AI Adoption Gap Costs Enterprises $10.9 Million Annually, According to Whatfix CEO Khadim Batti

Artificial Intelligence Adoption Falls Short in Enterprises, Says Whatfix CEO

Enterprises are pouring significant amounts of money into artificial intelligence (AI) but are failing to utilize these tools effectively, according to Khadim Batti, cofounder and CEO of Whatfix. Batti highlights a growing disconnect in the SaaS ecosystem, where companies are investing in AI and agents but not adopting them to their full potential.

Whatfix, a business-to-business digital adoption platform backed by Softbank, recently published a report estimating that businesses lose up to $10.9 million per year due to poor digital adoption of software, particularly AI tools. The data is based on global enterprises with around 1,000 employees, primarily located in the US, the UK, and Germany. This figure is calculated based on the number of hours lost because employees are unable to effectively use software or processes.

If companies can reclaim even a small portion of this lost time, say 2 percent, and redeploy it productively, the impact could be significantly higher, even up to 3x in value. However, while companies are actively pushing employees to use AI tools, adoption remains a work in progress. Many companies are struggling to clearly quantify their AI investments or returns.

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Whatfix was founded by Batti and Vara Kumar Namburu in 2013. The company's products make software adoption easier for companies by providing onboarding, performance support, change management, and training. Its customers include Arrow Electronics, Schneider Electric, and Avnet, along with partners such as Microsoft, Salesforce, Infosys, and Accenture.

Comparison of Lost Time Due to Poor Digital Adoption

The nature of inefficiencies is expected to evolve as enterprise software transitions from AI copilots to autonomous agents, according to Batti. "Today, the problem is human adoption of software. In the future, it could shift to how effectively agents use context and execute tasks," he said. If agents don't have the right context, they may produce incorrect results, leading to errors or hallucinations.

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Enterprises are moving from copilots that assist users to agents that can execute tasks independently. However, this shift will require deeper integration with business workflows, compliance structures, and decision-making frameworks. Agents need a deep understanding of business context, approval hierarchies, workflows, and guardrails, before they can operate effectively.

Whatfix is positioning itself to address this gap by providing a digital adoption layer on top of enterprise software. "Digital transformation is ongoing, and every transformation introduces change. Employees take time to adapt, which leads to inefficiencies," Batti said.

In an AI-first world, the company is also expanding into agent orchestration. "The system can suggest the next best action and even trigger relevant agents automatically, reducing cognitive overload for employees," he added.