Fewer than half of Australian and New Zealand organisations are using financial return and business value targets to measure their progress with artificial intelligence (AI), according to new research from technology consultancy Avanade.
The company's Build Beyond Limits: AI Reality Report found that only 43 percent of organisations surveyed across the two countries use these measures, while 66 percent have not formally calculated their financial return from AI and had the results reviewed by finance teams or senior management.
Despite this, 88 percent of Australian and New Zealand respondents believe their organisations need to accelerate AI transformation, although 68 percent said AI had yet to deliver financial returns that justified their investment.
The findings raise questions for retailers, manufacturers, and suppliers investing in AI technology without established measures to determine whether the expenditure is delivering commercial value.
Avanade's research also found that 84 percent of Australian and New Zealand respondents had not fundamentally changed how their teams operate around AI, including developing new ways of working, products, services, or business models.
Only 23 percent reported transformational improvements in employee productivity, with the same proportion reporting substantial improvements in operational efficiency and reduced business costs.
Doug Robinson, CEO of Avanade Australia and New Zealand, said businesses needed stronger evidence of the returns being generated from their investment.
"New Zealand organisations aren't short on AI ambition, but they are short on evidence. You can't accelerate adoption responsibly if you can't say what your AI investment is returning, and right now, most can't," said Robinson.
"New Zealand businesses' appetite for AI transformation is clear – that's why Avanade expanded here this year. Real transformation comes from moving beyond productivity gains and redesigning entire workflows around AI. And the organisations that lead New Zealand's AI journey will be the ones that treat ROI measurement as part of the AI strategy, not an afterthought."
The research also identified concerns about the use of AI outside approved company processes. Some 39 percent of Australian and New Zealand respondents believed colleagues were using AI in ways their compliance teams would not approve, compared with 32 percent globally.
Globally, 77 percent of organisations described themselves as established, advanced, or AI-first in their adoption of AI, and 72 percent expressed high confidence in their teams' ability to use the technology effectively. However, only 18 percent reported fundamentally changing how their teams operate.
Ben Beath, Chief AI Officer at Avanade, questioned whether organisations were measuring genuine business improvements or simply the extent of AI adoption.
“Too many organisations are measuring AI progress by activity rather than impact. Deploying tools, running pilots and improving productivity are important milestones, but they are not the destination. What remains to be seen is whether organisations are truly changing and investing in how decisions are made, how work gets done and how value is created through AI. AI-native challengers are building these capabilities from day one, and established organisations must think just as boldly about the future they want to create.”
The research was conducted by independent research company Vanson Bourne during August and September 2026, surveying 3,600 business decision-makers across 11 markets. Respondents worked for organisations with more than $500 million in global annual revenue, including businesses operating in retail, consumer goods, manufacturing, and distribution.
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