Leading Companies Using AI To Drive Revenue Growth, Not Just Productivity: Report

High-performing B2B organisations are today leveraging artificial intelligence as a growth catalyst, rather than merely a tool for productivity. “Leaders”—companies with over 25% revenue growth year-over-year—are six times more likely to have deployed AI agents across revenue functions and more than twice as likely to use AI for decision-making and workflow optimisation, new research by Responsive shows.

In contrast, “Novices”—companies with flat or declining growth—are slower to adopt AI and more likely to rely on manual processes and fragmented workflows. There is also a widening gap between Leaders and Novices, as per the study. More than half of AI adopters report increasing headcount, compared to just 27% of companies not using AI, a data point that challenges fears around AI-driven job loss.

Instead of confining AI to routine task automation, leading companies are applying it to more sophisticated areas, such as decision-making and workflow orchestration. Leaders are unlocking greater value through a more strategic and integrated approach across the entire pursuit lifecycle.

Key research findings include.

More than 75% of organisations say buyers have tighter budgets, expect faster response times, and require a higher degree of personalisation, raising the bar for response speed, customisation, and accuracy.

Over three-fourth (77%) of Leaders report investing in tech, and 69% said they are also investing in staffing, balancing investments in AI and automation with investment in human resources. Novices are less than half as likely to be growing headcount. 

Companies that are actively using AI are significantly more likely to be growing their teams. Among AI adopters, more than half report increasing staffing year over year, compared to just 27% of companies not using AI.

While many organisations use AI to accelerate execution, the highest-performing teams apply AI not just to do the work, but to guide it. Leaders are more than twice as likely as Novices to use AI for orchestrating workflows and assignments (41% vs 17%), surfacing insights from win/loss data (37% vs. 18%), and making go/no-go decisions (37% vs. 26%).

More than half (54%) of organisations are either in trial phase or have fully deployed AI within strategic response management workflows (that is, RFPs, security questionnaires, due diligence questionnaires, and more). Adoption is higher in certain segments: 72% of large enterprises; 67% of organisations answering more than 10 RFPs per month; and 64% of technology companies. Additionally, 62% of companies report revenue tied to strategic responses increased YoY.

Leading organisations are 6 times more likely to have fully deployed AI agents and 3 times more likely to use AI across revenue functions. However, companies are hesitant on AI adoption, with more than 10% of organisations and up to 36% of smaller businesses saying they’re not using AI agents and have no plans to start within the next year.