𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐂𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐂𝐮𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐖𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡

𝙉𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙚𝙣 enterprise AI projects are 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚. Yet nobody ever cut their way to a championship.

At Fortune's Brainstorm Tech this week, ServiceNow's Chris Bedi shared a number worth sitting with: roughly 90% of enterprise AI use cases target internal productivity and cost control. 𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙘𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙨. 𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙪𝙚. 𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙩𝙝.

The defensive instinct is understandable. Cost savings are easy to measure, easy to approve, and easy to defend in front of a board. Growth bets are messier, riskier.

But the math is skewed.

𝘾𝙤𝙨𝙩-𝙘𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙛𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙧. You can only ever save 100% of a cost, and you reach diminishing returns long before that.

𝙂𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙘𝙚𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜.

The compounders already proved it. Walmart's CEO frames AI around serving customers better, not just productivity. Domino's rebuilt its operations around technology and captured roughly half of US pizza delivery.

Same tools everyone has. Pointed at the top line.

Here is the encouraging part: the defensive work is not wasted.

Every cost-focused pilot builds something you will need for offense: AI literacy, cleaner data, governance muscle, teams who trust the tools. Defense is the training ground.

The risk is staying there forever. Treating the training ground as the destination.

A practical exercise for your next AI portfolio review:
· List your live AI use cases
· Mark each one: does it shrink a cost, or grow revenue and customer value?
· Look at the ratio

If you land near 90/10, you are exactly average. But average is exposed, because your competitors hold the same superpower. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘼𝙄. 𝙄𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙞𝙢 𝘼𝙄 𝙖𝙩.

You do not have to flip the ratio overnight. Moving from 90/10 to 70/30 already puts you ahead of most of the field.

So, one question for your leadership team this week: what is the single most promising AI use case in your business that would make customers spend more, stay longer, or smile wider?

Fund that one next.

#AIStrategy #Growth #Leadership #CustomerExperience #Retail

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