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The Pilot to Production Gap

Why 80% of AI pilots fail to reach production—and how to be in the 20% that succeed.

PickleLlama Team
October 20, 2024
3 min read
ImplementationStrategyRisk Management

The Problem

You've seen the statistic: roughly 80% of AI pilots never make it to production. What starts as an exciting proof-of-concept quietly fades away, joining the graveyard of promising initiatives that never delivered business value.

This isn't a technology problem. The AI works. The issue lies in everything surrounding it.

Why Pilots Fail

1. Success Theater

Pilots are often designed to succeed, not to prove viability. They use clean data, simplified scenarios, and enthusiastic early adopters. Production requires messy data, edge cases, and skeptical users.

2. The Integration Cliff

A standalone demo is easy. Connecting to 15 legacy systems, handling authentication, managing permissions, and maintaining audit trails is hard. This work is often underestimated or invisible during pilot planning.

3. Missing Ownership

Pilots are often run by innovation teams or external consultants. When it's time for production, there's no clear owner with budget, authority, and incentive to maintain the system.

4. Scale Economics

What works for 100 transactions per day may break at 10,000. Infrastructure, monitoring, error handling, and support processes need to scale—and scaling costs money.

5. Change Fatigue

By the time a pilot is "ready" for production, organizational priorities may have shifted, champions may have moved on, or budget cycles may have closed.

The Production-Ready Pilot

Instead of treating pilots as experiments, treat them as production dress rehearsals:

Design for Production from Day One

  • Use real (or realistic) data
  • Include edge cases and exceptions
  • Plan for integration from the start
  • Build monitoring and alerting

Assign Permanent Ownership

  • Identify the business owner before starting
  • Budget for ongoing maintenance
  • Define success metrics that matter post-pilot

Set Hard Deadlines

  • Limit pilot duration (90 days maximum)
  • Define clear go/no-go criteria
  • Plan production deployment during pilot, not after

Build the Boring Stuff

  • Authentication and authorization
  • Error handling and recovery
  • Logging and audit trails
  • Documentation and training

The 20% That Succeed

Organizations that consistently move from pilot to production share common traits:

  1. Executive sponsorship with real accountability
  2. Dedicated teams (not side projects)
  3. Realistic timelines (6-12 months, not 6 weeks)
  4. Incremental rollout (start small, expand gradually)
  5. Continuous measurement (not just launch metrics)

A Different Approach

Instead of "pilot then scale," consider "minimum viable automation":

  • Start with a narrow, production-ready scope
  • Deploy to a small group of real users
  • Measure real business impact
  • Expand based on evidence, not enthusiasm

Struggling to move from pilot to production? Let's talk about what's blocking your progress.