Bosses and workers at odds over business impact of AI

Despite a doubling in AI adoption over the past year, a whopping 96% of business chiefs report that the technology has yet to deliver meaningful return on investment, exposing a significant disconnect between perceived personal productivity gains and actual business impact.

That is according to a new report from software giant Atlassian, which surveyed 180 business leaders and 12,000 staff and found that while those at the coal face cite a 33% boost in productivity and saving 1.3 hours daily, only 4% of their bosses observed dramatic improvements in organisational efficiency, innovation, or work quality.

Key barriers to adoption persist, including a lack of access to appropriate tools, worker uncertainty regarding implementation, and pressing concerns over security and compliance.

Interestingly, the report highlights a clear divide in perception. Senior leaders are 5.6 times more likely to be bullish on AI’s potential for solving complex problems, viewing it as a strategic opportunity.

Meanwhile, marketers are 2.3 times more likely than their tech counterparts to report meaningful business gains, likely due to AI’s ability to tackle technical tasks without deep expertise.

The report also raises concerns over current training methods. Nearly 70% of workplaces offer AI training, but it is largely ineffective.

The best way of learning, the study found, is through hands-on workshops and active communities focused on solving specific business problems.

When it comes to the thorny issue of data security, marketers are twice as likely than their tech peers to say their organisation is too cautious. In fact, most marketers prefer to use consumer AI tools over business solutions and cite a lack of access to the right tools as the biggest barrier to AI adoption.

Even so, marketers perceive that teams are using AI to create content far more than they actually are. Bosses are less excited about using AI for this purpose; 59% rate AI as effective compared to the 82% of teams.

Overall, performance measurement and reporting is the top rated AI use case by both executives and teams, but the majority of marketing teams are not using it for this purpose. Audience segmentation is among the least popular and least effective use cases.

The findings suggest a need for a shift in strategy, with companies pushing for rapid experimentation over perfect implementation proving twice as likely to report significant innovation gains.

Executives ultimately predict that as AI becomes a core collaborator, critical human skills like judgment, emotional intelligence, leadership, and ethics will become even more valuable.

Atlassian chief people officer Avani Prabhakar said: “The future of work is human-AI collaboration. Preparing for this future requires a cultural transformation alongside a technological one. There is an opportunity to lead this shift and shape a world where teams and AI work hand in hand. It’s about unlocking the best of both, together.”