AI spending rises but few firms deliver cost & revenue gains
New analysis of more than 3,600 corporate earnings calls has revealed that just 5% of companies worldwide have delivered both consistent cost reductions and revenue growth over the last two years, despite significant spending on artificial intelligence and automation.
Performance gap
The research, conducted by supply chain intelligence firm Zero100, indicates that company boards are increasing pressure on operations leaders to achieve annual cost savings of 1.5% while also aiming for 5% year-on-year sales growth. Mentions of cost reduction in company earnings calls have risen to 21% in 2025, up six percentage points from the previous year. Supply chain functions are being tasked with driving greater efficiency and supporting growth at the same time.
AI impact
Zero100's data shows that companies leading in the adoption of AI and automation outperform peers on several financial measures. The most AI-focused employers in the dataset achieved 22.8% higher revenue per employee and 7.4% stronger growth year-on-year. These firms also reported 2.3% stronger revenue results and 3.5% higher margins than competitors not as far advanced with AI deployments.
Investment challenges
However, the analysis suggests that the relationship between investment in AI and realising cost and growth benefits remains tenuous for most organisations. Less than one third of companies are able to directly measure return on investment from automation initiatives. Over half fail to communicate the full value of these investments and typically rely on a limited set of metrics, such as cost savings alone.
The report highlights a 'value translation gap', where organisations struggle to move from perceived to proven benefits when it comes to AI and automation spend. Many organisations, while increasing technology budgets, are not investing at a similar scale in the underlying changes required to translate AI investment into measurable business outcomes.
"Businesses are already putting huge faith in AI to enable simultaneous cost-reductions and revenue growth. There's a real risk that some companies place bets that simply don't add up.
Our research shows that spending on AI and other technologies accounts for less than 20% of total investment in major automation projects. The vast majority sits within areas such as integrating systems, redesigning processes, and retraining teams. As the AI fervour continues, business leaders need to recognise that it is not a silver bullet, and a heavy lift is still required to achieve a meaningful return," said Jenna Fink, Principal of Research, Zero100.
Talent and transformation
According to Zero100, the companies seeing the best results from AI investment are those focused not only on technology, but on broader business transformation. This includes upskilling employees, integrating systems across functions, and redesigning processes. The data shows that companies hiring the most aggressively for AI talent are achieving almost nine times the capital efficiency of their peers.
"Operations teams are under huge pressure to thread the needle between growth and cost-cutting. But treating AI as a quick fix for short-term results will waste money and lead to shareholder backlash down the line. The real winners are taking a systems-level approach, investing in talent, integration, and process change to build lasting competitive advantage," said Fink.
