Reflection — AI's value comes from redesigning the workflow, not bolting on a tool

Of 25 factors tested, redesigning workflows has the single biggest effect on the EBIT impact companies get from generative AI. Yet only 21% of AI adopters have fundamentally redesigned any workflow: bolt AI onto an unchanged process and you simply automate the old way, creating no value. Technology only transforms the work you redesign around it. Before you tool up a process, map it end to end and cut or merge the steps that no longer earn their place; add AI only then, and measure cycle time, not output volume.

Source: McKinsey (QuantumBlack), "The state of AI," 2025 (global survey).