---
id: "action-baseline-measurement"
type: "action-item"
source_timestamps: ["§ Measure and Quantify the Impact"]
tags: ["metrics", "roi"]
related: ["claim-ai-saves-prospecting-time", "contrarian-precision-in-measurement", "framework-ai-deployment-process"]
action: "Measure the time required to complete a specific task manually to create a baseline for AI ROI."
outcome: "Provides concrete, evidence-backed approximations of AI's business impact (e.g., 40% time saved)."
sources: ["commercial"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-commercial"
originDay: 5
articleStem: "hbr-foci-64-ai-broaden-customer-base"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2025/03/how-one-company-used-ai-to-broaden-its-customer-base"
sourceTitle: "How One Company Used AI to Broaden Its Customer Base"
---
# Establish Time-Based Baselines

**Action:** To quantify AI impact, establish a **baseline** by measuring the time a team takes to complete a specific, repeatable task **manually** (e.g., reaching **1,000 prospects**). Compare against the time taken **using AI tools**, while monitoring **conversion rates** to ensure quality hasn't dropped.

**Expected outcome:** Concrete, evidence-backed approximations of AI's business impact — SAP found **~40% time saved** with no conversion drop (see [[claim-ai-saves-prospecting-time]]).

This is step 5 of the [[framework-ai-deployment-process]] and rests on the [[contrarian-precision-in-measurement|"approximation over precision"]] stance.