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"In the Loop But Not in the Weeds": Organizational Change and the Path to AI ROI

Publisher IDC
Published Apr 21, 2026
Length 9 Pages
SKU # IDC21137787

Description

Artificial intelligence will reshape enterprise operations, much like automation did in healthcare records, financial markets, aviation systems, and industrial manufacturing. These historical transitions show that automation rarely delivers immediate productivity gains; instead, organizations pass through phases of experimentation, disruption, stabilization, and eventual transformation. Therefore, AI should be treated not as a productivity tool add-on but as a shift in how decisions are made. Leaders must redesign workflows, governance, and human roles while maintaining human oversight of automated systems. Organizations that integrate AI into decision processes — and build the infrastructure and operating norms to supervise it — will capture far greater long-term value than those that simply layer AI tools onto existing workflows."Organizations looking for immediate ROI from AI are treating it like software. It isn't. AI is closer to autopilot in aviation or algorithmic trading in financial markets: a system that participates in decisions. Those transitions did not pay off simply because the technology was installed. They paid off because institutions rebuilt workflows, governance, and human roles around automation." — Research Director Grace Trinidad, AI Security & Trust, IDC

Table of Contents

9 Pages

Executive snapshot

Key takeaways

Recommended actions

Situation overview

EHR transition in healthcare

Financial institutions and algorithmic trading

Keep pilots "in the loop and out of the weeds"

Industrial robotics and manufacturing

Four phases of organizational technology transition

Phase 1: Experimentation

Phase 2: Disruption

Phase 3: Stabilization

Phase 4: Transformation

Guidance for business leaders

Guidance for technology leaders

Conclusion

Advice for the technology buyer

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Related research

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