Impact Dimensions: The Foundation for Valuable Innovation

AI offers enormous opportunities, but organizations often start from a fascination with technology instead of the value they want to create. The result? High investments, little impact. At Say Hai, we believe in Impactful AI Innovation. That means we create impact at the strategic, tactical, and operational levels. We bridge the gap between people, processes, and technology. We don’t start with the tools, but with the question: What impact do we truly want to achieve?

The Impactful AI Innovation Framework

Our approach is anchored in the Impactful AI Innovation Framework. This framework helps organizations develop valuable AI initiatives step by step. In this article, we take a closer look at how it works. The framework consists of five phases:
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1. Discover: Map out where in the process or operating model there are tasks that are repetitive, time-consuming, or of low future value. This starts by analyzing and documenting the current “as-is” processes and the work employees perform.

2. Design: Together, we design the new “to-be” processes and define the future roles of employees. We also visualize the future IT landscape. For each initiative, we determine the expected impact using pre-defined dimensions.

3. Implement: We configure the technology and test it with a small group of users to see how it will function in practice.

4. Deploy: We ensure that the entire organization embraces the new process with the help of AI and actually starts using it. We align people, processes, and technology. We translate processes into clear procedures and actively support employees in their new roles and in developing the necessary skills.

5. Measure: We measure the actual business impact of AI: what it delivers and where there’s room for optimization. We track how employees use AI, both individually and across departments.

The 7 Impact Dimensions

To assess the value of AI initiatives, we use seven impact dimensions. These form the basis of our measurements and are the foundation of our framework:

Faster
- Value: Shorter lead times and less waiting in core processes
- Metrics: Case processing time ↓, time-to-market ↓, SLA response time ↓

Better
- Value: Higher quality and more consistent output
- Metrics: Error rate ↓, first-time-right ↑, rework/minor fixes ↓

More
- Value: Growth in revenue, usage, or output
- Metrics: Revenue ↑, conversion rate ↑, active users ↑

Cheaper
- Value: Lower cost per transaction/task
- Metrics: Cost-per-(order/ticket) ↓, FTE hours saved, run/cloud costs ↓

Smarter
- Value: Better and faster decision-making based on data
- Metrics: Forecast accuracy ↑, decision lead time ↓, decision variation ↓

Richer
- Value: Improved customer and employee experience
- Metrics: CSAT/NPS ↑, CES (Customer Effort Score) ↓, eNPS ↑, time-to-competency ↓

More Sustainable
- Value: Less waste and a smaller footprint
- Metrics: CO₂e ↓, energy usage ↓, waste/returns ↓, reuse ↑

In the Design phase, we make impact concrete: How much time do we save per task? How many extra orders can we handle?How fast are customer inquiries answered? In the Measure phase, we verify whether those outcomes are actually achieved.

Real-World Examples

A concrete example is the development of an AI Sales Assistant. Where employees typically took 5 to 15 minutes to answer customer questions, the AI Teammate does it in just one minute or less—with better quality and higher customer satisfaction.

Other use cases of an AI Teammate:
- Order processing: from 10 minutes to 2 minutes per order
- Email handling: from 1.5 days to 5 minutes
- Writing grant project plans: from 4 to 8 days to just 14 minutes

All improvements are measured using the impact dimensions and made clearly visible.

Start With Impact, Not Technology

AI innovation doesn’t start with tools—it starts with impact. Always ask:
- Which processes are we improving?
- What does this actually deliver for people, processes, and business?
- How do we measure success?

That’s how you make AI truly meaningful.

Thinking about your next AI initiative? Want to spar or need a concrete game plan?
We’re happy to help.

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4814 DC Breda
The Netherlands

Call us on +31 (0)76 200 3725
Say Hai to us at hai@sayhaito.ai

Impactful AI Innovation