A New Business Case for Measuring Tech Investment Value

Organizations are grappling with a tech landscape where traditional ROI falls

short, as emerging tools amplify human potential rather than just automate

tasks. Deloitte's insights reveal that 73% of executives struggle with metrics,

leading to underwhelming returns on investments like AI and ERP. A new

value calculus is essential, blending efficiency with innovation, employee

well-being, and adaptive governance to unlock true business and human

outcomes.

Adopt nontraditional metrics that capture both efficiency gains and intangible

benefits like innovation and employee engagement to build a robust value case

for tech investments.

Shift to a portfolio approach for technology, inspired by R&D, with continuous

evaluation to balance short-term automation and long-term human

augmentation.

Implement human-centered governance by involving diverse stakeholders,

including workers, to ensure technology amplifies human capabilities and

fosters positive feedback loops.

Organizations face increasing complexity in deciding on technology investments due

to a shift from traditional automation-focused tech, which offered predictable ROI

through efficiency gains, to emerging technologies that augment human capabilities.

This evolution complicates the value case, as benefits now include harder-to-

quantify outcomes like innovation, new ways of working, and improved human

performance. Nearly three quarters (73%) of executives surveyed in

Deloitte’s Mapping digital transformation value report said the number-one challenge

to determining the value of tech investments was the inability to define metrics.

Leaders are overwhelmed by hundreds of tech options, overlapping use cases, and

cross-functional ownership, leading to hesitation from past disappointments where

investments fell short—only 50% to 75% of organizations report value from major

tech like ERP or AI, according to 2025 Global Human Capital trends published by

Deloitte.

Key challenges include unrealistic business cases (cited by 42% of respondents),

lack of data for evaluation, and tensions between immediate automation returns and

long-term augmentation potential. Without a new approach, organizations risk

undermining human sustainability, business performance, and stakeholder trust.

The value case for the new technology investments must capture not just process

efficiencies or a simple set of inputs and outputs, but also the tech’s impact on less

easily measurable results traditionally associated with human capabilities, such as

innovation, ways of working, and human performance and outcomes. The value

case also needs to account for additional investments or changes necessary to

realize the technology’s promise.

In the face of a changing tech and work landscape with a myriad of new work and

workforce technologies emerging daily, leaders likely need a new calculus to identify

the metrics, approaches, and governance needed to create a value case that will

realize human and business outcomes.

To address these issues, leaders should adopt a new value case for technology that

incorporates nontraditional metrics, approaches, and governance. Start by defining

the tech's intent and assessing if a traditional ROI model suffices or if a nuanced

approach is needed—particularly when tech reshapes work, magnifies human

capabilities, involves probabilistic risks, or requires complementary changes.

Introduce new metrics emphasizing both business and human outcomes, such as

employee engagement, innovation, and well-being, alongside efficiency.

Shift to a portfolio approach inspired by R&D, assembling investments that

collectively advance goals, with ongoing evaluation to rationalize tech use and avoid

overload. Establish new governance by cocreating value cases with diverse

stakeholders, including workers, to monitor interdependencies, user experience, and

adjustments. This human-centered framework fosters positive feedback loops

between technology and people.

The report adds that technology’s value does not come from replacing human labor;

it’s working more closely than ever with humans, amplifying their ability to discover

and capture opportunities for innovation and growth 1 . At its core, AI augments

human performance by identifying patterns, including challenges and opportunities,

and signaling to people where they need to place their attention.

As AI plays a bigger role in how we work, humans will spend less time on process

execution and service delivery, and progressively more time on delivering insights

and people solutions. AI will enable organizations to tackle bigger questions, such

as: We've got five different investment opportunities, which one is the right one?

Should we buy this company? Should we build this product? What skills do we

need? How can we shore up our talent pipeline? What should we do?

Consider a hospital that uses machine learning to optimize surgical scheduling. An

algorithm may prioritize efficiency based on available resources and patient acuity.

But suppose a high-risk cardiac patient is deprioritized due to a misclassification in

the EHR. A clinician familiar with the case—serving as the human in the loop—can

spot the error and intervene before a negative outcome occurs. Without human

oversight, the system might deliver speed at the expense of safety and liability.

Having humans-in-the-Loop is about inserting humans at key points in data

pipelines—reviewing, approving, correcting, or vetoing machine-generated

outcomes. This isn’t just about adding human eyes to an automated process; it’s

about assigning responsibility and preserving context in environments where

automation alone cannot be trusted to understand risk.