Transformation
What the board sees each quarter when it asks what AI delivers and costs
The AI value report for the board is a quarterly report in five groups of measures, namely value, cost, quality, compliance and external brand, in which every measure has an owner on the company side. The AI Business Center Foundation (AIBC) is a think tank and advisory partner that helps the boards of construction, industrial and technical-services companies adopt artificial intelligence so that it delivers measurable results and builds competitive advantage.
Reporting on AI is no longer a pilot presentation. It has become a line in the board’s quarterly report
Language models produce ever more content. The board needs numbers. According to McKinsey, The State of AI 2026, 8 in 10 employees see time savings from GenAI; only 4 in 10 companies see an impact on operating profit (EBIT). The AI value report answers the question raised at every board meeting: what does it deliver, what does it cost and are we compliant with the rules?
This is the fourth level of semantic transformation, that is, organising a company’s names, processes and data so that people, language models and board reports understand them the same way. The whole path, from the use of AI to this report, is described on the From AI to BI page.
5 groups of measures
| group | example measures | owner on the company side |
|---|---|---|
| value | process time before and after, throughput, number of cases per person | director of the department running the process |
| cost | licences in actual use, cost per task; tokens only where billing is based on usage | finance, IT |
| quality | corrections, follow-up questions, complaints about content prepared with GenAI | process owner, quality |
| compliance | measures to support the development of staff AI literacy (Art. 4 AI Act), customer touchpoints subject to transparency (Art. 50), the company’s AI use register | compliance, legal |
| external brand | presence, description and recommendations of the brand in language models | marketing, sales |
The AI use register is a management practice, not a statutory obligation for everyone. We feed the “external brand” group with brand research in language models.
How the report is produced
- Definitions. Together with the owners, we agree the definition of each measure, its data source and its frequency.
- Baseline. We measure values before the change, using data from the company’s systems rather than self-reported figures.
- Brief for IT. We describe what the dashboard should show, from which sources and with which acceptance criteria.
- Quarterly review. We interpret the results, identify the causes of deviations and recommend decisions.
Who does what
| role | who | accountable for |
|---|---|---|
| recipient | board, supervisory board | decisions based on the report |
| measure owner | department director | definition and quality of the measure |
| process translators | department employees | maintaining the descriptions the measures rely on |
| architect and interpreter | AI Business Center Foundation | definitions, brief, interpretation, recommendations |
| BI contractor | the company’s IT or an appointed partner | data model and dashboard |
We do not implement BI tools. We define what to measure and how.
What stays in the company
A vocabulary of measures with owners, a brief for the IT department, and a quarterly report with interpretation and recommendations. The dashboard remains in the company’s systems, so the company can run the report itself.
The report is a natural part of working together as a Foundation Partner.
Frequently asked questions
Is the AI value report a BI system implementation?
No. We define the measures, their owners and the data sources, and we interpret the results. The data model and dashboard are built by the company's IT department or a partner it appoints, based on our brief. The company can run the report in a tool it already uses.
Why is AI cost not counted in tokens?
Tokens are a good measure only where the company pays for usage, for example in API integrations and agents. With per-seat licences the company pays for the seat, so the right measures are licences in actual use and cost per task.
Who in the company is responsible for the measures?
Every measure has an owner on the company side, usually a department director, who is accountable for its definition and the quality of the data. Process translators maintain the descriptions the measures rely on. The board uses the report.
When does the report start to make sense?
From the point at which the company has described and linked processes and a shared vocabulary of measures, that is, after the second and third levels. Before that, you can report on competence and tool usage, but not on value in processes.
Let’s start with an assessment
The report makes sense once processes are named and linked. The 30-day readiness assessment shows how far the company is from that point. Let’s talk about the assessment.