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Ready to join the AI leaders?
AI is everywhere, but return on investment (ROI) isn't. PwC's new study into AI performance shows that a small group of top companies (the AI leaders) are already translating AI into genuine ROI.
For these organisations, using AI to increase productivity is a given. But they go much further: they use AI to reinvent and grow.
They start with what matters. They build only what's needed. And they scale what works.
Want to be among the AI leaders too? Here's how to approach it.
Trusted and recognised
74%
of all AI-driven returns are realised by just 20% of companies
Is your organisation AI-fit?
You're AI-fit when you're able to align AI with the results that matter, build the foundations that enable ROI and then rapidly scale what works. From pilots to profit.
The most AI-fit organisations achieve 7.2 times higher AI-driven performance improvement than their peers: a combination of additional revenue and cost reduction through AI.
Discover more below about the nine factors of AI fitness.
Why this matters
AI fitness ensures you extract more ROI from AI.
Your next step
Assess your organisation against the nine factors below to map your AI fitness level.
2.6x
as often, AI leaders report that AI helps them reinvent their business model
Are you using AI for innovation or only for efficiency?
AI leaders focus on growth with AI and use it to innovate. They're 2.6 times as likely to believe that AI increases their ability to reinvent business models and 1.2 times as likely to say AI contributes to revenue growth.
They focus on where value is moving and manage their AI investments tightly as a portfolio, with clear owners and measurable objectives.
And AI leaders win precisely where sector boundaries blur. They're 1.8 times as likely to identify new value opportunities, three times as likely to be active in cross-sector collaborations and twice as likely to compete outside their own sector. In doing so, they accelerate use cases around 'industrial convergence' with senior management support.
Why this matters
The biggest returns emerge when AI changes what you sell and how you create value. Not just how quickly you execute tasks.
Your next step
Identify two growth opportunities this year that AI can unlock and determine in advance what success looks like.
2.4x
as often, AI leaders build reusable AI assets
Are your foundations fit for purpose?
The most AI-fit organisations have strong basic capabilities: employee skills, technology and data, governance and risk management.
AI leaders invest two and a half times more than others, and do so with agility. They build only what's needed to make AI work hard on their strategic priorities. With strong foundations, AI delivers twice as much value.
Why this matters
Reuse makes AI cheaper, faster and more reliable: with every deployment.
Your next step
Design application components with reuse in mind from the outset.
2x
as often, the best performing companies use autonomous AI
Is AI embedded throughout your organisation or locked in silos?
The greatest performance improvements emerge when AI performs work independently: taking routine decisions, handling simple tasks and even improving its own performance. AI leaders embed AI in every part of their organisation. They rapidly scale successful pilots organisation-wide, including in complex processes.
They're twice as likely to embed AI end-to-end in the value chain: from strategy to procurement and from back office to customer experience.
Why this matters
Of all the operational performance indicators we tested, automating decisions correlates most strongly with AI-driven performance.
Your next step
Introduce autonomy step by step in a high-frequency work process. Let AI grow from supporting to independently executing. But within clear boundaries.
AI leaders perform better
2x
as often, they use AI to compete outside their sector
Why this matters
Achieving growth through industrial convergence is the AI fitness factor with the greatest influence on AI-driven performance.
Your next step
Use AI to discover new value opportunities and then focus AI on the opportunities customers are willing to pay for.
2x
more improvement in AI-driven performance when more intensive AI use is supported by stronger foundations
Why this matters
Delivering use cases without the ability to repeat them reliably yields a lower return.
Your next step
Before scaling, map which foundations block repetition and strengthen those first for the highest-value initiatives.
80%
more likely to structurally measure the business impact of AI initiatives
Why this matters
Without measurement, you don't know whether AI investments are yielding returns.
Your next step
Organise a monthly 'scale or stop' review. Only invest further in projects that demonstrably contribute to your operations.
Discover your AI fitness
Or read the full story about deploying AI for growth
Discover the nine factors of AI fitness
AI fitness consists of sixty components of AI management and investment opportunities, brought together in nine factors within two categories:
- AI foundations: strategy, investments, people, data and technology, governance and innovation
- AI usage: breadth and depth, sophistication, extracting value from industrial convergence
Benchmark your organisation's AI fitness below against sector peers and AI leaders.
Want to get started immediately?
Get direct insight into the baseline level of your AI fitness.
SYC 2.0 SME video
Breadth and depth
How widely AI is deployed across the value chain and how deeply AI is integrated into work processes per function.
AI leaders' score on breadth and depth is approximately twice as high as that of other organisations.
See how Joe Atkinson, global chief AI officer at PwC, explains what leaders do differently and what you can do to join them.
SYC 2.0 SME video
Sophistication
A measure of the most advanced AI applications within a company. See this variable as a spectrum, from deploying AI to simply summarise long texts to building autonomous, self-optimising agents that coordinate multiple interdependent tasks. AI leaders use AI that operates autonomously twice as often.
See how Scott Likens, PwC's global chief AI engineer, explains more about advanced AI applications and the value they can create.
SYC 2.0 SME video
Extracting value from industrial convergence
The extent to which AI is deployed for cross-sector competition or collaboration. Think of recognising new value opportunities, responding to changing customer needs or collaborating in ecosystems.
AI leaders more often use AI to achieve growth through industrial convergence, which is the strongest AI fitness factor influencing AI-driven performance.
See how Nicki Wakefield, global clients and industries leader at PwC, explains what AI leaders do differently and what organisations can do with AI to create value.
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Strategy
The strength of connection between strategy and AI deployment. Do you have a prioritised AI roadmap? Are your use cases linked to concrete objectives? Do you measure impact? And is someone accountable?
Daria Vlasova, AI strategy leader & go-to-market lead at PwC UK, explains how AI leaders anchor their AI planning in their strategic growth priorities.
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Investment
The funding and resources for AI. Are investment levels sufficient? Can you rapidly reallocate resources when priorities shift, whilst still investing in longer-term innovation?
High-performing companies tend to invest more often, reallocate their budget flexibly and deploy resources for sustainable results.
Teresa Owusu-Adjei, clients & markets leader at PwC global tax and legal services, explains how AI leaders manage their AI investments.
SYC 2.0 SME video
Data and technology
The extent to which an organisation has modern, scalable platforms and reliable, varied data sources that are accessible to everyone. Also essential: reusable AI components and replicable, redesigned work processes in priority applications.
Compared with the rest, AI leaders have more than twice as often eliminated outdated and costly IT applications, systems and infrastructure.
See how Scott Likens, PwC's global chief AI engineer, explains why high-quality data and the right technological foundation (in the right places) are crucial for realising ROI with AI.
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People
A measure of whether leaders and employees have the skills, incentives, collaboration models and trust needed to develop AI and apply it effectively in daily decisions.
AI leaders report 1.7 times as often that their employees participate in ongoing, role-based AI learning sessions. Moreover, these employees have twice as much confidence in the insights generated by AI.
Pete Brown, PwC's global workforce leader, explains how AI can help unite human potential with technological power.
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Governance and risk
Security, access controls, processes for regulatory compliance, ethical frameworks and supervisory bodies needed to manage risks from AI design through to rollout.
AI leaders have 1.6 times as often a Responsible AI framework that guides AI strategy. This includes use case selection, design, rollout and continuous monitoring.
See how Kazi Islam, global leader Assurance Strategy and Growth at PwC, explains the importance of AI risk management and discusses how to build trust in AI.
SYC 2.0 SME video
Innovation
How innovative – and simultaneously careful – a company is. Does your organisation have dedicated innovation infrastructure, such as sandbox environments? Is ownership of innovation embedded within business units? And is there a regular cycle of portfolio reviews to test, prioritise, scale and stop AI initiatives?
AI leaders more often have special innovation infrastructure and regularly conduct reviews of their innovation portfolio to scale AI initiatives.
Agnes Koops, global chief commercial officer of PwC, talks about the way you approach innovation.
How AI-fit is your organisation?
See how you score against your sector and the AI leaders.
Read further
Dive deeper into AI performance and concrete actions
Extract ROI from AI? Choose growth.
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We look a decade ahead so you can create value today
Last year, we estimated that seven trillion US dollars can be earned through innovation. We've mapped this 'value in motion' from 2025 to 2035, so you can build a future-proof business.
Questions? Feel free to reach out to:
Edwin van Bommel
Partner, PwC Netherlands
Edwin is a Partner for Artificial Intelligence at PwC Netherlands and specialises in AI‑ and digitally driven transformations. He advises organisations on the effective use of AI and leads the integration of AI across PwC’s services and processes.
Mona de Boer
Partner, PwC Netherlands
Mona is a partner at PwC Netherlands and specialises in the use of data and artificial intelligence. She advises organisations primarily on the responsible use of AI, known as responsible AI, and on the rules and regulations surrounding AI.
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