By Kate Wade, Managing Partner of Wade Strategy, LLC and Founding Partner of The AI Strategies Group (AISG)

As the recent MIT report on The GenAI Divide bluntly states: “Despite $30–40 billion in enterprise investment into GenAI, 95% of organizations are getting zero return. Just 5% of integrated AI pilots are extracting millions in value, while the vast majority remain stuck with no measurable P&L impact.”

Employees are working faster and productivity is rising, but for most companies, these gains haven’t yet translated into revenue growth, margin expansion, or competitive advantage.

Why does this gap exist, and how can organizations move from productivity gains to real P&L impact?

The Productivity–P&L Gap

Currently, most organizations are experiencing individual-level productivity gains without incurring significant enterprise-level financial impacts. The gap exists for several reasons:

1. It’s Still Early

Most companies are in exploration or early deployment phases. The real financial impact often becomes apparent later. For example, when growth accelerates and headcount no longer needs to increase at the same pace.

2. Productivity Gains Get Reabsorbed

If an employee saves two hours a day but fills that time with low-value tasks, the company gains efficiency but not financial leverage. Without direction, freed-up time becomes “busyness.”

3. Value Is Being Measured Too Narrowly

Organizations often overlook the indirect benefits of cost or time savings. They also miss out on other benefits, including spending more time with customers, improved service quality, faster decision-making, and reduced compliance risk. These matter for growth and profitability but are harder to quantify immediately.

4. Projects Aren’t Always Strategic

Many early AI projects were “nice to have” pilots, such as automating meeting notes, summarizing documents, or creating first drafts. Helpful, but not transformational. When AI isn’t tied to core growth drivers, such as revenue expansion, margin protection, or customer retention, it remains incremental. Strategic use cases, such as AI-driven pricing, demand forecasting, or personalized customer engagement, are what drive financial outcomes.

From Productivity to P&L: What Companies Should Do

1. Instruct Employees on How to Reinvest Time

Efficiency alone doesn’t create value. Companies need to guide employees on where to redirect freed-up hours.

• Sales reps should spend more time with prospects.
• Marketing teams should test new campaigns or deepen segmentation.
• Operations staff should address bottlenecks or quality issues.

When AI time savings are linked to strategic priorities, they compound into real business gains.

2. Plan for a Lag

AI-driven productivity often translates into future hiring patterns rather than immediate savings. As businesses grow, they will require fewer incremental hires to handle that growth. That lag can obscure P&L impact today, but the long-term effect is substantial.

3. Expand the Definition of Value

Not every gain shows up immediately on the bottom line. AI creates value through:

• More time with customers.
• Higher quality of outputs.
• Fewer errors and compliance risks.
• Reduced employee burnout and turnover.

Organizations that measure and acknowledge these benefits can better connect AI usage to business outcomes.

4. Tie AI to Enterprise Metrics

Productivity needs to roll up into measurable enterprise-level KPIs:

• Revenue levers like conversion rate or upsell.
• Cost levers like claims processed per adjuster or sales per rep.
• Margin levers like pricing optimization or procurement efficiency.

This linkage ensures productivity doesn’t remain stuck at the individual level.

The Path Forward

The lesson is clear: AI is not a plug-and-play P&L engine. Simply giving employees ChatGPT or Copilot won’t automatically show up in financial results. Companies need to:

1. Redesign processes,
2. Direct how time is reinvested,
3. Measure value more broadly,
4. Align projects with strategic growth needs, and
5. Scale adoption across the enterprise.

When they do, the gains will compound, not only in productivity but in revenue growth, margin improvement, and resilience.

AI’s first wave gave us efficiency. The next wave will give us profitability.

Not sure where to start?

If you’re exploring AI use cases and want a practical way to align them with business value, I’m happy to share more. Contact me, Kate Wade, Managing Director of Wade Strategy, LLC and Founding Partner of The AI Strategies Group (AISG), to explore how your organization can take the first strategic step toward responsible, practical, and profitable AI adoption.