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Findings Brief: Nexthink AI Drive

This Findings Brief captures the most common patterns we’re seeing across organizations using AI Drive. Instead of spotlighting a single customer, it highlights repeatable insights and outcomes observed across multiple environments.

The Challenge 

We continue to help organizations as they struggle with AI adoption, AI sprawl and effectively reporting on the value of AI investments.  To address these challenges, we continue to use Nexthink’s AI Drive to easily monitor AI usage, track ROI and limit use of unapproved platforms.   

After multiple recent Nexthink AI Drive implementations—spanning manufacturing, healthcare, and financial services—we’ve uncovered clear, repeatable patterns in how organizations are adopting (and struggling with) AI.  

Most challenges can be summarized by these two themes:  

  • AI Sprawl – Shadow AI is growing uncontrollably, with pilots and unsanctioned tools creating risk and bypassing governance. 
  • Measuring ROI – Organizations have already invested heavily in AI and now need to measure adoption, ROI, and actual business value. 

In either case, leaders lack visibility into who is using AI, what tools they are using, and whether those tools are producing meaningful outcomes. 

The Solution 

To bring clarity and control, we deploy Nexthink AI Drive a built-in, no-cost capability that leverages Nexthink’s endpoint collector to: 

  • Track AI usage, adoption, and engagement (by department and role) 
  • Identify sanctioned vs. unsanctioned tools 
  • Measure weekly active users and time spent in AI tools 
  • Support governance with pop-ups, policy links, and tool redirection 

AI Drive monitors major AI platforms out of the box including ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude, and Gemini.  It can also be extended to monitor additional web-based solutions.   

Findings From Recent Deployments 

Finding 1: Shadow AI Was Everywhere 

In every environment, AI Drive uncovered unexpected use of unsanctioned AI tools, including platforms like DeepSeek that IT had no prior visibility into. By breaking down weekly active users and time spent across each tool, leaders were able to assess risk immediately and strengthen AI governance frameworks.

Finding 2: Major Copilot Investments Were Largely Underutilized 

Several organizations had licensed Microsoft Copilot for thousands of employees. AI Drive revealed a consistent trend: 

  • Only about a third (35%) of licensed users were active weekly 
  • The remaining ~65% of licenses were effectively unused 
  • In one case, this represented nearly $1M in wasted annual spend 

 Because AI Drive also showed minimal usage of alternative tools, it became clear that the issue wasn’t preference, it was lack of adoption and enablement. This shifted the strategy from “license more” to “train better and drive activation.” 

Additional Insight 

Nexthink AI Drive consistently surfaced insights around: 

  • Underutilized licensed AI tools 
  • Overreliance on unsanctioned platforms 
  • Emerging Shadow AI across teams and departments 
  • Significant time spent on unexpected AI tools 
  • Clear adoption baselines to measure improvements over time 

Conclusion 

AI adoption is accelerating, but without visibility, organizations can’t effectively govern usage, ensure security, or prove value. Nexthink AI Drive, combined with our implementation and advisory expertise, helps organizations move from assumptions to data-driven AI strategy. 

Ready to Get Control of AI Adoption?  If you’re struggling to manage AI usage or measure AI impact, we can help. Nexthink AI Drive may be free, but real results require the right enablement, governance approach, and rollout strategy.