BY RAVI VERMA
Ravi Verma is the founder of Org Whisperers, which helps organizations harness the untapped potential of teams, and provides training, coaching, and playbooks to increase ROI from tech transformation and AI implementations. They help you create: inspiring leaders, entrepreneurial product managers, high performing teams, and implement impactful AI projects. Learn more at orgwhisperers.com.
Gartner projects global AI spending will hit over $6 trillion in 2026. Yet McKinsey reports that 80% of companies using AI have seen no significant gains in topline or bottom-line performance. That’s right. Zero ROI.
So what’s going wrong?
Based on our observations, six common mistakes are at the root of this widespread destruction of value — and most organizations don’t even realize they’re making them. The good news? They’re avoidable.
There are three key questions every organization should be asking before deploying AI, and five concrete actions that can redirect spending toward real, measurable results. The difference between companies that see returns and those that don’t often comes down to one thing: starting with benefits first, not technology first.
Before you start your AI project, ask yourself these key questions:
- What specific business metrics will improve, and by how much?
- How will you prove AI caused the improvement?
- What is your kill criteria (when to exit an AI project that is just burning money with no ROI).
To go deeper, download the white paper we co-authored with our partners at TechGrit — From AI Spend to AI Success: The Benefits First Framework — for a practical roadmap to smarter AI investment.
Not sure if your organization is making these mistakes? Contact us for a free diagnostic.
