ever had ads for this store before. My daughter didn't even go in, and I didn't use my phone while I was in there.

This type of surveillance literally makes me see red. It is intrusive and inappropriate and unwelcome, and it shouldn't be allowed. I understand that cameras are there to prevent shoplifting, and I get that marketing is a thriving industry, and I even help small business with their digital marketing efforts. But this has become waaay too much. 😡 Whenever it happens it always reminds me of that scene in "Minority Report" when Tom is on the run and gets bombarded with customised holographic ads - which is funny until you remember that movie is from 2002 and it seemed ridiculous at the time. 

This morning I read that Meta has been doing some incredibly dodgy stuff with Meta Pixel, which is now embedded in about 20% of the world's busiest websites. According to EFF:

"Meta’s tracking pixel was secretly communicating with Meta’s apps on Android devices. This violates a fundamental security feature (“sandboxing”) of mobile operating systems that prevents apps from communicating with each other."

There's more technical detail in the article. I'd like to say I don't understand it but after 30+ years on the internet I understand it perfectly. As long as we have these old non-technical political types running the show who don't have any idea what they're doing technology-wise, and techlords who only care about $$$ so they keep building stuff to make more $$$, and they are allowed to give the $$$ to the old non-technical political types to keep them compliant and not creating laws to contain them, it will continue. This is not the internet I envisaged and was so excited about back in the 1990's. 😢 

Read the article, all we can do is keep trying.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/06/protect-yourself-metas-latest-attack-privacy

This article was first published on LinkedIn

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Google is looking for someone with "10 years of experience as a pre-sales or engineering manager in relation to AI." 🤦‍♀️ 😂

 

Google is looking for someone with "10 years of experience as a pre-sales or engineering manager in relation to AI." 10 years? Good luck with that one fellas 🤦‍♀️ 😂 

Lately I'm seeing a lot of job ads (clearly written by AI), wanting "AI experience". To do what?

I love a good analogy so here's one. It's like saying you want someone "experienced with cars". To do what? To drive? Design? New strategy? Product development? Manufacture? Build electronics? Service? Paint? To achieve what end? What kind of car? What brand? Existing technology or new? 

The devil is in the detail, and ads that articulate the What and Why are far more interesting than these generic "AI experience" ones. Right now, few businesses are truly profiting from AI implementations and many are losing, so specifying exactly what AI skills an individual needs to have, and how long they need to have had them for, is vaguely ridiculous to those of us who have been utilising and innovating with often new technology to solve business problems for decades.

Technology is the tool, not the solution. It’s the means, not the end. That includes AI and whatever the next shiny buzzword will be.

I wrote an article about practical applications of innovating with AI.

Happy weekend!

This article was first published on LinkedIn

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Did Social Media Matter in Australia’s 2025 Election?

I’ve been thinking about how differently the 2025 Australian federal election played out on social media compared to earlier campaigns, both here and overseas. 

When I studied Internet Communications a decade ago, we explored how social media was first leveraged in major political campaigns - Kevin07 in the 2007 Australian federal election and Barack Obama’s campaign in the U.S. in 2008 both used digital strategies to engage voters in ways not seen before. With under-44s now making up the largest voting demographic in Australia, I expected digital platforms to play a major role in this election. 

They didn’t. But why? 

Despite heavy investment in podcasts, influencer interviews and TikTok content, engagement remained low. Political parties struggled to connect effectively on these platforms, influencers lacked the depth for meaningful political discourse, and voters seemed disengaged. Adding to this, broader geopolitical events dominated headlines, likely further diverting attention from social media-driven election content in Australia. 

Australia’s election dynamics adds complexity. Compulsory voting focuses campaign strategies towards the centre rather than extremes. Our independent Australian Electoral Commission ensures fair seat distribution, effectively preventing issues like gerrymandering. 

Yet social media platforms are built to amplify extremes. That contrast means digital engagement needs to operate differently here compared to systems where polarisation is more politically advantageous. In this election, it didn’t.

Social media isn’t irrelevant in politics - it just hasn’t matured in Australia yet, nor has it fully adapted to our unique electoral environment. It may evolve in future elections, but for now, trusted voices in traditional journalism still seem to hold more influence when it matters.

Intriguing stuff! Definitely something to watch as digital engagement continues to evolve in the political space. 

Link to the article that prompted these thoughts - The influencer election that wasn't: amid Trump trauma, Australian voters logged off

Photo by Shutter Speed on Unsplash

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AI & SEO in 2025 – How Search is Evolving

Most businesses have traditionally relied on Google to bring visitors to their websites. But AI has changed the SEO landscape. More users are turning to AI-powered tools like ChatGPT, Copilot and Perplexity, and most traditional search engines now include an AI panel at the top of search results.

These AI panels don’t just list websites. They summarise answers based on what they find online – pulling content from multiple sources and presenting it directly to the user. If your website doesn’t provide clear, structured information, it may not be included in those summaries at all. 

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This article was first published on the WebSolutionZ.com.au blog.  

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The myth of set and forget technology investments

There’s a pattern that repeats itself across organisations of every size: new technology gets implemented successfully, then the assumption is that it’s sorted for the next five years. The system is running, the migration is done, the CRM is deployed. Move on.

Technology doesn’t work that way. What performs well today becomes a liability in three years if nobody is paying attention.

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This article was first published on the ENVEE Digital blog. 

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Tasmania, March 2025

A month, 3000km, and a van - an excellent combo! I've just returned from a road trip around Tasmania and I have to say, completely disconnecting from work was exactly what I needed. 😊

For the first time in literally decades, I properly switched off. No meetings, no deadlines, no LinkedIn scrolling - just winding roads, delicious food & drinks, stunning views, friendly locals, numerous wildlife sightings and even a night under the Aurora Australis! 

Somewhere along the way, I finally felt like myself again (and realised how much I'd missed her). It struck me that I haven’t had this kind of clear mental space in years. Between family, work, studying, pandemic and life in general, I’d been running on empty for far too long without noticing. Now I feel recharged, full of ideas, and ready to think about the next chapter. 🥳 

I don’t have a clear view on what that looks like just yet, and that's 100% fine. My career has spanned business, IT and digital, consulting, leadership, strategy, delivery and operations. It's quite a diverse mix, and it's fair to say the last couple of years haven’t quite gone to plan, but I’m lucky now to have the time to find a next step that really fits.

In the meantime, I'm playing around with some ideas I had on the road, doing a bit of consulting and a bit of volunteer work, and spending some quality time with my puppy (who was not impressed by my absence but was very pleased by my return). I'd love to hear how others have navigated life moments like this, or talk about hashtag#VanLife if you're interested in a trip like this, or chat about any interesting opportunities. Feel free to get in touch - I’m always up for coffee and a chat! 🚐🌏☕

Trip photos on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/genxnomad.au 

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Accessibility Milestone: Ivanhoe Train Station

After years of advocacy and a concerted community campaign, we’re pleased to share that Tactile Ground Surface Indicators (TGSI) will be installed at Ivanhoe Station next month, May 2025. This announcement follows a meeting this morning with Hon. Gabrielle Williams MP, Minister for Transport Infrastructure, and Hon. Anthony Carbines MP, Ivanhoe’s local member of Parliament. 

This upgrade is long overdue. Out of 222 train stations in Melbourne’s Metro network, 196 have TGSI implemented (although some only have it installed on one side). Despite years of polite phone calls and emails from Lilly’s family and her orientation & mobility aide, Ivanhoe Station remained overlooked. It was only through this campaign, supported by over 10,000 petition signatures, that the issue gained the attention it deserved.

The works will involve significant upgrades to the platform, integrated into an existing scheduled weekend line shutdown at the end of May.

Thank you to everyone who signed, shared, and supported this campaign. Your voices combined with Lilly and her family & supporter's advocacy made this happen. ❤️ 

📋 Petition:  https://www.change.org/IvanhoeStationAccessibility 

🌟 More about Lilly: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/vision-australia_the-message-i-want-to-spread-to-other-young-activity-7272791746793619457-Dm__ 

🥳 Hon. Gabrielle Williams announcement this morning: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18nQmc3S4m/

💡 Case Study outlining behind-the-scenes on the ENVEE Digital website: https://enveedigital.au/case-studies/grassroots-advocacy/

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Digital strategy at the executive level

I’ve sat in boardrooms on both sides of the table – as an internal Head of IT and as an external advisor. I’ve also completed the Australian Institute of Company Directors “Foundations of Directorship” course. The pattern is consistent: technology gets treated as operational support rather than part of digital strategy.

IT appears on the agenda when something’s broken or budget’s needed. The rest of the time, technology decisions happen elsewhere – usually in response to immediate problems rather than strategic planning.

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This article was first published on the ENVEE Digital blog. 

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Challenging Assumptions

Yesterday I read an ABC News article about Australian attitudes toward Elon Musk. That wasn’t what caught my attention though.

The poll data showed that 16% of respondents had never heard of Bill Gates, and 20% had never heard of Jeff Bezos.

Seriously? Having worked in IT and digital for over 30 years, this floored me. These are household names in my professional world. Apparently not for a significant portion of the Australian population. Who are these people?! 🤔

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This article was first published on LinkedIn and is also on the ENVEE Digital blog. 

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Accessibility: Ivanhoe Train Station

Hi there, 

My friend's daughter Lilly, who is totally blind and achieved an outstanding 98.6 ATAR in 2024, is starting at the University of Melbourne in 2025 and her local train station is inaccessible and dangerous for blind and low-vision users. 

My friends have been trying to raise this as a safety issue with Public Transport Victoria and politicians at local, state and federal level SINCE 2022, to no avail. 

Ivanhoe Station and Heidelberg Station are both designated Premium stations on the Hurstbridge line, and also the only two stations on the Hurstbridge line without Tactile Ground Surface Indicators. (Those little raised dots you find throughout public spaces.) Heidelberg Station is outside a major hospital precinct! 

These tactile markers let those that are blind or have low vision use the public transport system safely. Without them it’s practically too dangerous for them to use these two train stations. 

We've set up a petition and we're hoping "people power" will assist in drawing attention to and ultimately resolving this unsafe and frankly discriminatory situation. Everyone has the right to travel safely and independently. Please help us by signing and sharing this petition! TIA ☺️ 

📋 Petition:  https://www.change.org/IvanhoeStationAccessibility 

🌟 More about Lilly: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/vision-australia_the-message-i-want-to-spread-to-other-young-activity-7272791746793619457-Dm__ 

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AI innovation for business: beyond the hype

AI is everywhere. Every vendor pitch includes it. Every conference has sessions about it. AI innovation is the latest hype cycle in full swing, complete with obviously AI-generated stock images (like the one on this article).

For mid-sized businesses, the question isn’t “Should we use AI?” but “What AI innovation actually makes sense for our business, and what’s just expensive distraction?”

Having worked in IT for 30 years and recently completed an MBA focusing on Design Thinking, I’ve seen enough technology hype cycles to recognise the pattern. Some AI applications genuinely solve problems. Most are solutions looking for problems to justify their existence.

Read the full article

This article was first published on LinkedIn and is also on the ENVEE Digital blog. 

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