Organizations are looking to artificial intelligence to enhance their value stream initiatives, according to the fourth annual Value Stream Management survey sponsored by Broadcom and conducted by Dimension Research.
According to 90% of respondents, AI can help in the advancement of value stream management, in the areas of improving predictive analytics, automating workflows and processes, and improving product quality.
“Some of the things I thought were kind of fascinating [in the survey] were, how much more percentage of AI is going to have an expectation in here? And where is that going to go?” asked Lance Knight, chief value stream architect at Broadcom.
Broadcom’s survey found that the top focus for 2025 is the customer life cycle, specifically attracting new customers and delivering more customer value. When asked why their companies are adopting VSM, participants said it was specifically to deliver more customer value. Those already using VSM stated that this initiative has delivered improved data flow and decision-making. Those VSM benefits are directly correlated with the top business goals for 2025.
In its Value Stream Solutions Landscape for Q1 2025, Forrester also notes how AI is changing what can be derived from value stream management solutions. It is characterizing the landscape as “before GenAI” and “After GenAI,” with the latter leading organizations to use AI to measure any productivity gains from implementing AI.
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Broadcom last quarter introduced Vaia for Value Stream Management, an AI assistant within the company’s ValueOps platform that the company said can magnify the core benefits of VSM, such as increased visibility, alignment and efficiency, which can enable more effective digital transformation.
“A VSM automation platform is going to be a big part of that, with agentic AI and the things that are going on now,” Knight said. “What solution is best set up to be able to communicate with [multiple] tools and help AI? That’s the VSM automation platform.”
It’s in the tool integrations through ConnectALL that brings VSM to another level. “[Let’s say] I’m doing vulnerability scanning. I find a vulnerability, ConnectALL sees that, and can send it to a specifically set-up AI agent that’ll research it, come back and say this is the problem, and maybe even turn off a server,” he explained. “But, at a minimum, put the repair and the recommended repair into the system right away, for a fulfiller or the person working on it to go and look at that. And that’s just the start of this.”
Meanwhile, challenges still remain for organizations looking to implement value stream management. The survey found that low team participation and a lack of visibility are impediments to successful VSM adoption.
Forrester analyst Chris Condo said, “the primary challenge to VSM adoption has been the lack of a compelling use case that all development leaders could support. Until recently, measuring DORA metrics, process improvements, or even developer experience was not a priority for many development leaders.
However,” he continued, “the advent of genAI, combined with the push for greater efficiency and productivity measurement, has shifted this perspective. Last year, the most frequent question I received from Forrester clients was, “How do I measure the productivity gains from using a copilot?” Many had already implemented copilot without establishing a performance baseline and were now being asked by senior leadership to demonstrate the gains from this adoption. This has led to a significant rise in interest in tools that can measure productivity.”
Among the other key findings in Broadcom’s VSM survey are:
* Every company responding to the survey, and that has begun a digital transformation, indicated they use or plan to use VSM, with year-over-year data showing VSM delivers increased value over time and improved data-driven decision-making.
* VSM is maturing, as indicated by the 30% of respondents who said their companies will use multiple product lines and 11% reporting enterprise-wide use of VSM. The growing maturity is also reflected in an increase of use of commercial VSM tools, moving away from homegrown tools and spreadsheets.