AI Is Finally Delivering Real Business Value

Jo Debecker is President and CEO of Akkodis.

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AI has seemingly made its way into every boardroom. Investment dollars have poured in and expectations have risen accordingly. But for many organizations, the results haven’t kept pace.

After spending the last years working closely with clients across industries, it has become unmistakable to me that we are at an inflection point. The honeymoon with AI is over, and it now needs to deliver.

In fact, I would argue that this is the year of less AI, and that’s a positive step forward.

What does that mean? It means less experimentation, fewer pilots and fewer scattered use cases. And in their place: more value, more depth and more execution.

The End Of Endless Experimentation

During recent years, most companies have gone about AI implementation the same way. They have piloted widely. They have implemented dozens of projects. They have tried use cases across different departments without even knowing whether there would be room for scaling.

All of that was necessary to help organizations understand what AI could do. But that phase is over.

Too many companies have been throwing use cases at the wall to see what sticks. Now it’s time to take the few that did stick and go deep. This is the shift from width to depth. From exploration to execution. From potential to performance.

AI Is Not A Technology Project

One of the mistakes I see is organizations treating AI as a technical problem. It’s not. AI is a business revolution. And when companies approach it as a technology project (solely owned by IT or digital teams), it typically ends up failing to deliver value.

What works for successful organizations is quite the opposite strategy. They start with the business problem. They define the value they want to create. And then they work backward from there. In many cases, that means going further than optimization. It entails rethinking the process entirely.

A common metaphor I use for this purpose is that there are not enough horses on Earth to send a rocket to space.

It follows the leapfrogging idea. New technology doesn’t just make existing processes faster. It makes completely new approaches possible. If you try to apply AI within the constraints of your current processes, you’re likely limiting its impact before you even begin.

But the way forward begins by tearing up your playbook and starting with a blank sheet of paper.

What Actually Drives AI ROI

There’s no shortage of AI investment today. However, there seems to be a huge gap between expectations and achievements. So, what separates the organizations that are seeing real value from those that aren’t?

First, having a clearly defined purpose. Successful companies define up front what value AI should create, whether that’s improving time to market, enhancing quality or unlocking new revenue streams.

Second, a solid data and digital foundation. AI runs on data. Without access to high-quality, well-structured data and the infrastructure to support it, progress will stall.

And third, and most importantly, full integration into the business process. AI cannot sit on top of the business. It has to be embedded within it.

The companies seeing measurable impact are the ones willing to go back to square one, rethink their workflows and build AI directly into how work gets done.

AI Is A Human Technology

I strongly disagree with the constant notion of AI replacing people. In my view, AI is a human technology. Humans partnering with AI will always be able to do more than AI alone.

Of course, there are some tasks where AI performs better than humans. However, it doesn’t change the requirement for human in the loop. Human assessment, verification and responsibility, particularly when tasks are complicated or involve strict regulations, will always be necessary.

Think about it this way: AI might be able to analyze an MRI scan and identify patterns more effectively than a human. But would you base a critical medical decision solely on that output? Or would you want a trained professional to interpret and validate it?

The same applies across industries. AI is not an autopilot. It’s a co-pilot. There will always need to be a human in the loop guiding, validating and ensuring that outcomes are trusted and reliable.

Why Cross-Functional Ownership Matters

Another consistent pattern I see is that AI fails in silos.

When solutions are built purely by technical teams, without input from the business, adoption is often close to zero. The technology may be impressive, but it doesn’t align with how people actually work. The key to success with AI is to develop it alongside the business and not just for the business.

This calls for collaboration in its purest form, where business leaders and technical and operational teams are involved in developing solutions that can actually be implemented. In certain instances, we are witnessing a new model emerge with humans, technical teams and AI systems working together as part of a single, integrated workflow.

This is how AI moves from concept to impact.

The Role Of External Partners

For many organizations, implementing this vision internally is a challenge. That’s why more companies are turning to external partners for technical expertise, perspective, speed and proven approaches.

The right partner can help challenge assumptions, identify high-value use cases and accelerate execution. They bring experience from across industries and can help organizations avoid common pitfalls.

There are always going to be trade-offs involved, particularly around dependency and ownership. But in most cases, speed and efficiency take precedence over such concerns.

The point here is not to do more things using AI but to do the right things and do them well.

From Promise To Performance

We don’t need more ideas about how to use AI. We need AI to start working. Businesses have explored what’s possible. Now they’re being judged on what’s real. And the gap between those two is where most companies are getting stuck.

At the end of the day, it’s not about the adoption of AI. It’s about transforming your business—with impact.

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