How are your organizations measuring the value of AI productivity tools (such as M365 Copilot)? What metrics/KPIs are you tracking, beyond time saved? How are you justifying the ROI on the investment?

This is a great question and one my organization is currently trying to wrap our heads around! Time saved is the easiest measurement to point to, but I think the real value of these technologies is so much deeper. If the AI can improve the quality of work or increase the depth of insights provided the underlying value add to the organization is perhaps more meaningful than just being able to perform tasks faster. My organization in particular uses efficiency created by technology to forecast future growth and scalability. Time saved currently may be minimal, but as the company grows we can multiply that savings to showcase how we are better positioned to assume more work without increasing our head count.

As a technology leader, I see ROI from AI productivity tools as multidimensional. Beyond time saved, we measure impact on decision quality, reduction in errors, speed of knowledge discovery, employee satisfaction and cross team collaboration. We also track adoption rates, security adherence and business outcomes such as faster feature development lifecycle or reduced incident recovery times. These metrics give a fuller view of value than efficiency alone.