Stuck in AI Experiments and No Value? Here is a Way Out.

Over the past few months, two important pieces of research have landed quietly — one from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), the other from Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Together, they paint a clear picture of why so many Australian organisations are struggling to realise value from AI, and more importantly, what mid-sized companies can do next.

Insight 1: Value from AI remains difficult to realise

BCG’s global findings show that only 5% of companies are realising material, enterprise-level value from AI. These firms are outperforming their peers in revenue growth and margin expansion. The gap is widening because most companies are still dabbling, not scaling.

Insight 2: Many Australian companies are still early in their AI journey

The RBA’s survey indicates that around 30% of companies have adopted AI in a meaningful way, while roughly 40% describe their adoption as minimal. Much of the usage today sits in summaries, drafting and research rather than transforming workflows.

Insight 3:  IT investment is rising but not in value creating areas

The RBA highlights that IT investment has increased by 80% over the past decade, which equates to a 6% CAGR. Most of this investment has been directed toward cyber security, cloud migrations, system upgrades and compliance uplift – all important, but none of which meaningfully accelerate productivity or workflow speed to reduce costs or increase revenue.

What happens when companies move beyond experimentation

BCG’s findings show that organisations which re-engineer workflows using GenAI and Agentic AI scale initiatives 5x faster and achieve stronger revenue growth. The value is not in the tool itself but in the operating model that surrounds it.

Implications for Australian mid-sized companies

Most organisations are still searching for isolated use cases. However, a sustainable competitive advantage lies in re-wiring end-to-end workflows, automating decisions, embedding AI into operating rhythms and using repeatable mechanisms to scale across the enterprise. This closely aligns with Technology Connect’s view that AI value comes from speed, repeatability and continuous learning, not one-off experiments.

This is where the AI Studio and AI Factory models become essential. Start by re-wiring one core business workflow using Agentic AI to increase cycle speed and generate cost savings. Take a proportion of this cost saving and invest this into a company AI capability that can be leveraged to re-wire additional workflows and ultimately help scale this across the enterprise. Let the remaining proportion of the cost savings flow directly to the bottom line. This way, companies can fund the build of a sustainable AI transformation capability, whilst simultaneously ensuring that stakeholder value is generated.

A practical way forward

Australia does not have a technology investment problem. It has a value realisation challenge. The foundations are already in place, and the opportunity now is to shift from experimentation to transformation. When organisations begin rewiring workflows using GenAI and Agentic AI, the payoff — as the research shows — is significant.

If you are interested in exploring how you can leverage AI to reduce costs of workflows and re-invest this into a sustainable AI advantage, feel free to book a 30-minute conversation with me using the Booking link below.

📅 Book time with Tom Dissing: 30 minutes meeting

Sources

Reserve Bank of Australia 2025 Technology Investment and AI What Firms Are Telling Us https://www.rba.gov.au

Boston Consulting Group 2025 The Widening AI Value Gap Global Report https://www.bcg.com

Australian Bureau of Statistics Consumer Price Index historical tables https://www.abs.gov.au

If interested in exploring how to cretae and sustain an AI advantage, then connect with us.

Tom Dissing is the founder and Managing Director of Technology Connect. He has deep expertise in helping companies digitally transform and scale their businesses through better, faster and smarter use of emerging technology. Tom is a trusted advisor to executives and senior management teams. He has advised senior executives in Financial Services (Banking, Insurance, Wealth and Superannuation), Media & Entertainment, Construction & Engineering, Technology Services and Government (Federal and State) in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Europe.

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