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Do the failings of the Post Office Horizon system shock me? Hardly.

Too many services commissioning technological solutions to perceived problems simply don’t understand what they’re dealing with.

Usually, they’re non-techs, incapable of distinguishing marketing hype from reality. Often they will circumvent the expert advice of their tech teams, intent on proceeding regardless.

The latest fad is AI. Recently, I was asked at a very late stage to integrate a so-called AI chat bot into a website I manage for a service.

Other than providing a broad overview of its functionality, the service itself was vague about the tool. Intent on learning more, I visited the supplier website in search of technical documentation. What a disaster!

As soon as their AI tool loaded on their own marketting webpage, my laptop CPU usage maxed out, and the web browser completely froze. This on a laptop running a quadcore i7 processor with 16GB RAM.

After retesting a number of times more scientifically, I brought this issue to the attention of both the supplier and commissioner, advising them that I couldn’t possibly support a tool that introduced such monstrous load to a website optimised for speed.

Naturally, I haven’t heard anything since. My hope is that the project has been derailed by the interventions of the cyber security and information governance teams, but I brace myself for a green light.

Unfortunately, this is far from the only example of non-tech teams racing off to commision technological solutions to disastrous effect.

Nearly weekly, we’re presented with a new app commisioned by a service which we’re charged with supporting despite it offering no clear advantage over platforms already in use.

Their overarching motivation seems to be, “We have some money… which we must spend.” A completely crazy approach to managing a service.

But just try offering a considered no if there’s pressure from senior management to implement a solution they used at their last place, or recommended by their friends.

There is political pressure in every organisation. Often projects are implemented more to bolster a senior manager’s résumé than to achieve a real measurable benefit.

Organisations need technical teams capable of offering expert advice grounded in real world experience. In reality, they are rarely listened to and are seen as nothing more than an obstacle to progress.

Hence a million mini Horizons, procured by men and women who will have moved onto their next job in a few months’ time, leaving someone else to pick up the pieces.