AI has done what decades of digital transformation could not: it has made technology a regular boardroom discussion. But getting onto the agenda was the easy part. The tougher challenge is proving that technology and AI investments create measurable business value.
South Africa’s largest financial services firms are increasingly presenting AI, data and digital capabilities as growth drivers rather than operational tools. Some examples:
- Nedbank, in its 2025 integrated report: “AI is not a future consideration; it is a present strategic priority.”
- Old Mutual, in its 2025 integrated report: “Our ambition is clear: we are transforming Old Mutual by embedding AI at scale, unlocking new opportunities for growth, efficiency and exceptional customer experiences.”
- Capitec, in its 2026 integrated annual report: “Across all of this, AI is not a future aspiration – it is already at work. We invested significantly in AI this year.”
- Absa, in its integrated report: “Digital capability is a key determinant of future cash flows, customer retention, competitive differentiation and cost efficiency.”
- Standard Bank Group chief operating officer Margaret Nienaber, on the bank’s ranking as South Africa’s most AI-mature: “AI is not optional; it will fundamentally change how clients interact with us, how work gets done and how value is created.”
They are telling a growth story at a time when profitable growth is difficult to find. Corporate deposits have climbed above R1.8-trillion, from R1.1-trillion in 2019, according to the South African Reserve Bank’s Quarterly Bulletin for September 2026, a sign that companies are sitting on cash rather than finding opportunities to invest it. In this environment, executives are looking to technology not simply to replace ageing systems, modernise legacy platforms or improve efficiency, but to help deliver their most important strategic objective: sustainable, profitable growth.
That’s easier said than done.
Financial services firms have always depended on technology, but technology was rarely the product itself. Growth came from expanding into new markets, launching new products or increasing share of wallet. Today customers increasingly experience the business through digital channels, making technology, data and AI central to both value creation and competitive differentiation.
If you have ever had to make the business case for a technology investment, you may know this situation. An investment committee evaluates the cases, trying to detect double counting of benefits and compare apples with apples. In the end, cost is the only measure with any degree of accuracy, and even that is questionable. So, the budget gets allocated on the strength of a presentation or the influence of the presenter. At best, technology is “aligned” with strategic benefits and justified as an “enabler”.
Rarely tracked
Even if there is a credible business case with a return-on-investment calculation, benefits are rarely tracked. It is easy for projects to be deprioritised in favour of the next idea that sounds valuable. Given how much is invested in change, this makes little sense. Douglas Hubbard, Alexander Budzier and Andreas Leed, in How to Measure Anything in Project Management (Wiley, 2025), estimate that project spending is in the general range of 10-40% of the world economy.
The opportunity now is to build measurement directly into digital products and customer journeys: to instrument them. In the rare cases where this is done, it provides valuable feedback on the actual use and value of digital and AI investments. It applies the same level of tracking that retailers apply to physical products.
Benefits tracking also matters in managing technology vendors. Hyperscale cloud providers, software platforms and AI vendors all position their products as sources of competitive advantage. Organisations need evidence to distinguish genuine value creation from technology consumption.
Most financial services leaders are already investing in technology and AI. The more difficult question is where those investments will create sustainable competitive advantage, and where they will simply add cost.
Measuring strategic investments in AI and technology is as critical as measuring any other significant investment. Technology can do it automatically and continuously, in real time, if measurement is designed into it from the start, closing a critical feedback loop for boards and executive committees.
- The author, Gary Stocks, is a partner at BSG, a homegrown South African consulting and technology services firm
