Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a conversation about what might happen in the future. Across government and the broader business community, organisations are already experimenting with AI to find information, analyse data, automate routine tasks and support employees in their day-to-day work.

For councils, the opportunities are significant. AI has the potential to reduce administrative effort, make information easier to access, improve analysis and reporting, and support staff to work more efficiently.

Understandably, this has created a new question for many organisations: how can we start using AI?

But perhaps the question they should be asking is: are we ready for it?

Because AI does not remove the need for good digital foundations. If anything, it makes those foundations more important.

Accurate data, connected information, well-designed processes, appropriate security and clear governance have always mattered. As organisations begin introducing AI more deeply into their operations, however, the quality of those foundations will increasingly influence the value they can get from it.

So before deciding where AI might fit within your council, there are four questions worth asking.

1. Can you trust your data?

Councils hold enormous amounts of information across finance, property and rates, assets, payroll, customer requests, records, compliance and many other areas.

But having data and being able to rely on it are two very different things.

Information accumulated over many years can contain duplication, outdated records, inconsistent structures or data whose ownership is unclear. Some information may sit within core business systems, while other information lives in spreadsheets, shared drives or separate applications.

People often learn how to navigate these inconsistencies. They know which spreadsheet is current, which field isn't used anymore or who to ask when something doesn't quite look right.

AI doesn't automatically have that institutional knowledge.

As AI becomes increasingly capable of analysing and interacting with organisational information, questions about data quality become more consequential. Is the information accurate? Is it current? Where is the authoritative record? Who owns it? What should be retained, cleansed or retired?

These aren't new questions created by AI. They are fundamental data-governance questions.

But good data governance is increasingly becoming an AI capability.

2. Is your information connected?

Council operations rarely exist neatly within departmental boundaries.

A single interaction might begin with a customer request, relate to a property or asset, generate work for another team, involve procurement or finance, and ultimately require records to be retained.

When information sits across disconnected systems, staff become the connection point, moving information between applications, entering the same details more than once or relying on manual processes to maintain visibility.

Integration and connected information can reduce that burden. CouncilFirst's approach, for example, is built around an integrated ERP environment supported by API-enabled integration, with the aim of reducing duplication, manual data entry and information silos while improving cross-functional visibility.

This becomes particularly relevant as AI evolves.

The more complete and reliable the context available to technology, the greater its potential to provide useful assistance. Conversely, information fragmented across systems, spreadsheets and individual knowledge can limit what AI can meaningfully understand or act upon.

The goal doesn't necessarily need to be one enormous system containing everything.

It is about creating an environment where information can move, connect and be accessed appropriately when it is needed.

3. Are your processes ready?

Long before generative AI entered the conversation, councils were already using technology to reduce manual effort.

Digital workflows can route approvals, allocate work, trigger notifications and move information between stages of a process. CouncilFirst, for example, supports workflow automation across areas such as purchase-to-pay, onboarding and approval chains to reduce manual intervention.

AI represents another step in that evolution.

We are moving from technology that follows predefined workflows towards technology that can increasingly interpret information, identify patterns, assist with decisions and, in some circumstances, perform defined tasks.

But more automation isn't automatically better.

Before introducing AI into a process, it is worth understanding the process itself.

Where are the unnecessary steps? Where is information being entered twice? Are approvals still appropriate? Is ownership clear? Are staff using manual workarounds because the formal process no longer reflects how work actually gets done?

Automating an inefficient process can simply make an inefficient process happen faster.

This is why process improvement and AI adoption shouldn't be viewed as separate conversations. The better understood and structured the underlying process, the easier it becomes to identify where automation or AI can create genuine value.

4. Is your organisation ready?

Technology is only part of AI readiness.

As AI gains greater access to organisational information, existing questions around permissions, privacy, security and accountability become even more important.

Who should have access to particular information? Are permissions aligned with people's roles? Who is accountable for reviewing an AI-generated output or decision? What information should — and shouldn't — be available to an AI tool?

Again, these are not entirely new challenges.

Role-based permissions, auditability and controlled access are already fundamental components of modern business systems. CouncilFirst's own architecture uses Microsoft identity services and granular role-based access to align permissions with user responsibilities and support governance across council operations.

But readiness also extends beyond governance.

People need to understand where AI is useful, where human judgement remains essential and how outputs should be checked. Organisations need clear expectations about appropriate use, and employees need support as established ways of working begin to change.

Giving someone access to an AI tool does not automatically create meaningful adoption.

Just as with any significant technology change, successful adoption depends on people understanding not only how to use new capability, but why and where it improves the work they do.

What does digital transformation have to do with AI?

Quite a lot.

One of the interesting things about AI readiness is that many of its foundations are not AI projects at all.

Improving data quality. Connecting information. Reviewing processes. Strengthening permissions. Establishing governance. Training staff.

These are the fundamentals of good digital transformation.

A well-managed ERP transformation, for example, requires organisations to examine the information they hold, determine what should move into the new environment, cleanse and reconcile data, validate business processes, establish appropriate access and involve staff in testing and adoption.

CouncilFirst's implementation methodology reflects exactly that reality: migration includes preparation, mapping, validation, reconciliation and active involvement from council subject-matter experts, rather than simply transferring legacy information into a new platform.

And this raises an important point for councils evaluating their existing technology.

A system does not necessarily need to be broken to be limiting.

A legacy system, spreadsheet or manual process may still perform the task it was designed to perform. The more useful question is whether the broader digital environment provides the organisation with the flexibility, connectivity and information foundations it will need next.

Modernisation, therefore, isn't simply about replacing ageing technology.

It is about building organisational capability.

And increasingly, that capability includes being able to take advantage of automation, analytics and AI as those technologies mature.

What becomes possible?

This is where the conversation starts to get interesting.

Within Microsoft's Business Central platform, Copilot is already beginning to demonstrate what AI embedded within a business system can look like.

Rather than navigating through menus and screens to locate information, users can use natural language to find business records and get assistance navigating the system.

Analysis capabilities can also allow users to describe the insight they are looking for in everyday language and generate different ways of analysing and grouping business data, and potentially making information more accessible to employees who aren't reporting or data specialists.

And the technology is continuing to evolve beyond simply finding or summarising information.

AI agents are emerging that can undertake defined activities within business processes, with appropriate oversight and review. This represents an important shift: from AI helping someone understand the work, towards AI increasingly helping them complete parts of the work.

And that brings us back to the concept of readiness.

The more responsibility technology takes within a business process, the more important the quality of the information, process and governance surrounding it becomes.

You don't need to be perfectly ready

None of this means councils should wait until every system is modernised, every dataset immaculate and every process redesigned before experimenting with AI.

There is value in starting small.

But rather than beginning with “Where can we use AI?”, it may be more useful to begin with the business itself:

• Where are staff spending unnecessary time on administration?

• Where is it difficult to find information?

• Which processes rely heavily on manual intervention?

• Where is information duplicated or fragmented?

• Which data can we confidently trust?

• And where could technology genuinely improve an outcome for staff, the organisation or the community?

Those questions create a much stronger starting point than adopting technology simply because it is available.

AI will continue to change quickly. The individual tools and capabilities available twelve months from now may look very different from those available today.

Councils don't need to predict exactly what comes next.

They can, however, make decisions today that put them in a stronger position to take advantage of it.

Before asking what AI can do for your council, ask whether your council is ready to make the most of it.

Is your council ready to take the next step with AI?
Before introducing new AI capabilities, it’s worth understanding whether your systems, data and processes are ready to support them.

Talk to CouncilFirst about where your council is today and the practical steps you can take to prepare for what comes next