Fail fast, fix fast: The enterprise Al learning curve – Max Handforth x Sutherland

Transforming AI potential into measurable impact

As artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly evolves from experimental technology to essential business infrastructure, forward-thinking organisations are discovering how strategic partnerships and workforce upskilling are key to unlocking AI’s true potential.

In a recent podcast with industry partner, Sutherland, Max Handforth, MD of Business Solutions at Liberty Blume, joined Naveen Mehta and Sonya Barlow to unpack how companies are capitalising on the AI transformation, unlocking new use cases, and filling the skills gap in the workforce.

Driving business services innovation with advances in AI

Handforth noted AI’s come a long way: from machine learning algorithms to large language models (LLMs) to conversational AI agents, it’s now shifted into agentic AI.

Each step of the way, these AI innovations have been steeped into Liberty Blume’s back-office operations, reducing manual work, cutting processing times, and automating processes.

“In each of those areas, we’ve tried to marry two things together. We have an invoice processing technology that we think has moved into a step change for our customers – the data they can get, the accuracy of information, the speed it’s done… and that’s built using some of Google’s technology,” he said, noting Liberty Blume also has seven virtual assistants working across Finance, HR, and Legal.

“It’s about driving value, creating cost savings, and reinvesting into the next [solution] that we’re going to build,” he said.

The practical applications of the technology will increase with the rise of agentic AI, Mehta suggested. These are AI systems that can plan and perform complex reasoning and decision-making independently, moving beyond simple data processing to genuine predictive work. At Sutherland, it’s been leveraged across departments from predicting customer sentiment to flagging and resolving potential network outages.

“Going forward, there is a lot of new technology evolving around agentic AI, which will obviously transform businesses fundamentally,” Mehta explained.

Upskilling, strategic partnerships accelerate innovation

Both leaders emphasised that successful AI implementation requires comprehensive workforce development and cross-sector collaboration.

Handforth said this includes partnerships with local authorities, governments, and industry partners, including the likes of Google, Microsoft and Sutherland.

Liberty Blume, with an office in Bradford, has also partnered with Leeds University, showcasing the value of academic collaboration. Each year, about 15 to 20 employees embark on a four-month journey, spending a few days each month at the university to upskill, innovate and return to the office with ideas for transformation.

Optimism for the future AI

While scaling AI has its challenges, including governance and security, Handforth is optimistic about its transformative potential – for the individual employee and overall business value creation.

“If you look back or look forward six months, you should be able to notice a change. If it’s 12 months, you should be able to feel the difference. And two years from now, you should be saying, ‘I can’t believe we used to do it like that,’” he said.

“The quality of what people do will get better. I think the enjoyment that people have in their jobs will get better,” he said.

Mehta agreed. “Organisations are changing, and we are seeing our clients becoming a lot more receptive, because they have no choice, which will accelerate the adoption of AI in all means. I don’t see any resistance from businesses. They’re just trying to figure out how can they do it,” he said.

Watch the full podcast