A PwC study reveals the leading 20% of companies capture 75% of AI's economic gains. They focus on using AI to identify new growth opportunities and reinvent business models, rather than simply improving efficiency on existing tasks.

Companies with a scarcity mindset ask how AI can cut costs and reduce headcount. The winning approach is an abundance mindset: asking how AI can do more, reach more customers, and accelerate growth with the same team. This focus on top-line growth will separate the leaders from the laggards.

The most successful organizations will view AI not as a tool for cost-cutting (doing the same with less) but as an expansionary technology. This mindset focuses on using AI to create new products, enter new markets, and dramatically increase scope, rather than just incremental efficiency gains.

Focusing on AI for cost savings yields incremental gains. The transformative value comes from rethinking entire workflows to drive top-line growth. This is achieved by either delivering a service much faster or by expanding a high-touch service to a vastly larger audience ("do more").

Marketers win with AI not by making existing tasks faster, but by using it to unlock new growth opportunities. The focus should be on game-changing programs that drive revenue, rather than on simply achieving incremental efficiency gains.

Focusing AI efforts on efficiency and cost reduction offers limited, short-term benefits. The truly transformative approach is to invest in AI to create new revenue streams, enhance product offerings, and grow the business exponentially.

Mature enterprises are moving beyond using AI for operational efficiency. They are now leveraging their unique, proprietary data to train custom models. This allows them to build differentiated services and products that competitors cannot replicate, creating new top-line revenue opportunities rather than just improving bottom-line savings.

While AI-driven efficiency is an obvious first step, it often results in workforce reduction if company growth is flat. True differentiation and sustainable advantage come from using AI for innovation—creating new products, markets, and business models to fuel growth.

A PwC study shows a stark divide in AI returns. Leading companies aren't just deploying more AI; they are twice as likely to redesign workflows and pursue new revenue opportunities. This focus on "opportunity AI" for growth, rather than just "efficiency AI" for cost-cutting, separates leaders from laggards.