How to Measure AI ROI: 3 Priorities Beyond Adoption Rates
Measure AI ROI beyond usage rates. Explore three priorities, clear accountability, cost visibility, and business outcomes, and why employee AI skills matter.
|
One-Minute Summary ๐ก |
AI adoption is growing rapidly, yet only 7% of leaders reported achieving a return on their AI investment, according to KPMGโs 2026 survey of 2,145 leaders across 20 countries, including South Korea.
7% achieved AI ROI
42% saved 8 hours/week
66% lacked reinvestment guidance
A separate BCG survey found that 42% of frontline employees who regularly use AI reported saving eight hours a week. However, 66% received little or no guidance on how to reinvest that time. Across the two studies, organizations reporting stronger AI returns or business value shared three characteristics:
1. Clear Accountability
Assign responsibility for AI outcomes and business impact.
2. AI Cost Visibility
Understand and track what the organization is actually spending
on AI.
3. Business Outcome Metrics
Measure what AI changes for the business, rather than focusing
only on usage or adoption.
Before calculating AI ROI, organizations first need
to make both AI costs and business results measurable.
|
Why Did Only 7% of Leaders Report AI ROI Despite Growing Adoption?
KPMG surveyed 2,145 leaders across 20 countries in April and May 2026. Just 7% reported achieving ROI from AI, while 79% identified AI as a key investment priority.
The contrast is striking: nearly eight in ten leaders prioritized AI investment, but fewer than one in ten reported realizing a return.
Meanwhile, AI has become an everyday workplace tool.
In BCGโs survey, 74% of frontline employees said they used AI daily or several times a week, an increase of 23 percentage points from 2025. Among regular users, 42% reported saving eight hours per week, the equivalent of a full working day.
Yet 66% received little or no guidance on what to do with the time they saved.
Codepresso sees a possible connection between these findings: employees may be saving time, but without a way to track how that time is reinvested, leaders lack a clear view of its business value.
What Do Organizations Reporting AI ROI Have in Place?
Across the studies, organizations reporting stronger ROI or business value stood out in three areas: accountability, cost visibility, and performance measurement.
| Management Priority | What It Means |
|---|---|
| 1. Clear accountability | Assign responsibility for AI outcomes. Reported ROI achievement was 14% versus 4% where accountability was unclear. |
| 2. Cost visibility | Understand and manage AI spending. Reported ROI achievement was 15% versus 3% among leaders with weaker cost visibility. |
| 3. Business outcome metrics | Evaluate what AI changes for the business, beyond how often employees use it. |
All three priorities concern how an organization manages AI use, extending beyond the choice of tools.
What Happens When No One Owns AI Outcomes?
Among organizations where accountability was unclear, only 4% reported achieving AI ROI.
KPMG found that organizations with clear accountability for AI-driven decisions, particularly those where the CEO took responsibility, reported stronger results across several measures:
| Measure | Clear Accountability | Unclear Accountability |
|---|---|---|
| Achieving AI ROI | 14% | 4% |
| Confidence in AI strategy | 60% | 22% |
| Realizing meaningful business value | 57% | 21% |
However, only 24% of leaders said their CEO was accountable for AI-generated business outcomes.
Steve Chase, Global Head of AI and Digital Innovation at KPMG International, highlighted a clear divide between organizations where senior leaders take accountability and those where they do not.
When ownership is explicit, someone is responsible for asking: โWhat should this AI investment change for our business?โ
Measuring ROI starts with that question.
Why Does an AI Contract Price Tell Only Part of the Cost Story?
Many AI services charge based on tokens, the small units of text that models process when reading and generating responses.
As prompts and responses become longer, and more people use the service, token consumption and associated charges can increase. KPMG identified this pricing structure as one factor making AI value harder to measure.
In its survey:
- 42% of leaders reported having only partial visibility into AI spending.
- 23% said they struggled to manage usage-based pricing.
Leaders with strong cost visibility were five times as likely to report achieving ROI: 15% versus 3%.
Organizations are taking steps to make these costs easier to track.
| Cost Management Practice | Share of Respondents |
|---|---|
| Using dashboards to monitor AI costs | 53% |
| Including cost reviews in AI adoption approval processes | 54% |
Without a clear picture of spending, the investment side of the ROI calculation remains incomplete.
Rob Fisher, Global Head of Advisory at KPMG International, described AI as a financial management challenge as much as a technology challenge.
Why Is โ74% of Employees Use AIโ Not a Business Outcome?
An adoption rate tells you that employees use AI. It does not tell you what that usage contributes to the business.
In its recommendations for CEOs, BCG called for a change in how organizations measure success.
| Metric | What It Shows | What Leaders Should Consider |
|---|---|---|
| Adoption and usage rates | Whether employees are using AI. | These measures alone do not establish business value. |
| Business outcomes | Whether AI investment has changed business results. | These are the measures leaders need to evaluate returns. |
BCGโs message is that individual time savings need to be tracked and deliberately reinvested to become organizational value. Monitoring activity alone cannot establish whether the investment is paying off.
This includes giving employees clear direction on how to use the time they save. As noted earlier, 66% of frontline employees received little or no such guidance.
Time saved is a useful efficiency measure. To demonstrate its business contribution, organizations also need to understand what employees do with that additional capacity.
Only 36% Received Sufficient Skills Training. What Should Companies Assess Before ROI?
Codepresso recommends starting with a clear understanding of employeesโ current AI competency.
In BCGโs survey, 72% said AI had changed the skills they needed, but only 36% said they had received sufficient skills training.
Purchasing tools and measuring usage cannot establish whether employees have become more effective at working with AI.
Assessing competency first provides a baseline that can help organizations interpret later changes in performance. It allows training teams to identify gaps and determine whether employees are developing the capabilities needed to put AI to productive use.
For more on why this baseline matters, see What Is an AI Competency Assessment? Four Evaluation Criteria and When to Assess.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What Is AI ROI?
AI ROI measures the net business return generated by an AI investment relative to its cost, typically expressed as a percentage.
In KPMGโs 2026 survey, 7% of leaders reported achieving ROI from AI.
Does High AI Adoption Mean Strong Business Performance?
High adoption shows that employees are using AI. It does not, by itself, establish that their usage improves business results.
BCG recommends evaluating business outcomes alongside adoption metrics to understand whether AI investment is delivering value.
Can Time Saved with AI Count as a Business Benefit?
Time savings are an efficiency benefit, but organizations need to track how that time is used to understand its broader business value.
In BCGโs survey, 66% of frontline employees received little or no guidance on reinvesting the time they saved.
BCG emphasized that untracked, undirected time savings may fail to translate into organizational gains.
How Can We Assess Our Employeesโ AI Competency?
Codepressoโs AI Fluent assesses employeesโ ability to work with AI and helps inform corporate AI training tailored to the results.
Contact sales@codepresso.kr with your expected participant numbers and the job roles involved.
References
- KPMG International, Global AI Pulse: Q2 2026 press release, June 24, 2026. Growing adoption signals progress as cost visibility and accountability drive AI value
- BCG, AI at Work: Why Strategy Matters More Than Tools, June 3, 2026. Read the article
Written by: Codepresso Global GTM & Partnerships (GGP) Division
