{"id":11136,"date":"2026-06-23T07:31:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T13:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/?p=11136"},"modified":"2026-06-23T07:31:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T13:31:13","slug":"the-real-ai-opportunity-is-creating-new-value","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/?p=11136","title":{"rendered":"The real AI opportunity is creating new value"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/discover-find-new-ideas-lightbulb-800x450.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"A glowing light bulb is surrounded by brightly colored crumpled paper balls in a rainbow-inspired MarTech palette, symbolizing creativity, innovation, and new ideas.\" \/><\/div>\n<p>A majority of organizations now use AI in at least one function \u2014 88%, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mckinsey.com\/capabilities\/quantumblack\/our-insights\/the-state-of-ai\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to McKinsey<\/a> \u2014 but only 6% report significant enterprise-wide impact. This isn\u2019t a failure of AI adoption. It\u2019s a reflection of how organizations use AI.<\/p>\n<p>To take an analogy from the past, the first cars used horse carriages and simply added an engine \u2014 the same frame, seating, and roads. It took a long time for the chassis to be redesigned. The technology arrived before the thinking caught up, and cars were reimagined.<\/p>\n<p>Something similar is happening with AI. Companies are optimizing tasks without rethinking how they create value. According to the same study, only 23% of organizations that use generative AI have redesigned their workflows for the new technology. The rest are building very fast carriages and haven\u2019t yet learned how to adopt a new business model.<\/p>\n<p>The biggest impact of AI may not come from doing existing work faster, but from discovering entirely new ways to create value and generate revenue.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.semrush.com\/lp\/semrush-one\/en\/?utm_campaign=ic_semrush_one&amp;utm_source=searchengineland.com&amp;utm_medium=overlay&amp;onboarding=off\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"headline-responsive\">\n        Your customers search everywhere. Make sure your brand <span>shows up<\/span>.\n      <\/div>\n<p>\n        The SEO toolkit you know, plus the AI visibility data you need.\n      <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n      <span>Start Free Trial<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<div>\n<div>Get started with<\/div>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp\" alt=\"Semrush One Logo\" \/>\n    <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The four stages of AI value<\/h2>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure data-wp-context='{\"imageId\":\"6a3a853b451c4\"}' data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" data-wp-key=\"6a3a853b451c4\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-lightbox-container\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1787\" height=\"1039\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Four-stages-of-AI-value.png\" alt=\"Four stages of AI value\" class=\"wp-image-410328\" \/><button class=\"lightbox-trigger\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Enlarge\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\" data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\">\n<p>\t\t<\/p><\/button><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.managingchange.org.uk\/mcposts\/balancing-efficiency-and-effectiveness\">Peter Drucker<\/a> famously defined efficiency as \u201cdoing things right\u201d and effectiveness as \u201cdoing the right things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Efficiency saves money \u2014 working faster and using less expensive products for an existing pie \u2014 while effectiveness makes money by growing the whole pie. Both matter, but they require different organizational muscles.<\/p>\n<p>Stages one and two (the first two columns) in the above graphic of AI value are like factory work, which focuses on scalability, predictability, and high performance. These are cost-driven and measurable.<\/p>\n<p>Stages three and four (the last two columns) are like laboratory work, which is built for experimentation, agility, and flexibility, and where new, unproven journeys are tested.<\/p>\n<p>The factory mindset often wins in internal budgeting because it\u2019s easier to see and quantify efficiency gains. It\u2019s harder to see gains in effectiveness \u2014 the laboratory mindset \u2014 until an experiment succeeds.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure data-wp-context='{\"imageId\":\"6a3a853b45550\"}' data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" data-wp-key=\"6a3a853b45550\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-lightbox-container\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1019\" height=\"986\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-factory-vs-the-laboratory.png\" alt=\"The factory vs the laboratory\" class=\"wp-image-410329\" \/><button class=\"lightbox-trigger\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Enlarge\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\" data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\">\n<p>\t\t<\/p><\/button><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The success of experimentation<\/h2>\n<p>Here\u2019s an example of how experimentation can work: Tech entrepreneur Pieter Levels thought the only way to find out whether a company would work was to ship it \u2014 to experiment. Many projects later, several generate more than <a href=\"https:\/\/nomadicblueprint.com\/case-studies\/pieter-levels\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">$250,000 per month<\/a> combined.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In another example, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cio.com\/article\/4180896\/how-ikea-turned-a-chatbot-with-13-million-users-into-a-business-worth-1-3-million.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">IKEA deployed a chatbot \u201cBillie\u201d<\/a> in 2021 to handle customer service. It resolved 47% of all customer inquiries, or 3.2 million interactions. Costs dropped, a classic stage one outcome.<\/p>\n<p>But 53% of inquiries were questions Billie couldn\u2019t answer. IKEA saw this as an opportunity, not a failure. The company reskilled 8,500 call center workers as remote interior design advisers and built an entirely new sales channel.<\/p>\n<p>The result: \u20ac1.3 billion in new revenue in 2022 from a channel that didn\u2019t exist before the experiment.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Marketing versus the four horsemen<\/h2>\n<p>Advertising executive Rory Sutherland puts it bluntly in \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/shorts\/I3kksHX6IAA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The 4 Corporate Enemies of Innovation<\/a>.\u201d puts it bluntly. Most large organizations are concerned with cost-cutting and regulatory paranoia, not innovation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Finance, compliance, procurement, and HR departments \u2014 what he calls the \u201cfour horsemen of the bureaucratic apocalypse\u201d \u2014 are disproportionately punished when things go wrong and therefore disincentivized from trying anything new.<\/p>\n<p>Experimentation mandates should come from the marketing department, specifically marketing ops, because it\u2019s responsible for future revenue, not the four horsemen departments.<\/p>\n<p>Marketing ops already works at the intersection of data, technology, customer signals, and commercial outcomes, and can run experiments quickly and inexpensively.<\/p>\n<p>In the IKEA example above, solutions surfaced in a customer interaction log and through experimentation, not in the boardroom. The people equipped to read that log and act on it were in marketing.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to create AI value for your company<\/h2>\n<p>If you recently adopted AI, your organization is likely in stages one or two of using AI to create value, using the factory mindset, and pleasing shareholders with efficiency. The efficiency wave is a necessary precondition for going further and creating more value with AI.<\/p>\n<p>Stage three and four AI value can\u2019t be planned. It must be discovered through deliberate, fast, and inexpensive experimentation. A planned AI roadmap isn\u2019t necessarily the answer \u2014 building the muscle to experiment at volume and follow the right signals is.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/the-real-ai-opportunity-is-creating-new-value\/\">The real AI opportunity is creating new value<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/martech.org\/\">MarTech<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A majority of organizations now use AI in at least one function \u2014 88%, according to McKinsey \u2014 but only 6% report significant enterprise-wide impact. This isn\u2019t a failure of AI adoption. It\u2019s a reflection of how organizations use AI. To take an analogy from the past, the first cars used horse carriages and simply &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/?p=11136\" class=\"more-link\">Read more<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The real AI opportunity is creating new value&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"medium":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"large":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"inspiro-featured-image":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"inspiro-loop":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"inspiro-loop@2x":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail@2x":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-masonry":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-masonry@2x":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_cinema":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_portrait":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_portrait@2x":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_square":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11136\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}