Beyond the Hype: A Playbook for Real AI Adoption

AI has quickly evolved from a niche experiment to a boardroom imperative. According to ADAPT’s survey of 200 Australian CIOs, 70% plan to increase investment in generative AI, highlighting its growing strategic significance. Yet only 25% of organisations have automated workflows in place, revealing a stark gap between ambition and execution. Alan Jacobson, Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Alteryx, underscores this disconnect in his conversations with hundreds of enterprise leaders annually. While nearly every company has at least one AI use case live, few can claim more than ten with real ROI, mirroring the ADAPT insight that only 13% of CIOs consider their AI deployments successful.

One core challenge, as both Jacobson and the research highlight, is measuring ongoing value. While initial AI investments are often easy to justify, 50% of CIOs report difficulty in tracking long-term benefits, and 40% of CFOs doubt the realised value of tech investments…