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Based on MIT NANDA Research (2025)
The GenAI Divide: Why 95% of Organizations Get Zero ROI
Enterprise spend on GenAI is huge, adoption is high, and yet most organizations report no measurable P&L impact. The “GenAI Divide” explains why only a small group extracts real value—and how to join them.
Quick takeaway
The gap isn’t model quality. It’s approach: workflow fit, learning capability (memory + adaptation), and operational integration determine outcomes.
What the research found
The report calls it the GenAI Divide: many organizations adopt general-purpose tools, but very few turn AI into measurable business performance.
A key claim is stark—most organizations see no measurable return, while a small minority extracts meaningful value at scale.
Teams try ChatGPT/Copilot quickly because the interface is familiar and flexible.
Most efforts stop at productivity improvements—not P&L impact.
Custom tools often stall due to brittle workflows and poor fit in day-to-day operations.
The real reason most GenAI initiatives stall
According to the report, the core barrier is not infrastructure, regulation, or talent. It’s learning:
many GenAI systems don’t retain feedback, don’t adapt to context, and don’t improve over time. In real operations,
that creates friction instead of reliability.
What the 5% do differently
- They start with a specific process (not a generic “AI program”).
- They measure outcomes (cycle time, error rate, external spend reduction).
- They demand workflow fit (integration with existing systems and real user behavior).
- They choose tools that learn (memory + feedback loops).
A simple “Monday morning” playbook
- Pick one repeatable workflow that touches revenue, risk, or delivery (approvals, ticket routing, document handling, forecasting prep).
- Map it: trigger → inputs → decision → handoffs → outcome.
- Remove ambiguity: define required inputs and rules (and what counts as an exception).
- Deploy AI where it removes friction (summaries, routing, extraction, drafting, classification).
- Track 2–3 metrics weekly and iterate for 30 days.
Want to cross the GenAI Divide in your organization?
We’ll identify a high-ROI workflow, build the measurement plan, and choose the right implementation path.
