Most leadership teams are asking the wrong first question about AI.
“What AI tools should we use?” sounds practical for the moment we’re in. After all, every week brings a new platform, capability, or AI agent promising to transform productivity and increase profits in a world that is becoming more expensive to run a company in every day. I’m finding this question immediately pushes companies toward a software-selection mindset rather than an operational and strategic one. The conversation quickly becomes centered on features, vendors, and demos instead of how work itself should change.
I was recently talking to an executive at a large law firm based in Ohio. Their team has sat through demo after demo from AI software companies. Each one promises productivity gains, efficiency improvements, and competitive advantage. On paper, the options all sound compelling. But they’re still stuck on whether any of them will actually deliver value inside their organization. The real concern isn’t the technology itself. It’s adoption. It’s integration. It’s whether their people will actually use these tools in a meaningful way.
As she put it, “We’re being told these tools will make our work more efficient, but no one can seem to give us a clear plan for how they fit into how we actually operate.”
Boston Consulting Group’s September 2025 AI report found only about 4% of companies have developed advanced AI capabilities and are generating substantial value from their investments. Those companies are significantly outperforming their peers, not because they have access to different technologies, but because they are approaching AI differently.
Companies successfully using AI are starting with workflows, not tools.
In almost every company I talk to today, AI adoption is fragmented. Marketing uses one platform, sales another, HR experiments with recruiting tools, and operations builds automations. Over time, activity increases, but clarity doesn’t. Teams move in different directions, governance becomes reactive, and leadership struggles to separate real value from experimentation.
The right question to be asking yourself today is:
“Where can AI create meaningful value inside our business, and what would need to change operationally to capture it?”
That question forces leaders to examine how work actually moves through the organization. Where do decisions slow down? Where does information get trapped? Which processes consume highly skilled labor without improving strategic outcomes?
BCG’s findings reinforce this shift. Leading organizations follow a “10-20-70” investment model: only 10% of AI budgets go to algorithms, 20% to technology and data, and a full 70% to people, training, and process transformation. In other words, the majority of value creation comes from changing how the organization operates—not from the tools themselves.
Only about 5% of companies are considered “future-built,” and they are dramatically outperforming their peers. These organizations allocate over 80% of their AI investments toward reshaping core business functions and creating new offerings.
The result: 𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞 the revenue growth and 40% greater cost reductions compared to laggards.
Most companies will have access to similar technologies. The real advantage will belong to those that learn how to integrate AI into their operations effectively.
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If you’re ready to move beyond experimentation and start building an AI-capable organization, let’s talk.
The AI Navigator Collective helps leadership teams identify where AI creates value, prioritize opportunities, redesign workflows, establish governance, and build the internal capability required for sustainable AI transformation.
Schedule a call with our team today to explore what’s possible for your organization.