Articles
October 3, 2025Why So Many AI Initiatives Are Failing to Deliver ROI
- Author
- CapTech
New Executive Research Reveals the Keys to AI Success
Executive Summary
To uncover the challenges organizations face in adopting AI, CapTech led a research effort that featured commissioned interviews with executives in leadership roles at multibillion-dollar corporations across the financial services, healthcare, retail, hospitality, telecom, and consumer goods industries. The findings uncovered six leadership risks across industries that consistently undermine AI return on investment (ROI), ranging from technology-first strategies to misaligned transformation efforts.
In response to the research, we’ve offered recommendations for a critical paradigm shift across each of the six trends. The organizations that succeed with AI will be those that prioritize business outcomes with governance at the core, take purposeful but realistic risks, and engage employees in the process with trust and transparency.

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Learn MoreTrend 01: AI Has Become a Mandate

$850K
in annual savings at a state’s Department of Labor through a workers compensation initiative
80%
reduction in task time for a leading logistics provider
30%
reduction in infrastructure costs at a leading health insurer
Trend 02: Risk Aversion Creates a Game of Wait-and-See

Trend 03: Near-Term Results Outweigh Long-Term AI Investments

Trend 04: Lagging Employee Adoption Is a Widespread Challenge

Trend 05: Security and Compliance Are Non-negotiable


Trend 06: Tech Solutions Tend to Scope Creep

Generate Value at Every Stage of AI Maturity
Foundational
At the Foundational stage, executives focus on building data readiness with a scalable cloud platform, establishing governance and cyber- resiliency, and experimenting with targeted use cases that have measurable benchmarks and clear ROI metrics. These early efforts lay the groundwork for trust, scalability, and future innovation.
Emerging
In the Emerging stage, organizations begin to expand automation, integrate AI into more workflows, and upskill teams to support broader adoption. This phase is about increasing the nimbleness of work, beginning to transform your workforce, and raising baseline expectations.
Matured
As organizations reach the Matured stage, they begin to scale agentic AI, orchestrate multi- agent systems, and embed AI into core business processes. These efforts drive efficiency and unlock new capabilities across the enterprise.
Visionary
At the Visionary stage, companies enable self- optimizing, adaptive AI ecosystems that fuel continuous innovation and competitive advantage.
Reframing Executive AI Strategy
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Bree Basham
Principal, Go-to-Market & Growth Strategy
Bree leads our Customer Experience practice, creating digital strategies and solutions using modern technologies to deliver meaningful and measurable experiences for our customers. She has served as a Creative Director for many omnichannel experiences within the retail space, as well as for a number of other industries that CapTech serves.