AI ROI and Fixing Disconnected Data with RevOps
This episode of The ExecutiveEDGE Podcast features two articles examining how organizations are moving from experimentation to execution—both with artificial intelligence and revenue operations. Together, these pieces explore how leaders can drive measurable returns from AI investments and align revenue teams around shared data, systems, and goals heading into 2026.
How To Get The AI ROI You Want
Artificial intelligence has officially moved beyond the experimentation phase. In this article, The Executive Edge explores how organizations are beginning to see real, measurable ROI from AI—just three years after tools like ChatGPT entered the mainstream.
Drawing on recent CEO survey data and earnings-season examples, the article highlights how companies across industries are using AI to reduce downtime, improve productivity, and optimize operations. From energy producers saving millions through predictive analysis to logistics firms improving routing efficiency, AI is proving its value when applied with discipline.
Key themes include:
- The shift in executive expectations for AI ROI
- Why AI must support strategy—not become the strategy
- The value of small, targeted AI wins over sweeping transformations
- Empowering frontline employees to innovate with guardrails
- Building organizational trust in AI systems over time
The article emphasizes staying true to core strategy and culture while allowing innovation to emerge organically across the organization.
Turning Disconnected Data into a Revenue Engine
The second article focuses on the growing importance of Revenue Operations (RevOps) as organizations look to break down silos between sales, marketing, and customer success.
At its core, RevOps addresses a data problem—how information is collected, shared, and acted upon across revenue teams. By consolidating systems into a single CRM and aligning teams around shared objectives, RevOps turns fragmented insights into actionable decisions that drive growth and retention.
Key takeaways include:
- Why misaligned revenue teams limit growth
- How RevOps creates alignment without a full reorganization
- The three foundational pillars of a RevOps model
- The role of AI in improving data quality and reducing administrative work
- How shared visibility leads to stronger customer experiences
The article reinforces that RevOps is a mindset shift as much as an operational one—turning data into decisions and decisions into growth.
Why It Matters
Taken together, these articles deliver a clear message for leaders: technology alone doesn’t create value—execution and alignment do.
Organizations that ground AI initiatives in strategy and culture, while unifying revenue teams around shared data and systems, will be best positioned to scale efficiently and competitively in 2026.
About the Author
Geert De Lombaerde
Contributor
A native of Belgium, Geert De Lombaerde joined EndeavorB2B in September 2021 to cover public companies, markets, and economic trends primarily for IndustryWeek, FleetOwner, Oil & Gas Journal, T&D World, and Healthcare Innovation. His work focuses on strategy, leadership, capital spending, and mergers and acquisitions, and he also works with Endeavor Business Intelligence on surveys and data projects.
Geert has been in business journalism since the mid-1990s. With a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, he began his reporting career at the Business Courier in Cincinnati, initially covering retail and the courts before shifting to banking, insurance, and investing. He later was managing editor and editor of the Nashville Business Journal before being named editor of the Nashville Post in 2008. He led a team that helped grow the Post's online traffic by an average of more than 15% annually before joining Endeavor.
Abby White
Vice President, Content Studio
Abby White is a content strategist, newsroom-trained writer, and brand storyteller. As Vice President of EndeavorB2B’s Content Studio, she leads client-driven custom content programs across 90+ brands and the content strategy for topic and role-based newsletters serving executive audiences. An award-winning journalist with a marketer’s mindset, Abby brings 25 years of experience leading editorial, communications, marketing, and audience-building efforts across industries.
Abby launched her first magazine, Abby’s Top 40, in 1988 and made everyone in her family read it. While attending the University of Illinois, she paid her rent as a professional notetaker, which might explain why she still gets asked to take notes in meetings. Since then, she has held editorial leadership roles at an alt weekly, a newspaper, a luxury lifestyle magazine, a business journal, a music magazine, and regional women’s magazines, developing a sharp writing edge and a conversational tone that resonates with professional audiences.
She expanded into marketing while leading communications for an entertainment industry nonprofit and later drove rebranding and audience-building efforts for an NPR music station. At EndeavorB2B, she has been instrumental in driving editorial excellence, developing scalable content strategies across multiple verticals, and building the foundation for EDGE, the company’s portfolio of executive newsletters.
And if you’re a writer interested in contributing to ExecutiveEDGE, she’s the person you need to (politely) bug.
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