Why on-device AI is the key to securing productivity gains

A growing percentage of employees now use AI in the workplace, with 44% of UK professionals surveyed by EY now using the technology in a professional context.

With UK B2B teams now beginning to see returns on AI investment, it’s no surprise that the trend is with businesses looking to expand AI adoption. Alongside this technological transformation, organisations are undertaking major software and hardware refreshes. They are also using this software and hardware overhaul to embed new opportunities.

The next wave of investment isn’t just about upgrading to more powerful PCs. It’s about ensuring those devices empower people with enterprise-ready AI tools that boost productivity, enhance collaboration, and fuel business growth while making work feel less like work. With the right tools, employees can focus on what inspires them most.

UK IT leaders recognise this, with recent research by Microsoft noting that 58% of UK IT decision makers (ITDMs), surveyed in collaboration with YouGov, are urging their organisations to invest in AI PCs to empower their workforces with AI tools. The same research found 46% of ITDMs are actively considering whether their hardware is ready for AI.

It’s no surprise that those with a laser focus on making the most of AI are looking at specialised hardware for the job. Although cloud AI services, such as ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude are popular among consumers and in the workplace, they lack some of the inherent benefits of running AI models locally on hardware your business owns.

While cloud AI services work by sending user prompts to remote data centers for processing, the cloud isn’t the only way for businesses to realise AI’s potential. Increasingly, AI models and features can run locally on AI-optimised hardware, gaining the same capabilities without the latency, cost, or security trade-offs associated with cloud processing.

IT leaders know they have more choices than “cloud AI or nothing”. The real question is which workloads are better handled locally and how to equip employees with devices and supporting solutions that make it seamless. While some companies have explored on-premises server hardware, these environments can be slow to deploy and limit scalability.

A more agile option is emerging: AI PCs built to deliver enterprise-grade AI performance right at the endpoint. Within HP’s broader portfolio, the HP EliteBook Series plays a key role. From the EliteBook 6 Series for growing enterprises to the EliteBook Ultra Series for large enterprises, these AI-optimised business laptops integrate seamlessly with HP’s collaboration tools, security solutions, and managed services. Together, they create an ecosystem that supports smarter, more balanced ways of working.

The case for AI PCs and their surrounding ecosystem comes down to three key enterprise priorities: reducing latency, increasing privacy and security, and delivering ROI through smarter investment.

Reducing latency

One of the clearest advantages of running AI on-device is the dramatic reduction in latency.

Even today’s leading cloud-based models, like GPT-5, can take several seconds to deliver results, an eternity when dealing with time-critical tasks like blocking a security threat or translating speech in real-time. If you’re looking to process information that can’t leave the UK for data sovereignty, you’re also heavily dependent on regional data center infrastructure, which, while expanding, is also facing long-term growth challenges.

With local AI, the process happens entirely on the device in real-time, removing the need to send prompts to a remote data center and wait for them to be processed and returned. The result? Instant answers when they matter most.

By reducing their reliance on cloud AI services through widespread adoption of AI-enabled devices, UK ITDMs can also improve the user experience of AI tools for their staff and embrace better uptime. Though rare, cloud AI can experience downtime or major errors that render it unusable, with major consequences for businesses that have come to rely on its productivity impact. When AI is run locally, every worker’s access to it is safeguarded.

Strengthening privacy and security

Even as enterprises adopt AI on a wider scale, UK security professionals are voicing concerns over the potential for AI tools to expose sensitive data and increase cyber attacks on their organisations. Widely available cloud AI tools such as DeepSeek are a point of particular anxiety for senior security experts within the UK.

Running AI models locally keeps sensitive data contained within the device, avoiding the need to send it to the cloud – and potentially outside the borders of the UK – for data processing and retention. This makes it easier for IT leaders to meet growing data sovereignty demands, as well as to ensure their data isn’t exposed unnecessarily.

UK organisations in sensitive sectors, such as financial services, healthcare, or government, will also see the benefit of keeping sensitive data within their environment when it comes to using AI to handle personally identifiable information (PII), generate proprietary code, or summarise regulatory texts.

By processing data entirely on-device, local AI removes the risk of accidental leaks from public AI models and prevents proprietary information from being used to train and refine cloud AI models. Combined with HP Wolf Security and HP’s endpoint management solutions, enterprises can ensure data protection happens in the background, letting employees focus on meaningful work rather than security protocols.

Proving ROI through smarter investment

Cloud AI costs scale directly with usage: the more you process, the more you pay. With local AI, once the hardware is in place, workloads are only limited by the device’s specifications, with no additional cost beyond the initial outlay.

It’s a crucial time to make the most of these advantages, with UK B2B teams now reporting meaningful ROI from AI adoption. What’s more, UK firms are beginning to pull ahead of EU competition when it comes to AI implementation. So long as leaders invest in reliable hardware, ROI for AI PCs is a sound strategy with the potential for better value for money than cloud AI spending.

Making the right investment choice is crucial. Paired with HP’s managed services, collaboration tools, and security solutions, the ROI extends beyond IT budgets to include faster decision-making, reduced downtime, and employees who are empowered to deliver higher-value work with less friction. Future-proofed devices, like those in the HP EliteBook portfolio, are built to evolve alongside both your technology stack and your workforce.

Future-proofing local AI adoption

To realise the full benefits of local AI - speed, security, and cost efficiency - it must be effortless for employees to adopt. With the right tools, AI becomes an invisible partner that removes friction, fuels collaboration, and keeps teams connected so they can create and solve problems together. It helps people stay focused, spending time on what truly matters instead of getting bogged down in busy work. And by streamlining workflows, local AI supports a better balance, enabling employees to work smarter, not harder.

If local AI feels cumbersome, employees may turn to public AI tools and shortcuts, exposing businesses to shadow AI risks. Security features in particular should operate quietly in the background to protect as much of the workforce as possible while still giving advanced users the freedom to run complex workloads, such as on-device code generation or lightweight large language models (LLMs).

This is where HP’s integrated portfolio makes a difference, combining the performance and design of the HP EliteBook Series with security, collaboration, and device management solutions that work together seamlessly. Each device features:

• Dedicated Neural Processing Units (NPUs) to accelerate AI computations efficiently, delivering high performance without draining battery life or slowing other tasks.
• HP Wolf Security, which protects devices even when powered off, enables real-time threat monitoring, detects suspicious files or activity, automatically isolates threats, and can remotely lock or wipe a device if needed.
• Enterprise-grade build quality and manageability to support large-scale deployment and long-term value.

Paired with HP’s services and solutions, these capabilities ensure AI becomes a natural part of the workflow while also providing an invisible layer of protection against emerging threats. That protection is increasingly critical as security threats evolve.

Cyber attacks cost UK firms billions per year, and UK cybersecurity workers are increasingly burnt out, while high street firms fall victim to sophisticated hacking campaigns. Local AI can help from the top down, whether drawing on the latest threat intelligence to analyse threats or preventing workers from falling for phishing campaigns.

Phishing is the most common type of attack against UK businesses, with 90% of businesses that experienced at least one form of cyber attack having been phished per GOV UK data. AI PCs can help detect and neutralise these threats in real-time, whether by flagging suspicious emails or analysing collaboration platform messages for signs of social engineering.

The enterprise imperative

Without a clear strategy for local AI adoption, UK organisations risk missing out on the performance, security, and cost advantages it can deliver. By partnering with HP, IT leaders can tap into a complete ecosystem of AI-optimised devices, services, and solutions designed to reduce friction and deliver intuitive, AI-enhanced user experiences for every employee.

From HP AI PCs to collaboration tools, security solutions, and managed services, HP helps IT seamlessly introduce AI into existing infrastructure - empowering teams to connect and create together, stay focused, and work smarter. The result is a workforce equipped to operate faster, more securely, and with greater balance, while organisations gain the agility to meet today’s needs and anticipate tomorrow’s challenges.

With HP, technology isn’t just a tool; it’s the key to redefining the future of work, creating experiences that drive more fulfilling work and business growth.