---
id: "concept-business-value-measurement"
type: "concept"
source_timestamps: ["§ Measurement of Business Value"]
tags: ["roi", "metrics", "business-strategy"]
related: ["concept-controlled-experimentation-ai", "claim-individual-productivity-roi"]
part_of: "framework-6-disciplines-gen-ai"
definition: "The rigorous, ongoing tracking of generative AI's impact, ranging from individual productivity metrics to macro-level revenue and profit gains from new AI-enabled products."
sources: ["spine"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-spine"
originDay: 1
articleStem: "hbr-cl-95-6-disciplines-genai"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2024/07/the-6-disciplines-companies-need-to-get-the-most-out-of-gen-ai"
sourceTitle: "The 6 Disciplines Companies Need to Get the Most Out of Gen AI"
---
# Measurement of Business Value in AI

Discipline #3 of the [[framework-6-disciplines-gen-ai|six disciplines]]. Measuring the ROI of generative AI requires discipline across **multiple levels**:

- **Individual-level productivity** is the *easiest and quickest* return to measure — yet even this is rarely measured rigorously post-deployment. Critically, these gains are *easily matched by competitors*, so they confer no durable advantage. This is the crux of [[claim-individual-productivity-roi]].
- **Business value of new, AI-enabled initiatives, products, and services** is where true competitive advantage lives (e.g., faster time-to-market for drugs, new contract-review services). These complex initiatives involve multiple components beyond just the technology, but their benefits must ultimately be tracked in terms of **additional revenues and profits**.

Cited real-world examples: [[entity-sanofi]] (using AI to speed drug time-to-market), and [[entity-ao-shearman]] with [[entity-wilson-sonsini]] (new Gen AI contract-review products). Measurement depends on first running [[concept-controlled-experimentation-ai]].

Enrichment nuance: this mirrors best practice in analytics/digital transformation — value measurement should migrate from operational to financial/strategic metrics as initiatives mature (consistent with [[entity-tom-davenport|Davenport]]'s "Competing on Analytics"). **Counter-perspective:** some AI value shows up as *risk reduction* (fewer compliance incidents) or *option value* (data assets for future models) — harder to quantify than revenue but strategically critical. Over-focusing on short-term ROI can under-invest in foundational, longer-payoff capabilities.