{"id":23935,"date":"2026-06-04T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/?p=23935"},"modified":"2026-06-09T13:04:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T20:04:31","slug":"measuring-the-impact-of-our-ai-investments-in-it-at-microsoft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/measuring-the-impact-of-our-ai-investments-in-it-at-microsoft\/","title":{"rendered":"Measuring the impact of our AI investments in IT at Microsoft"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As an IT organization, we need to understand which of our AI investments are creating business value for Microsoft. We need to know how that value shows up, whether we can measure it, if we can trend it, and how we can use what we learn to make better decisions for the company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why, as part of our broader approach to AI at Microsoft, we\u2014Microsoft Digital, the company\u2019s IT organization\u2014are building a framework to measure the impact of the AI investments we\u2019re making on behalf of the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIf we want to measure the business impact of AI, the conversation quickly moves toward identifying the agents or AI efforts that are driving the most value and satisfying business outcomes. We know that those conversations can be complex, so we use a value measurement framework to capture and assess the signals we have available.\u201d<\/p>\nDon Campbell, principal group technical program manager, Microsoft Digital<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Our framework is helping us move from AI enthusiasm to AI accountability. It creates a common way for us to talk about value across our different initiatives, teams, and business processes. It also helps us ask a harder, more specific question every time we assess the impact of AI at Microsoft Digital: If AI saves time, reduces costs, improves quality, or lowers risk, what changes are we making to take advantage of that? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We don\u2019t have the full answer yet\u2014we\u2019re still improving the way we measure. Some of our signals are instrumented, some rely on strong hypotheses, and some need better telemetry. But we\u2019re not waiting for perfect results to start learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we want to measure the business impact of AI, the conversation quickly moves toward identifying the agents or AI efforts that are driving the most value and satisfying business outcomes,\u201d says Don Campbell, a principal group technical program manager in Microsoft Digital. \u201cWe know that those conversations can be complex, so we use a value measurement framework to capture and assess the signals we have available.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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AI councils at Microsoft<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out our series on how employee councils are guiding how we use AI here at Microsoft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Harnessing AI: How a data council is powering our unified data strategy at Microsoft<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Powering the technical veracity of AI at Microsoft with a Center of Excellence<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Accelerating transformation: How we\u2019re reshaping Microsoft with continuous improvement and AI<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Responsible AI: Why it matters and how we\u2019re infusing it into our internal AI projects at Microsoft<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Visualizing success: Steering your AI deployment with a strategy council<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Measuring the impact of our AI investments in IT at Microsoft<\/a> (this story)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Building a framework for AI business value<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    AI value doesn\u2019t show up the same way everywhere. One investment we make might help employees complete a task faster, while another might improve quality, reduce risk, increase coverage, or lower operational costs. Some of that value can be measured directly, while in other cases it starts as a hypothesis that needs to be tested. That range is why we needed a common framework instead of a single metric.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Our value measurement framework helps our Microsoft Digital teams answer three basic questions before and after they build:<\/p>\n\n\n\n