Does your org really need agentic AI? Determining if ROI meets hype requires separating genuine impact from automation buzz and evaluating true business value.

Not all Agentic AI tools are created equal. Some are worth the praise they get and others are not. Executives need to be wary of marketing hype — especially since many so-called agentic AI solutions are simply automation disguised with AI-related buzzwords.

AI is in a hype cycle, making it even more difficult for organizations to determine what makes sense for their business. Cutting through the noise and getting to the bottom line is both challenging and important. Your AI ROI should be clear when choosing any solution for your company.

Why is it so easy to be swept up by the promise of futuristic technology?
There are many reasons why the masses are captivated by the latest technology innovations, especially when it comes to AI in Business. AI promises more simplicity, convenience, control, and hope for moving from your current state to your ideal state. There is also a natural curiosity that I think all of us have when it comes to technology, its boundaries, and what it can do. New innovations are exciting and can change the landscape of the world we live in almost instantaneously. Lastly, there’s always a fear of missing out, especially with something like AI that has created so much buzz in recent years. We all want to be ahead of our competitors, better at our jobs, and be the best we can be.

These reasons make it easy to get caught up in the latest, greatest tech developments — especially with something as abstract and revolutionary as AI. However, the worst thing we can do is let our excitement and curiosity become a stumbling block.

Get a better understanding of AI before making the investment
Agentic AI is a powerful tool. However, this doesn’t mean it’s a great solution for every organization, department, and use case. Many executives find it challenging to prove AI ROI. In my opinion, it’s probably too early to tell AI’s exact ROI and figure out a framework for measuring ROI. There are different indicators: Leading, which means you can see ROI pretty quickly, and lagging, meaning that it will take a while to see positive ROI.

With that said, there are still some obvious ways that AI can increase ROI and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) measure it:

Cost reduction. Being able to do more with less.
Deflection and customer satisfaction. Allowing customers to resolve any issues through self-service, can lead to higher customer satisfaction.
Productivity. Saving time on time-consuming tasks and increasing team bandwidth/capacity to focus on more important tasks or higher-paying customers.

Agentic AI has good use cases, which heavily depend on your industry. For instance, customer service and software development industries can benefit a lot from agentic AI in terms of eliminating manual work and streamlining tasks.

The best indicator of whether or not agentic AI will give you a worthwhile ROI is if it can be used to significantly impact the above KPIs in a positive manner.

Is AI the right solution for your organization?

While it may feel like you “should be” using AI because of the hype around it, it’s not a great fit for every use case. Before investing in AI, consider what use cases are ideal for your unique organization. I recommend asking yourself this question:

Does the process require human-like intelligence and decision-making, or is it better suited to a simple, rule-based approach?

Then, plot it on a map, and pick the ones that are low effort, and medium value to test your results without a big ROI risk. While low value, low effort items may seem tempting, I recommend staying away from these items as you likely won’t see significant positive change.

Assess tools by looking at their capabilities and measuring those against your use cases and department needs.

For tasks that don’t need human-like intelligence, I’d like to introduce an alternative: automation. In many cases, a solution claiming to be an “AI agent” may not have the autonomy or adaptability you need and is instead, a more complex version of existing automation tools. This is where the Automation vs AI debate becomes crucial. Automation is a great solution for saving time, ensuring compliance, maintaining data quality, and enhancing employee productivity and satisfaction. It’s ideal for repetitive tasks with clear, predefined outcomes.

The goal of automation is simply to enhance efficiency in straightforward tasks like document creation, contract management, or e-Signatures. These tasks don’t require the advanced capabilities of AI and can be streamlined through automation to deliver quick results. When administrative bottlenecks and time-consuming tasks are the main issues, automation can provide significant ROI without the complexity of AI.

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