Stop Asking For Faster Horses: What EPPC 2026 Taught Me About AI

At the European Power Platform Conference (EPPC) 2026, one quote stuck with me, a line often attributed to Henry Ford: "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."

That line sums up the challenge many organizations face with AI today. The first instinct is to ask how existing processes can become faster, cheaper or more efficient. AI invites a more fundamental question: are you improving the right thing, or are you building a faster horse?

More Than Just A Productivity Tool

When companies start with AI, they often focus on improving what already exists: faster processes, smoother workflows, quicker customer service, shorter approval cycles and better reporting. These improvements have value, but they also limit ambition. Used only as a productivity tool, AI leaves its biggest opportunity untouched: rethinking how work gets done in the first place.

From Automation To Reinvention

For years, digital transformation focused on optimizing existing processes. Today, technologies such as agentic AI, Work IQ, Cowork and AI-assisted development let organizations redesign entire operating models.

So instead of asking "How can we make this process 20% faster?", start with different questions. Does this process still need to exist? Could an AI agent handle it, with a person in the lead for the decisions that carry risk? Can decisions move closer to the source? Could your employees spend that time on work that needs their judgment? That is where the conversation shifts from efficiency to reinvention.

The Paradox Of Democratized Innovation

AI is lowering the barriers to creation fast. Business users now build applications, automate workflows, create agents and deliver value at a speed that was out of reach only a few years ago. For enterprise technology, that is a major shift.

It also introduces a new challenge. The risk is no longer that innovation happens too slowly. The risk is that innovation happens everywhere, without enough control or coherence. The faster AI drives innovation, the more governance matters.

A New Role For Architects And Consultants

The role of technology professionals is changing. Building solutions is no longer enough to stand out. The differentiator is the ability to design systems where innovation can scale safely. Architects and consultants create the conditions in which people can experiment, deliver results and adopt AI responsibly, without adding uncontrolled complexity.

In practice, that means establishing governance frameworks, defining architectural principles, creating reusable patterns, enabling citizen development responsibly and building trust in AI-powered systems.

Success will not come from the number of AI solutions you create. It will come from a sustainable AI ecosystem: an environment that encourages innovation and keeps trust, security, compliance and architectural consistency firmly in place.

AI Can Help Solve The Governance Challenge It Creates

AI itself helps solve the governance challenge. The same technologies that generate applications and agents also monitor adoption, detect risks and enforce policies. They guide makers during development, recommend best practices and support compliance in real time. With AI, you accelerate innovation and strengthen governance at the same time.

My colleague Ynias saw the same pattern in app development, where AI builds the first version in minutes: EPPC 2026: How AI Is Changing the Way We Build Business Apps.

The Biggest Lesson? Mindset.

The biggest lesson from EPPC 2026 was not a specific feature, product announcement or technology trend. It was about mindset. Organizations that use AI to optimize existing ways of working will see benefits. Organizations that use AI to rethink work itself will find ways of working that did not exist before.

The future does not belong to those who build faster horses. It belongs to those willing to reinvent the journey. At Cegeka, we believe successful AI transformation is about more than doing the same work faster. It is about discovering better ways to create value, empower people and scale innovation responsibly.

Want to find out which of your processes to reinvent, and how to scale them across departments without losing control? Request your Power Platform hyperautomation assessment. In four weeks, you get an analysis of your automation maturity and a prioritized roadmap for implementation.