Austin, Texas, USA, March 25, 2026

Futurum Research identifies yet another proof point for AI-enabled PC ROI: Enterprises deploying AI PCs report a 28% reduction in employee onboarding time compared to legacy hardware.

Overview:

Olivier Blanchard, AI Devices Practice Lead at Futurum, highlights a data point that may have been broadly missed by executives looking for ROI metrics surrounding AI PC deployments: “Enterprises deploying AI PCs report a 28% reduction in employee onboarding time compared to legacy hardware. This suggests that AI-native devices are quietly reshaping workforce productivity, not just before most IT leaders have updated their cost models, but before the majority of worker productivity studies even begin.”

The insight, from Futurum Research’s latest IT Decision-Maker Survey report on AI Devices, points to an easily overlooked aspect of AI PCs’ value within a broader ROI framework. This is particularly important not just for IT departments planning the next phase of their PC refresh, but cast against a 2026 PC market that could be negatively impacted by price pressures due to inverted demand-to-supply stress – namely around memory chips.

“Organizations are always looking for actionable ROI metrics for investments,” Blanchard continues. “The AI PC has been the focus of intense ROI discussions since its introduction in 2024, and identifying positive ROI stories for the category remains high on the list of priorities for most IT leaders. The challenge, however, has been that the ROI of AI PCs hasn’t been particularly well-defined yet. Part of the reason has been that, at least for now, the majority of the performance improvements attributable to this new generation of PCs have been about processor speed and battery life rather than user-facing on-device AI features. In other words, the on-device AI component of that ROI equation has proved more elusive than the hardware’s faster, better performance. This onboarding datapoint, I think, helps change that.”

Why Onboarding is the “Proof Point”

While general productivity remains difficult to measure, onboarding provides a controlled window to track time-to-value. Futurum’s analysis, including insights from their 2H 2025 AI Devices Decision Maker Survey, highlights three ways AI PCs drive this 28% efficiency:

• Automated Device Provisioning: Modern AI PCs (such as Copilot+ PCs) enable IT teams to reduce manual setup time from nearly an hour to approximately 15 minutes.
• On-Device “Agentic” Assistance: New hires can use local AI agents to navigate company wikis and software without waiting for human mentors. Futurum’s 2026 Research Agenda emphasizes this shift from “Read-Only” chatbots to “Read-Write” agents that perform multi-step setup tasks.
• Reduced Support Friction: Enterprises refreshing with AI PCs also report up to 30% fewer device-related tickets in the first year, preventing the typical “day one” technical hurdles that stall new hires.

The Broader ROI Context

Futurum’s 2H 2025 AI Devices Decision Maker Survey and recent 2026 insights provide additional context for this ROI:

Figure 1: ROI Clarity Drives AI PC Demand Across Enterprise IT

“For context,” Blanchard explains, “the average cost of onboarding a new hire in the US is roughly $5,000, and can reach $10,000. What makes matters worse is that 1 in 5 new hires leave their jobs within the first two months. Expand that to the entire US: Making the onboarding process simpler, faster, more frictionless, and more rewarding – like reducing onboarding time by 28% – by leveraging AI technologies, such as AI-enabled PCs, can save US businesses billions of dollars per year in the aggregate. That’s a pretty powerful piece of the ROI puzzle for the AI PC category, even before you start digging into productivity gains.”

Subscribers can read more in the report “2H 2025 AI Devices Decision Maker Survey” available on the Futurum Intelligence Platform. Non-subscribers, click here for inquiry and access.

About Futurum Intelligence for Market Leaders

Futurum Intelligence’s Intelligent Devices IQ service provides actionable insight from analysts, reports, and interactive visualization datasets, helping leaders drive their organizations through transformation and business growth. Subscribers can log into the platform at https://app.futurumgroup.com/, and non-subscribers can find additional information at Futurum Intelligence.

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