When It Comes to AI, Is Your Business Using Sense or Just Spending Cents?

Cape Town: As organisations continue investing in ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Claude and other artificial intelligence tools, an important question is emerging in boardrooms and management meetings:

Is AI creating measurable business value, or is it simply creating more activity?

According to Arnold Muscat, Director of College Africa Group, many organisations are focusing on AI activity rather than business outcomes.

“AI usage is easy to measure. Business value is much harder to measure. The real question is whether AI is helping employees save meaningful time, improve decision-making, reduce errors and produce better business results. AI can increase activity without increasing productivity.”

Muscat believes organisations should focus less on the number of prompts submitted and more on the quality and value of the work being produced.

Many businesses can tell you how many AI licences they have purchased. They can tell you how many employees are using AI tools and how much is being spent each month on subscriptions.

What many organisations struggle to measure is whether those investments are actually improving productivity.

The number of prompts submitted, reports generated or emails drafted does not automatically translate into better business outcomes.

In other words, AI usage is not productivity.

Businesses have faced similar challenges before. More meetings do not necessarily lead to better decisions. More emails do not necessarily improve communication. More reports do not automatically improve management performance.

The same principle applies to artificial intelligence.

AI activity only becomes valuable when it improves the quality, speed, accuracy or usefulness of work.

Real productivity improvements may include:

• Faster report preparation
• Reduced repetitive administration
• Improved communication
• Better customer service
• Faster access to information
• Reduced errors and rework
• Improved decision-making
• Higher-quality business outputs

These are the outcomes that matter.

Artificial intelligence can draft reports, summarise information, generate presentations and suggest spreadsheet formulas. However, AI-generated outputs still require human review, validation and judgement.

An AI-generated report may contain incorrect assumptions.
An AI-generated spreadsheet formula may produce the wrong result.
An AI-generated customer communication may not align with company policy or customer expectations.
This is why organisations should avoid measuring success solely through AI adoption statistics.
The real measure of success is whether AI is helping employees perform their jobs more effectively.
As AI becomes more accessible and affordable, human skills are becoming increasingly important.
Critical thinking, communication, business judgement, data analysis, problem solving and Microsoft Excel skills remain essential in an AI-enabled workplace.
Employees who can effectively combine AI tools with strong business skills are likely to create the greatest value for their organisations.
The lesson for business leaders is simple.
AI spending is easy to measure.

Business value is harder to measure.

The organisations that benefit most from AI will be those that focus on outcomes, productivity improvements and value creation rather than simply counting licences, prompts and users.

When it comes to AI, businesses should focus less on activity and more on results.

That is the difference between using business sense and simply spending cents.

“The organisations that benefit most from AI will not necessarily be those with the most licences or the highest usage levels. They will be the organisations that combine AI with strong business skills, sound judgement and effective employee training.”

For additional insight into the relationship between AI investment, productivity and business value, read our previous article:

Do AI Fees Justify the Time Saved? Read the press release

About College Africa Group

College Africa Group (CAG) provides practical AI in the Workplace training, Microsoft Copilot training, ChatGPT for Business programmes, Microsoft Excel training and workplace productivity solutions for organisations throughout Southern Africa.

For more information about AI in the Workplace Training, Microsoft Copilot Training and workplace productivity programmes, visit www.collegeafricagroup.com or contact Arnold Muscat on +27 (0) 83 778 4903.