In April, PwC's AI Performance Study surveyed 1,217 senior executives and found that 74% of AI's economic value goes to the top 20% of companies. Most companies are spending on AI. A small group is collecting most of the return.
When we sit with executive teams, the difference rarely comes down to which tools they bought. It comes down to the questions they answered before they started.
Here are the five we ask every team to answer before approving its next AI pilot.
1. What value will this change?
Name the economic result: revenue, cost, cycle time, quality or customer experience, and by how much. If the answer is "we want to learn about AI," call it training and budget it that way. A pilot should move a number the business already cares about.
2. What work stands between us and that value?
Describe the work as it happens today, step by step, and who does each step. Most of the value of AI comes from changing the work around the tool. If you cannot describe the work, you cannot redesign it.
3. Who owns the result?
Write down one name: the business leader accountable for the outcome, separate from the team building the tool. If the only owner is the technology team, the pilot will produce a working tool and an untouched business.
4. How does leadership have to change?
New work often means new decision rights, new approvals and new ways of managing. Ask which decisions will move, which meetings will change and what the managers in that area need to lead well once the work looks different.
5. What will the people affected believe and experience?
Picture the people whose work will change. What will they hear about this pilot, from whom and when? What do they need to believe for them to use the tool well? A pilot that ignores this question gets polite attendance and quiet resistance.
The test
A pilot with a value, a work description, an owner, a leadership plan and a people plan is a real step toward a return. A pilot missing three of them is a demo.
These five questions map to the five layers of AI architecture: value, work, organization, leadership and culture. The free, five-question AI Readiness Check shows where your company is strongest and which layer to work on next. To go further, read about AI and leadership or book a conversation.
Frequently asked questions
What should an executive team decide before an AI pilot?
The value it will change, the work involved, the business leader who owns the result, how leadership and decision rights will change, and what the people affected need to hear and experience.
Why do some companies get more value from AI than others?
PwC found 74% of AI's economic value goes to the top 20% of companies. In our experience the leaders in that group start from value and redesign the work and organization around AI, beyond deploying tools.
What is the AI Readiness Check?
A free, five-question check that scores a company across the five layers of AI architecture, value, work, organization, leadership and culture, and shows where it stands and its next step, with no email required.
Related service: AI Readiness Check
