By AIM Media House · AIM Media House
Artificial intelligence is everywhere in the enterprise. Adoption is climbing, budgets are expanding, and pilot programs are turning into permanent line items. Yet for all the activity, measurable return on investment remains rare.
That was the core message of Remy Thellier’s presentation at CDO Vision LA, the fourth city stop of the CDO Vision AI World Series.
Remy Thellier, who leads the AI/ML Partner Ecosystem at Snowflake delivered a keynote titled “From Productivity Myths to Boardroom Metrics: The Real Levers of AI ROI.” Joined by leaders from Snowflake’s AI and ML ecosystem, he laid out a sharp argument: most companies are not failing because AI tools do not work.
They are failing because they are measuring the wrong things and expecting activity to somehow become impact. “AI can absolutely make teams faster,” Thellier said. “But speed by itself is not ROI.
If that time is not translated into lower costs, faster revenue, or reduced risk, the business hasn’t actually changed.” His point cut through one of the defining contradictions in enterprise AI today. Organizations are seeing more experimentation, more usage, and more internal enthusiasm.
But when boards and CFOs look for evidence in the P&L, the gains are often hard to find. The Boardroom Paradox Thellier described this disconnect as the Boardroom Paradox : executives hear that teams feel more productive because of AI, but that productivity rarely shows up in meaningful financial results.
According to the Atlassian AI Collaboration Index (2025), only 4% of executives report seeing meaningful AI ROI. The other 96% are often capturing something much easier to achieve: the feeling of progress. This is the illusion at the center of many AI programs.
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