Avanade: 68% of APAC enterprises have yet to formally review AI investment returns

According to an Avanade report, 68% of APAC respondents say their organizations have yet to formally calculate and review AI investment returns.

Business decision-makers at large enterprises across Asia-Pacific (APAC) report high confidence in AI adoption, but relatively few say their organizations have fundamentally changed how teams operate around the technology.

According to Avanade's Build Beyond Limits: AI Reality Report, 76% of APAC respondents describe their organizations as established, advanced, or AI-first in their AI journey. However, only 17% say they have fundamentally reshaped how their entire teams work around AI.

Avanade commissioned independent research firm Vanson Bourne to survey 3,600 business decision-makers across 11 markets in August and September 2026. The study included 1,400 APAC respondents from organizations with more than US$500 million in annual global revenue.

The research covered industries including financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, energy, and transport. It examined how organizations assess their AI maturity, investment priorities, and changes to business operations.

AI investment remains focused on incremental improvements

Despite the high level of reported AI maturity, 79% of APAC respondents agreed that too much of their organization's AI investment is directed toward incremental improvements rather than opportunities to make broader changes to business operations.

The survey also found that 73% expressed high or complete confidence that their teams were using AI effectively to support business strategies and goals. However, 76% agreed that their organizations publicly presented themselves as more mature in AI adoption than they actually were.

Similar findings emerged globally, with 77% of respondents describing their organizations as established, advanced, or AI-first. However, only 18% reported fundamentally reshaping how their teams operate, while 75% believed organizations publicly presented themselves as more AI-mature than they actually were.

Bhavya Kapoor, President of Avanade Asia Pacific, said organizations need to distinguish between investments that improve existing operations and those intended to change how businesses function.

"Incremental AI improvements can create real value, but improving existing operations and fundamentally transforming a business are different ambitions. APAC leaders need to be clear about where each applies, with investment decisions and measures of success to match," Kapoor said.

Kapoor also identified workflow redesign, changes to responsibilities and decision-making, and clear ownership of outcomes as considerations when organizations pursue broader operational changes through AI.

Measuring AI returns

Financial accountability was another area covered by the survey, with 68% of APAC respondents agreeing that their organizations had yet to formally calculate the financial returns on AI investments and have those results reviewed by finance teams or senior leadership.

Meanwhile, only 43% said their organizations used business-value and return on investment (ROI) targets to assess whether they were making meaningful progress with AI.

The findings cover both the formal review of financial returns and the use of business-value targets to evaluate AI initiatives. They do not establish whether the investments themselves have generated positive or negative returns.

Avanade Chief AI Officer Ben Beath said organizations should evaluate AI investments beyond tool deployments and pilot projects.

"Too many organizations 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," Beath said.

Beath also identified changes to decision-making, work processes, and value creation as areas organizations should consider when assessing their AI investments.