This episode explores the three key business outcomes—Return on Employee (ROE), Return on Investment (ROI), and Return on the Future (ROF)—that organizations should prioritize when implementing AI strategies in 2025. Against the backdrop of a rapidly evolving AI landscape dominated by hyperscalers, the speaker, Mary Mesaglio, emphasizes the need for businesses to focus on delivering AI value safely and at scale. More significantly, she challenges the conventional focus solely on ROI, arguing that ROE, representing the impact of AI on employee productivity and well-being, is equally crucial and often immeasurable in purely financial terms. For instance, she compares the question of ROI for personal AI productivity tools to asking about the ROI of email—a fundamental tool, not a financial investment.
The discussion then pivots to ROI, the classic return on investment model applicable to AI enhancements of existing processes and workflows where measurable improvements in efficiency and profitability are expected. In contrast to ROE and ROI, ROF represents high-risk, high-reward strategic bets on innovative AI applications with uncertain outcomes. This approach, akin to venture capital investing, involves accepting a high failure rate to achieve potentially transformative breakthroughs. The speaker suggests managing these three types of AI value as a portfolio, balancing risk and reward across ROE, ROI, and ROF investments. Finally, the episode highlights the unpredictable and volatile nature of Gen-AI costs, urging organizations to carefully consider cost models before committing to large-scale AI implementations. This means for businesses is a shift towards a more nuanced understanding of AI value, moving beyond simple financial metrics to encompass employee impact and long-term strategic goals.
