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Nearly Nine in Ten CEOs See Some Cost or Revenue Benefits from AI in Targeted Areas, But Most Are Struggling to Scale It
- More Than Half of CEOs Cite a Missing Link Between AI and P&L, But Only 14% Clearly Define P&L Impact for All AI Initiatives
- High Performers Are Roughly Seven Times More Likely to Redesign Workflows and Reshape the Business End-to-End with AI
BOSTON—Nearly nine in ten CEOs say their companies are now seeing cost or revenue benefits from AI in targeted areas. Yet despite these early gains, most organizations are struggling to scale AI’s financial impact. The core problem is not technology. It is execution.
These are among the findings from a new report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) titled CEOs Are Starting to See Value from AI. Now Comes Execution. Based on a global survey of 152 chief executives at companies with revenues of at least $500 million, the research identifies the CEO actions most closely associated with stronger AI outcomes. Notably, the findings suggest the conversation around AI has entered a new phase. For many companies, the question is no longer whether AI can generate value, but whether they can transform their organizations with the rigor, speed, and accountability required to scale AI value.[1]
“The disciplines that drive successful transformation haven’t changed,” said Nicolas De Bellefonds, a managing director and senior partner at BCG and a coauthor of the report. “What AI does is raise the stakes on both sides: the potential is larger, but so is the penalty for weak execution. That’s why the gap between CEOs who understand what’s required and those actually doing it is so consequential right now.”
A Gap Between Knowing and Doing
While AI is often viewed primarily as a technology challenge, CEOs surveyed by BCG point instead to organizational execution as the biggest obstacle to scaling value. More than half cited the need to link AI initiatives to the P&L as a key barrier, but only 14% have clearly defined the P&L impact for all AI initiatives, a gap of 42 percentage points. People redesign was cited as another key barrier by 55% of CEOs, yet only 30% include HR in AI governance, versus 82% who include technology. Other barriers include weak value tracking and insufficient funding for people and change management.
AI pilots can be an important launch pad for transformation, but too often these projects don’t expand company-wide to address bigger challenges. Nearly two-thirds of CEOs say their company pursues AI pilots, but only 26% have embedded AI as part of a broader business transformation. High performers are roughly seven times more likely to redesign workflows and reshape the business end-to-end with AI.
Four Moves That Separate AI Leaders from the Rest
BCG’s research, reinforced by the practices of higher performers in the survey, identifies four transformational moves that distinguish companies scaling AI value from those still stuck in pilots.
- Make the CEO the orchestrator, but make the business accountable. The chief executive’s role is to set the vision and ensure delivery accountability cascades to CXOs and P&L owners.
- Focus AI on a few high-value areas that can change the business. Rather than experimenting broadly, leading companies concentrate people, capital, and capability where AI can deliver the biggest impact, funded on a multi-year horizon.
- Set up AI projects so value can be tracked. Define the expected P&L impact and value logic before each initiative launches, with finance validating results from day one.
- Prioritize people and change management. High performers are 2.4 times more likely to assign their best talent to AI workstreams.
“The early AI results are real, and they are encouraging,” said Matthieu Berthion, a managing director and partner at BCG and a coauthor of the report. “But companies are now entering a more consequential phase: turning targeted gains into enterprise-wide impact. That requires moving beyond the deployment of technology and building the execution discipline to reinvent how the business runs—from governance and workflows to accountability and value measurement.”
