Beyond the Hype: How One Firm Cracked the Code on AI's Elusive ROI

LONDON, UK – June 30, 2026

The technology sector is awash with stories of artificial intelligence, yet a stark reality persists behind the headlines. A recent McKinsey study found that while nearly 90% of organizations are deploying AI, a staggering 81% report no meaningful bottom-line impact. It’s a landscape of pilot projects and unfulfilled promises, where the gap between hype and tangible return on investment has become a chasm. But within this narrative of disappointment, some companies are forging a different path.

One such firm, the AI-native Order-to-Cash company Sidetrade, was just recognized by the prestigious consulting firm The Hackett Group with its 2026 Innovation Award. The award wasn’t for a flashy new product or a theoretical plan, but for something far more fundamental: a complete redesign of its internal operating model around AI. In a field where success is often speculative, The Hackett Group’s judgment was based strictly on “realized, not anticipated, impact and value,” placing Sidetrade among a small cohort of early movers who are translating AI potential into measurable performance.

Deconstructing the 'Agentic Model'

At the heart of Sidetrade’s success is what it calls its “agentic operating model,” an internal engine that began as an experiment in its Research & Development division under the name 'PodFlow'. The results from the initial pilot were dramatic. A team of three AI-augmented engineers delivered what previously took a team of six. Features that once required 80 person-days of effort were completed in just three. The program was so effective that it paid for itself within six months and has since been scaled across all 22 of the company's R&D teams.

This wasn't about making developers code faster with an AI assistant. It was a root-and-branch reinvention of the entire software development lifecycle. “We did not optimize individual developer productivity,” explained Sidetrade Chief Technology Officer, Mark Sheldon. “We redesigned the system in which development happens.”

In this new model, human developers transition from being creators of code to being directors of a collaborative process. AI agents now handle a significant portion of the workflow, from validating problem statements and generating technical specifications to writing code, running tests, and preparing documentation. The role of the human expert is elevated to one of governance, validation, and strategic direction, ensuring that the speed gained from AI never compromises quality or control. Every feature still requires a validated problem before it enters the pipeline and must ship with complete documentation, enforcing standards throughout the accelerated process.

The 'Client Zero' Philosophy

The credibility of Sidetrade’s approach is rooted in a simple but powerful philosophy: using its own solutions to solve its own problems. “As an AI-native company, we are our client zero. We drink our own champagne,” said Sidetrade Chief Product Officer, Rob Harvey. This practice of being the first and most demanding customer of its own technology creates a virtuous cycle of innovation and refinement.

This internal proving ground does more than just improve efficiency; it serves as a powerful validation of the company's market offerings. Enterprise buyers, increasingly wary of AI vaporware, are now asking vendors a critical question: Do you run your own business with the AI you’re selling? For Sidetrade, the answer is an emphatic yes, and The Hackett Group's award provides the independent verification. This 'client zero' strategy directly fuels its 'O2C Intelligence 2030' plan, which aims to position the company as the leader in AI-driven Order-to-Cash solutions. The same AI agents and principles fine-tuned internally are part of the 'Aimie' intelligence platform it offers to clients, which leverages a massive, proprietary data lake built on over $8.8 trillion in B2B transactions to deliver domain-specific insights that generic AI models cannot replicate.

From Experiment to Enterprise-Wide Transformation

What began as an R&D pilot has now become the blueprint for the entire enterprise. Sidetrade is systematically extending its agentic model to every business function, from finance and HR to marketing and sales. The goal is to create a company where every employee collaborates with AI agents to enhance their work.

“What started in engineering is now the new operating model across our company,” said Anaïs Novasque, Sidetrade’s Head of AI Transformation. “This is an operational transformation, not a technology deployment.” This distinction is critical. Novasque emphasizes that the companies poised to lead in the coming years will be those that fundamentally reinvent how work gets done through human-agent collaboration, not those that simply layer AI onto legacy processes.

The transformation is designed to be self-funding, with the productivity savings from each phase financing the next wave of implementation. The company is targeting an ambitious productivity gain of up to 20% in 2026 alone, with the freed-up resources being reinvested into enhancing customer experience. This operational leverage is a key driver behind its bold financial target of achieving a 30% to 35% EBITDA margin by 2030, a significant jump from its 2025 margin of 22%.

A Blueprint in a Landscape of AI Disappointment

Sidetrade’s journey offers a compelling counter-narrative to the widespread disillusionment with corporate AI. While many firms struggle with a lack of technical expertise, data readiness, and clear governance, Sidetrade demonstrates that the greatest barrier may be a failure of imagination. The real value of AI, it seems, is unlocked not by treating it as a tool, but by embracing it as a catalyst for systemic change.

The Hackett Group's recognition underscores this point. Its award criteria explicitly favor realized performance and business value, cutting through the noise of AI marketing to identify genuine operational excellence. By focusing on redesigning workflows and embedding AI into a new collaborative structure, Sidetrade has delivered the measurable gains and sustainable ROI that have eluded so many others. For business leaders watching from the sidelines, wondering how to translate AI investment into impact, this agentic model provides a tangible and powerful blueprint for the future of work.