Redesigning Company Workflow to Boost AI Return on Investment

Deploying artificial intelligence to draft emails or summarize meetings saves staff members time and eases workloads by automating routine tasks. However, this focus on personal productivity fails to improve broader organizational outcomes like the AI return on investment, writes Gleb Tsipursky for the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE). Board reports still reflect sluggish committee decisions and flat member engagement because attention remains misplaced on individual performance rather than institutional coordination.

In fact, scattered experimentation can cause collaborative friction, including data fragmentation, confusion, and duplicated work. The Atlassian AI Collaboration Index shows that 96 percent of organizations have not seen significant improvements in efficiency, innovation, or quality since adopting AI. The data is clear: meaningful return on investment (ROI) stalls when tools are confined to departmental silos.

True transformation requires shifting the operational focus from individual wins to collective team flow. Organizations that prioritize AI-enabled coordination are nearly twice as likely to achieve major efficiency gains. By establishing strong governance and integrating AI into centralized, shared systems, associations provide teams with the vital context needed for decision making. 

Optimizing the relationship between human teams and AI agents ensures smooth information handoffs, consistent branding, and unified progress that ultimately translates into real member value.