Measuring AI ROI at tool level is missing the point

Research suggests up to 70% of UK businesses are using AI or planning to. After last year’s panic about an “AI bubble”, the consensus has swung the other way: 2026, we're told, is the year AI ROI gets real. Boards want numbers. CIOs and CTOs are being asked to prove the spend.

They're looking through the wrong lens. The fixation on measuring returns at the tool level, license by license, seat by seat, isn’t always a sign of financial discipline. Sometimes it’s a sign that the original investment decision was made without a clear problem to solve. You can't calculate the return on an answer when nobody agreed on the question.

Most organizations brought AI toolsin to innovate, solve specific problems, improve productivity, or keep up with competitors. Others were meeting employee demand for best-in-class tools. Either way, AI became a must-have, and technology-focused C-suites came under pressure to...

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