The bestiary · The ROI Phantom
Specimen · catalogued monster
The ROI Phantom
Everyone has seen the AI value; nobody can prove it
Glimpsed in town halls and success stories, it leaves warm feelings and enthusiastic nods wherever it passes. Try to photograph it for the finance committee, though, and the frame comes back completely empty.
Symptoms
- AI is live, but no baseline was measured
- Benefits are anecdotes, not numbers
- The CFO or board is asking for proof
- Renewals and budgets at risk
- No agreed value metrics
Weakness
Measure before you believe: a baseline before launch, value metrics agreed with finance, and a portfolio view that scales or stops each AI use case on evidence.
Overheard in the corridor
- “Everyone says it's saving time.”
- “The CFO wants hard numbers.”
- “We never measured where we started.”
- “How do I put this in a business case?”
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The antidote · prescribed by DataArt
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