AI’s Real ROI: When People Actually Use It

The real value of AI doesn’t come from flashy demos or fancy ROI slides—

It comes when people actually use it.

From a recent implementation, here are my biggest learnings on how to make that happen:

1️⃣ Understand how people actually work

• Don’t assume. Shadow them, watch the workflow, and document reality—not the process chart.

  
  

2️⃣ Identify the real pain points

The clues are in what people say when they’re working:

• “Why do I have to enter this twice?”

• “This takes forever.”

• “I always copy it into Excel because the system is too slow.”

• “I don’t trust this number, so I check it manually.”

  
  

3️⃣ Insert AI where it truly adds value

• Not as a shiny overlay, but in ways that feel natural. The best AI is invisible—it looks and feels like the way people already work.

  
  

4️⃣ Measure adoption, not just accuracy

• If people aren’t using it, it doesn’t matter how smart it is. Adoption is the KPI that unlocks ROI.

  
  

5️⃣ Design for “least resistance”

• Make the AI-powered path easier, faster, and more rewarding than the old one. That’s when usage becomes habit.

  
  

👉 At the end of the day, AI doesn’t fail in pilots—it fails in workflows.

Success comes when people use it daily, without even thinking about it.