How to Build an AI Business Case That Gets Approved (Template + Examples)

Most AI business cases fail because they lead with technology instead of business outcomes. Leadership cares about three things: How much will it cost? How much will it save or earn? How long until we see results?

**The 6-Section AI Business Case Structure:**

**Section 1: Problem Statement** — Define the business problem in financial terms. Not "we need AI" but "our team handles 50,000 tickets/month at $15/ticket."

**Section 2: Proposed Solution** — Describe in business terms. Frame as augmentation, not replacement.

**Section 3: Cost Breakdown** — Include ALL costs: implementation, infrastructure, ongoing, and hidden costs.

**Section 4: Expected ROI** — Three scenarios: Conservative (20% automation, 12-month payback), Base case (40%, 8 months), Optimistic (60%, 5 months). Always lead with conservative.

**Section 5: Risk Assessment** — Technical, adoption, data, and regulatory risks with mitigations.

**Section 6: Implementation Timeline** — Realistic 8-month phased rollout.

Use our AI ROI Calculator at /roi-calculator to generate stakeholder-ready numbers. The PDF export creates a document you can customize for your project.

About the Author

Durai Rajamanickam is a Business Transformation Leader and author of The AI Inflection Point: Volume 1 - Financial Services. With over two decades of experience, he specializes in AI-driven enterprise transformation, designing evidence-based ROI frameworks, and helping organizations modernize legacy systems with intelligent automation.

His work focuses on translating AI ambition into measurable business outcomes, with case studies spanning Ramp, Nubank, Coinbase, RBC, and Stripe—all showcasing AI ROI between 2.56× and 17×.

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