AI savvy organizations see 2x more ROI, says BCG

Three-quarters of executives view AI as a top three strategic priority in 2025.

That’s according to new research from global management consulting firm BCG, which surveyed 1,800 C-suite leaders from across the world.

BCG’s AI Radar report found that although “AI continues to show strong potential”, “translating that promise into concrete financial returns remains a persistent challenge for many organisations”.BCG’s AI Radar report found that although “AI continues to show strong potential”, “translating that promise into concrete financial returns remains a persistent challenge for many organisations”.

Those are the words of Jessica Apotheker, Managing Director and Partner at BCG and the co-author of the report. She spoke to UNLEASH exclusively about the data.

Currently, just 25% of leaders are seeing significant value from their AI investment, and 60% lack clear financial KPIs tied to AI’s value creation.

Clearly something needs to change, particularly as BCG’s report found that one in three businesses are considering investing more than $25 million on AI in 2025 (with 6% of those planning to spend over $100 million this year).

This gap in tracking and accountability becomes even more critical as organization's increasingly adopt AI agents, which our research expects to play a central role in 32% of surveyed companies’ core strategies for 2025," Apotheker tells UNLEASH.This gap in tracking and accountability becomes even more critical as organization's increasingly adopt AI agents, which our research expects to play a central role in 32% of surveyed companies’ core strategies for 2025," Apotheker tells UNLEASH.

She continues: “AI and AI agents will help business leaders address talent shortages, streamline complex workflows, ease innovation, and tap into new efficiencies across all aspects of their organization.”

However, actually implementing this AI approach requires, according to BCG, a “deep reimagination of work”.

Agents are far from a silver bullet for organizations and leaders already struggling with the ROI from less sophisticated AI.

How to maximize AI’s ROI

The question that remains is what do C-Suite executives and companies need to do differently to reap the rewards of AI?

BCG’s report looks at what the companies leading the way on AI are up to – they concluded that these AI savvy companies go beyond just deploying AI to reap productivity gains.

Instead, forward-thinking businesses actually focus more on how AI and automation can reshape critical functions and build long-term advantages.

The key is going deeper (rather than broader) and following a 10-20-70 principle to drive value.

A key part of the 70% people and process element is upskilling employees – while of 68% of respondents were focused on maintaining and upskilling their current workforce to meet AI demand, two in three are struggling here.

Only one-third have actually upskilled even a quarter of their workforce, according to BCG’s research.

Apotheker calls on HR leaders to step up around upskilling, as well as to think carefully about workforce

Ultimately, given that BCG found that leading companies expect 2 times more ROI from AI, there’s a lot for HR and organizations to gain from rethinking their approach to AI in 2025.