Avanade Says AI’s Biggest Value Will Come From More Than Productivity Alone

• Preliminary Avanade research finds nearly three-quarters of business leaders believe AI investment remains focused on incremental gains, with just 17% reporting fundamental operating model redesign
• Reuters Imagen launches new AI-powered content activation capabilities, built with Avanade, showing what becomes possible when organisations move beyond AI productivity gains

Avanade, one of the world’s leading Microsoft experts, today launches Build Beyond Limits, its point of view on the next phase of driving AI value: moving beyond AI productivity gains to create entirely new business models, revenue streams and customer experiences.

After working with more than 7,000 organisations worldwide and deploying AI across its own business as Microsoft’s Client Zero, Avanade sees a clear pattern emerging. While the first wave of AI adoption focused on productivity and efficiency, the organisations creating lasting competitive advantage are using AI to fundamentally redesign how they operate, serve customers and create value.

“We’re reaching a tipping point in the AI journey,” said Chris Howarth, CEO, Avanade. “The first chapter of AI implementation was about doing things faster. The next chapter is about doing things that were never thought possible before. The organisations that lead tomorrow won’t simply use AI to improve today’s business. They’ll use it to build entirely new ways of creating value.”

That perspective is reinforced by preliminary findings from Avanade’s upcoming AI Reality Report. The research found that:

• 73% of leaders believe too much AI investment remains focused on incremental improvements to existing processes and ways of working.
• Just 17% report having fundamentally redesigned their operating model around AI.

The findings suggest that while AI adoption continues to accelerate, most organisations remain focused on improving existing processes rather than rethinking the business itself.

“Most organisations today have AI on their business,” said Ben Beath, Chief AI Officer, Avanade. “They’re using Copilot, automation and AI tools to make existing work faster and more efficient. That delivers real value and is an important first step. But lasting advantage comes when organisations put AI in their business by redesigning workflows around intelligence, connecting data, technology and people differently, and creating entirely new sources of value. That’s where we see the biggest opportunity emerging.”

Avanade calls this shift AI bolted ON the business versus AI built IN the business.

AI ON the business focuses on enhancing existing work through productivity tools, automation and copilots. AI IN the business embeds intelligence directly into products, services, workflows and operating models to unlock new forms of growth, customer experience and business value.

One organisation already demonstrating that shift is Reuters Imagen, the content management platform trusted by sports organisations, broadcasters and rights holders.

Working with Avanade, Reuters Imagen recently launched new AI-powered content activation capabilities that transform how organisations create, manage and monetise content. Rather than simply automating existing manual processes, the platform uses AI to analyse live and archived footage, automatically generate metadata, identify key moments and create highlights in near real time. Its live-to-social capability enables content to be identified, clipped and published while events are still unfolding, creating new opportunities to engage audiences and generate value from content.

“Historically, Imagen was often viewed as a platform used by broadcast operations teams. Today, organisations want the same content to be available across broadcast, digital, social, and marketing teams,” says David Wilkinson, Head of Reuters Imagen. “By helping customers activate content across those audiences, we’re creating entirely new opportunities for how content is used and monetised. We’re helping organisations activate content, create value from it, and deliver it wherever their audiences are.”

For Avanade, organisations such as Reuters Imagen represent the next stage of AI adoption: moving beyond productivity gains to create new business capabilities that were previously impossible.

“That’s what Build Beyond Limits is ultimately about,” said Howarth. “The future winners won’t be the organisations that simply do the same things faster. They’ll be the organisations that use AI to redefine what’s possible.”

Ben Beath was announced as Avanade’s Chief AI Officer on 30 September 2026.

Learn more at www.avanade.com

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