A subscription is a state of mind.
Under the new model, an employee identifies a repetitive task, researches available tools, purchases a subscription, learns the interface, and demonstrates a useful result. Leadership then announces that its digital strategy has entered the execution phase.
The employee’s contribution will be recognized in the all-hands presentation, subject to available slide space. The slide currently contains a large photograph of the leadership team looking toward a window.
Employees concerned about paying for work tools may submit an expense claim. The form asks whether the purchase was required. If yes, it needed prior approval. If no, it was personal. This elegantly closes the loop without closing the ticket, which remains useful for tracking engagement.
Capture every minute of the benefit.
Time saved belongs to the business. If a report previously required two hours and now takes twenty minutes, the remaining one hundred minutes should be invested in additional reports. Returning that time to the employee would create a dangerous precedent in which efficiency feels pleasant.
Our productivity dashboard therefore tracks reports per employee, subscription costs absorbed by employees, and the percentage of innovation leadership has successfully described as intentional. It does not track whether anyone leaves earlier. That would be a lifestyle metric.
THE FIRM’S WORKING MODEL
Bring Your Own Transformation.
- 01Employee pays
Subscription, learning time and renewal risk.
- 02Company benefits
Higher output becomes the new baseline.
- 03Employee gets more work
The time saved is already on next week’s plan.
Renew subscription to maintain the baseline.
Govern the tool after celebrating the result.
Security will be involved at the appropriate moment, usually after the successful demonstration has been included in a client presentation. Its first question will be whether the tool was approved. Management’s first question will be whether the approval discussion can happen after the next successful demonstration.
To address this tension, SoftBoulders has created a four-stage authorization pathway: informal adoption, visible success, retrospective concern, and mandatory training. The training will explain that employees should never have done the thing for which they were just praised.
We recognize that sensible employers could provide approved tools, define acceptable data use, train their teams, and measure whether the work actually improves. Our program includes a workshop on all four subjects. Attendees should bring their own workshop.
Make ownership feel empowering.
Participants receive the title Personal Chief Technology Officer, which carries full responsibility for subscription renewals and no authority over the corporate technology budget. Career development includes explaining to a spouse why the household now funds a multinational efficiency initiative.
The pilot will be considered successful when the company can report a meaningful productivity gain with no corresponding software expenditure. If employees cancel their subscriptions, the decline in output will be addressed through performance management.
SoftBoulders remains deeply committed to investing in our people. We are delighted to learn that our people can invest in us first.
Behind the brief: Deloitte
Deloitte’s September 16, 2026 research estimated that UK workers personally spend £958 million annually on generative AI for work. The survey covered 25,000 workers. Deloitte called for clearer organizational support, training, and responsible use.
News date: Sep 16, 2026. Article published: Oct 6, 2026. The policies and proposals in this article are SoftBoulders’ comic response; the linked sources describe the underlying events. Editorial notes.
