Forget productivity: Here are 5 strategic changes that are driving the real value of AI

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Highlights taken by ZDNET

• Measuring productivity means setting KPIs that show value.
• Working harder with AI doesn’t always mean working better.
• Focus on strong partnerships that demonstrate clear benefits.

Proving the value of AI is more challenging than it sounds. A CIO recently explained to me that he proudly told his CEO that the organization’s Microsoft Copilot implementation saved the average employee 30 minutes a day. The CEO’s response is cut short: “So? How do employees use that time to produce something of value to the company?”

The CIO admitted that things have changed somewhat. The lesson, he said, was that all professionals who want to exploit AI must demonstrate how their implementation produces real, tangible benefits, not just reducing the time it takes to complete a task.

Also: I asked 5 data leaders about how they’re using AI to automate — and end integration nightmares

So, how can professionals turn the desire for value into real productivity gains? Here are five ways to create a positive productivity boost from your AI projects.

1. Focus on business results

Bernhard Seiser, VP of digital, data, and IT at AOP Health, said his organization launched Copilot and ChatGPT last year, and set KPIs to measure success.

“The first, of course, was adoption. OpenAI told us that adoption is high in our organization, so it’s being used a lot,” he said.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET’s parent company, filed a lawsuit in April 2025 against OpenAI, alleging that it infringes Ziff Davis’ copyrights in training and using its AI programs.)

“But usage doesn’t really tell you much. I mean, it might be email writing in the end – success has to be tied to the outcome and impact of what you do in your products and interactions with customers.”

Also: 5 ways to use AI if your budget is tight

Seiser told ZDNET this is where the second KPI comes in: working with the entire business to define a list of challenges and assess the benefits that AI brings to each use case.

“I think that’s a better metric than just looking at adoption rates,” he said.

Now, Seiser said he wants to create a productivity-focused approach to people throughout the organization.

“I think it will be very important once we analyze the use cases and do a thorough investigation of how gen AI helps in helping with specific use cases, because then you will see the best impact on the business,” he said.

2. Get performance benefits

John-David Lovelock, senior VP analyst at Gartner, said it’s important to be skeptical about the suggested benefits of AI-enabled productivity.

“I encourage people to use jazz hands when they say productivity, because, for the most part, people say, ‘Hey, productivity is going to go up. Productivity is amazing.’ No one ever explains what production is,” he said.

“We actually had a survey result about two years ago that showed that the less efficient a company was in measuring the output from their AI project, the more likely they were to say there was a greater output from their innovation.”

Also: An AI chief is no longer enough – why your business needs a ‘wizard’

Lovelock told ZDNET that successful professionals decide at the beginning of a project how technology will improve efficiency.

“The example I usually go to is email,” Lovelock said, referring to the use of gen AI tools in administrative areas.

“If someone sends 100 emails a day, and is seen as a very productive employee, are you more productive if you send 125 emails, or if you send 80 emails that don’t let people down, or 40 emails that can send the whole company into email thread hell?”

3. Cooperate strongly with others

Ewa Zborowska, director of research at IDC, said that a strong collaboration between the IT department and business lines is essential to achieve profitability goals.

“You have to fund AI in some way, and the budget is usually going to be shared,” he said. “There will be joint ownership over certain solutions, so making sure you’re working together, understanding each other, and having KPIs in place that help you understand if you’re spending wisely will be important.”

Until now, Zborowska said that companies tend to direct the use of AI in areas related to technology, such as cybersecurity and software development, where strict processes are in place, and large amounts of data are suitable for AI projects.

Also: 5 ways you can stop testing AI and start measuring it responsibly

Now, AI is increasingly being used in operations, customer service, marketing, and back office operations: “In almost every area, customers say that investment will typically double in the next year.”

However, his company’s research with tech giant Lenovo found that nearly 94% of European CIOs expect to see a positive ROI from their AI initiatives, and Zborowska told ZDNET that strong partnerships will be critical to success.

“Our in-depth face-to-face interviews with CIOs confirmed that this approach has changed, and it has influenced the way digital leaders are viewed within the company, because IT professionals are now viewed as business partners, not just people who make sure servers are running and email is correct.”

4. Let people tell good stories

Richard Corbridge, CIO at architecture specialist Segro, said his organization is testing enterprise-grade AI solutions in a matrix, where projects are evaluated and prioritized based on potential costs and potential savings in terms of money and time.

Corbridge told ZDNET that an important aspect of the program is to allow people to test the devices.

“People who want to try AI should put their hands on it, so they can start looking, and become the biggest fans of all, who have had a problem and can’t talk to others about their experience,” he said.

“It’s interesting when you put a bunch of experts in a room, and you have a group that has tried AI and thinks it’s great, and a group that is still very afraid of it, they soon get FOMO because of those who have tried it and got something out of it, rather than the other way around.”

Also: Worried AI agents will replace you? 5 ways to turn anxiety into action at work

Corbridge said professionals who benefit from AI can help demonstrate its value to others.

“Once you have AI, and people have realized the value, it’s hard to try to take it away from them,” he said. “So, let’s put out smart news so other people can see what this thing will bring.”

5. Embrace the watercooler conversation

Like other industry experts, Gartner’s Lovelock said AI may give people more time back in their day — and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

“The easiest productivity gains will probably be ‘latte productivity,'” he said. “Yes, you will save time and effort, and the value to the company is that you will have time to get a latte now.”

While the CIO I mentioned earlier encountered a CEO who needed clear, measurable benefits from the use of AI, Lovelock said managers who don’t see the value of more downtime may be missing the trick.

Also: 6 ways to stop cleaning up after AI – and keep your productivity gains

“When people are commuting for 8 hours, you don’t have a business culture. You have people who are getting tired. If you give them half an hour, where they can have a latte and enjoy being with their colleagues, there is value in that,” he said.

“So you’re probably saying, ‘How do you measure the success of AI?’ And you can say, ‘Hey, we gave people back half an hour a day.’ That would be a measure: AI reduces stress and anxiety. In short, the value of that half hour is different for every organization.”