AI Strategy & Leadership Practical insights
Make uncertainty visible in an AI business case
Write an AI marketing business case with explicit assumptions about adoption, integration and review, using ranges and a clear next investment decision.
A credible AI business case explains what is known, what is assumed and which uncertainty could overturn the recommendation. It does not require a precise return estimate before the workflow exists. Vendor surveys such as Canva’s can inform questions, but cannot fill gaps in your organization’s operating evidence. [1]
Show the assumptions behind the benefit
State expected task volume, realistic adoption and the share of outputs that will meet the required standard. Explain how accepted work creates value. Do not assume everyone with a license becomes a regular user, or that every generated output replaces work that would otherwise have been paid for.
Include the cost of making it work
Estimate integration, data preparation, training, review, maintenance and exception handling alongside licenses or usage. Separate one-time costs from recurring obligations. Ask who will perform the work and whether capacity is available. A project can look profitable on paper while failing because its scarce reviewer is already committed elsewhere.
Use ranges that change a decision
Build a cautious, central and favorable case with explicit inputs. These are planning assumptions, not probabilities unless you have a defensible basis for assigning them. Identify the assumption to which the result is most sensitive. If review effort dominates the economics, a short task study may be more valuable than another vendor demonstration.
Buy information before full commitment
Propose the smallest next step that resolves the important uncertainty, with a spending boundary and a decision owner. Record what result would support expansion and what would lead to stopping or redesigning. Revisit the case with observed evidence rather than preserving the original estimate for consistency. This approach lets leadership invest despite uncertainty while staying clear about the conditions under which the recommendation remains sensible.
Sources and evidence
Sources checked on 4 October 2026. Proposed workflows and hypothetical examples are editorial analysis.
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