Author: Simon Paris July 28, 2025 3 min read

Generative AI at Unit4: Opportunities and Learning

simon paris unit4 ceo

With generative AI, we are witnessing one of the biggest shifts in the software and tech industry, which will have an impact that could exceed the introduction of the internet. This transformational moment has the capacity to revolutionise industries, reshape economies, and deeply integrate into our daily lives. 

With the speed at which generative AI is moving forward it’s important for us to be part of this revolution. At Unit4, we have spent a lot of time thinking about what this means for our people and our customers, both the big leaps and the everyday improvements.

Together, we want to push the envelope to ensure Unit4 is an AI-first software company.

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How will AI impact our customers and people?

When we consider AI as an enabler, it’s not a tool to replace valuable human-centric skills, it’s a tool that augments us. AI helps us work smarter, more efficiently, and with greater depth and insight. Importantly, it can create more joy in our work, automating the mundane so we can refocus on providing real human value. 

When we think about the output we get from AI, it’s all about experience, and this falls into three categories:

  1. Customer experience
  2. Employee experience
  3. Engineer experience

From automating routine work to pioneering agentic AI, our journey is centred on elevating user experience.

Thanks to our automation capabilities already in place, Unit4 enables organisations to achieve up to a 30% reduction in time spent on manual tasks. This not only accelerates task completion but also frees employees to focus on strategic initiatives (“what matters most”) that drive growth and innovation.

We have introduced Ava (Unit4’s Advanced Virtual Agent) – a powerful generative AI operational layer, built into the core of our Unit4 ERP platform, quietly removing, automating or proposing fast fixes to daily hassles. 

There is no longer a need to dig through emails for approvals or switch between platforms; Ava brings reminders, approvals, and key tasks together right in Microsoft Teams.  

Whether you are a customer, employee, or developer, it’s all about experience.

More client focus, less admin? Find out how!

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How are we helping our people adopt AI?

When we talk about AI and its continued traction within our business, we must approach this from a standpoint of empathy. We need to establish its value for our different employees and customer types. We need to be able to answer the question: ‘How does this benefit my role?’   

When I talk about this with colleagues, I like to use Aristotle's treatise on persuasion to set the scene – Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. 

  • Ethos – the word that gives us empathy by starting with understanding a person’s context. For example, knowing that a consultant might be on the road for four days a week, managing expense, travel and time sheet reports, setting up new projects and searching for skilled resources.

  • Pathos – the word that describes ‘what could be possible’. For example, showing that same consultant how they can set up a project in ERP directly from within Microsoft Teams, how a timesheet can be prepopulated, how expenses can be processed straight from a mobile device, how skilled resources can be proactively proposed for a given project etc.

  • Logos – the word that gives us logic, providing evidence and concrete steps to move us from a position of empathy (Ethos) to what might be possible (Pathos) through logical, actionable steps; for example, ‘show me’ courses to show the consultant how to set up a project in Microsoft Teams, search for a resource, automate an expense report etc.  

At Unit4, we are putting a big focus on learning, on ‘upskilling’. Starting with an AI learning festival. Everyone across Unit4, regardless of their role or tenure, will see real use cases in action and receive hands-on training with AI basics, prompt engineering, practical tools and practical, actionable examples. 

The idea isn’t to make everyone an AI expert overnight, but to make sure we all see opportunities to use AI in the flow of our work and lives, and to have the tools to execute AI’s potential, and to augment our own.

Our AI vision is clear – integrate AI into our daily life and workflows – and our objectives are set:

  • Enhance productivity
  • Enhance quality and consistency
  • Build AI confidence
  • Ensure ethics and security
  • Delight through experience
  • Measure impact. 

The future of AI at Unit4

A lot of companies talk about AI. What is perhaps less obvious is how we make sure our use is responsible. Everything we build and use in Unit4, from Ava to our internal tools, operates on a clear set of ethical guidelines. This includes ensuring human oversight, fairness, transparency, and a stringent approach to data privacy.

So, if you are wondering what AI is about at Unit4, it’s about quietly making work easier for people. It will cut back admin, streamline cumbersome processes, and empower teams with the skills and confidence to get the most from new tech. 

I like the argument that AI will act as our sixth brain. When I say this, I am referring to the ‘five brains’ in the context to a human’s response to stimuli (multi-brain computing). 

The first brain is at the back of our heads, and it comes from evolution. It tells us to either fight, flight, or freeze. The second, which is in the middle of our heads, gives pleasure. The third, which is the front of our heads, is where we do what's called deep reasoning. The fourth and fifth are very interesting. 

It turns out that our heart has a very large number of neurons, and so does our gut. So, when we say go with your heart or trust your gut, there is some rationale behind that. Now, AI will act as a sixth brain, outside our body, helping us make decisions, focus our input and improve our output. It will nurture a smarter and more creative approach.

When it comes to AI, I'm all in. 

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