How Leaders Can Drive Transformation with AI

Microsoft executives answer eight key questions about how to succeed in the new era of AI at work. While the adoption of AI technology is now widespread, its impact is not as significant. Many organizations are experimenting and running pilot programs, but far fewer have the operational discipline to become what we call Frontier Firms—companies that scale AI in ways that meaningfully reshape work, decisions, and value creation.

According to IDC’s Business Opportunity of AI Survey (August 2025), 68% of all respondents use GenAI, and only 22% of organizations worldwide are Frontier Firms. These companies are seeing a return on investment in the technology that is several times greater than companies that are slow to adopt. This gap is why Microsoft developed a newly revised 2026 edition of the AI Decision Brief, a handbook designed to help leaders and business decision-makers embrace the opportunities of Frontier Transformation.

Key Questions for Business

The brief addresses how AI can become a durable source of advantage: where to focus, how to measure value, how agents change workflows, and how trust, governance, and responsibility enable scale.

• How can my company get the biggest impact from AI? The biggest impact comes when AI changes how the business operates—not just how fast someone answers an email.
• How do you graduate beyond early wins with AI adoption? The real opportunity is not just helping individuals work faster, but enabling teams and organizations to work better together.
• How do I identify the priority workflows where AI can meaningfully change outcomes? The real constraint on value is not technology, it’s how work is organized and governed.
• As AI agents take more action on behalf of employees and teams, how does my role as a leader need to change? Leadership becomes even more important in the agentic era where AI systems can plan and execute over many steps.
• How do you measure the success of AI when it’s embedded across workflows, decisions, and teams? Leaders see beyond short-term efficiency wins and understand how AI can help grow revenue, reshape processes, and improve operational efficiency.