While every company is investing in AI, only about 8% are bringing it to the highest impact areas of their business, according to a new study from Blue Ridge Partners. Carrie Shea, managing director at Blue Ridge Partners, exclusively shared the findings with Forbes—as well as gave advice to get more out of AI spending.The most common uses for AI, the study found, are one-department solutions, including marketing content development, sales measurement and training, and customer onboarding. Shea said these uses tend to have easily measured metrics, can be seen as quick experiments if they go wrong, and bring a short-term payoff. However, she said, these uses don’t always have lasting value. The businesses that are seeing the most difference from AI, the study showed, are the ones that are investing in integrated, end-to-end solutions. Shea called this using AI holistically: For commercial planning, innovation and revenue growth management. This is a more involved undertaking than a marketing or customer service project, she said, utilizing data from their own company, retailers and contract partners.Larger, more strategic AI implementation pays off in the long run, with companies showing 16% to 40% revenue growth, the study shows. And Shea said the companies using AI on high-impact areas are spending about $15 million on AI, as opposed to about $20 million for single-point projects.“We’re starting to get toward a tipping point where all of that experimentation and all of the point solution activity is going to be realized as being not that cost effective,” Shea said. Shea said companies that are doing better with AI seem to have more top leadership getting involved in AI decision making, bringing more of a perspective of how AI can help the company. CEOs should take the long view, she said: Look at the potential for 24-month returns over those that might pay off in six to 12 months.“The reality is, when you’re tackling the more complex [AI uses], it is going to take longer…to do the data integration, the data cleansing, and then the process integration,” Shea said. “It’s worth taking it in that more integrated way and taking longer—but getting better impacts and spending less than going for the short-term wins.”