According to research from Gartner, only 1 in 50 AI investments delivers transformational value.
Worse still, just 1 in 5 generates any measurable ROI at all.
Let that land.
Boards are approving budgets.
Vendors are selling platforms.
Pilots are being launched across departments.
And the overwhelming majority of that investment is quietly producing… nothing.
The Technology Isn’t the Problem
Workers who use AI daily report saving an average of 7.5 hours per week — roughly 90 minutes a day.
The productivity upside is real. The time savings are measurable. The efficiency gains are visible.
The potential return is demonstrably there.
So why are so few organisations realising it?
Because the gap isn’t in the software.
It’s in the human capability surrounding it.
The Real Failure Point: Capability, Not Code
Most organisations have:
- Bought the tool
- Run a small pilot
- Announced a transformation agenda
But skipped the critical step that makes any of that meaningful:
Developing people who know:
- Where AI creates genuine value
- How to test use cases quickly and safely
- How to redesign workflows around it
- How to embed what works into daily operations
That’s not a procurement issue.
It’s not an IT integration issue.
It’s an intrapreneurship issue.
Why Intrapreneurship Is the Missing Link
AI tools are horizontal.
Value creation is contextual.
The organisations pulling ahead aren’t necessarily those spending the most.
They’re the ones building internal capability — people who can:
- Identify high-friction processes worth automating
- Run fast, low-risk experiments
- Translate technical capability into commercial value
- Scale successful use cases across teams
This is applied innovation.
And it requires empowered, commercially aware intrapreneurs inside the business.
Without them, AI remains a shiny layer on top of unchanged systems.
The Pattern Behind the 1-in-50 Statistic
If only 2% of AI investments deliver transformational value, it’s not because 98% of technology is flawed.
It’s because transformation doesn’t come from tools.
It comes from:
- Clear problem definition
- Customer-centric experimentation
- Decision-making autonomy
- Leadership sponsorship
- Skills development aligned to real business challenges
In other words, it comes from organisational design and capability-building.
A Question for L&D and Innovation Leaders
Where is your AI budget weighted?
- Heavily toward platforms and licences?
- Or toward building internal experimentation capability?
Are you:
- Teaching teams how to prompt?
- Or developing leaders who can redesign workflows?
- Running pilots?
- Or equipping intrapreneurs to scale outcomes?
If capability isn’t developing alongside the technology, ROI will remain accidental.
And accidental returns rarely survive board scrutiny.
The Strategic Shift
The “1 in 50” statistic isn’t a reason to slow down.
It’s a reason to rebalance.
Invest in:
- Applied AI literacy
- Experimentation frameworks
- Intrapreneurial decision-making
- Cross-functional opportunity discovery
- Leadership alignment around value, not hype
Technology creates potential.
Capability converts it into results.
From AI Adoption to AI Advantage
If you’re serious about turning AI investment into measurable value, the focus must extend beyond procurement.
Our intrapreneurship and innovation programmes are designed to build exactly this capability — enabling your people to identify opportunities, test them rapidly, and embed what works into the fabric of the organisation.
Because AI doesn’t fail quietly.
Capability gaps do.
And the organisations that close them first will define the next competitive era.
