2026 is the year many C-suite technology leaders will have to finally prove that their artificial intelligence investments are paying off.
But at Everpure, a data storage and cloud services provider, tracking AI’s return on investment comes with some key caveats. “I tend to think that measuring ROI and the efficacy of AI technology really depends on the use case,” says Rob Lee, Everpure’s chief technology and growth officer. “We have some use cases where it’s very clear, and it’s very objectively measurable.”
Some of the more straightforward AI deployments are easier to monitor. An AI bot that can autonomously handle vendor invoices with internal purchase orders, ensuring the reports are accurate before payment is issued, is one such case. Everpure’s “Bestie Bot,” an internal AI tool that helps employees self-service questions that would have been fielded by the human resources team, has strong ROI indicators, but is a bit harder to measure.
And then, there are the third-party AI coding assistants, which Lee says he is taking a closer look at in 2026. While Everpure’s engineers may report that they are saving time using these tools, Lee wants to be sure that the time saved by generating code faster isn’t just being reallocated to debugging because of code quality issues. “That’s an area that we are spending a bit more time this year, trying to sharpen our pencils,” says Lee.
A sharper focus on AI’s ROI comes as Everpure caps a fairly busy first quarter of the year. Last month, the company completed a corporate rebranding that involved changing its name from Pure Storage and announced a deal to acquire the data intelligence and security company 1touch. Everpure also reported fiscal year 2026 revenue of $3.7 billion, up 16% year-over-year. And for the new fiscal year, the top line is projected to increase by between 17% and 20%.
When placing AI bets, Lee says that other than a heightened degree of focus on governance and security, the factors he considers in the buy-versus-build debate are no different than those of any other technology investment. When push comes to shove, Everpure prefers the easier route of “buy” when an off-the-shelf AI tool can be minimally customized and generate desirable business results. But Everpure is also open to creating its own AI tools from scratch, especially if the application of AI would also integrate into the company’s external product offerings.
“That’s something that we’re more likely to want to own and develop over time,” says Lee.
Lee, a 12-year company veteran who initially served as chief architect of the company’s storage platform called FlashBlade, says the AI tools that he’s internally deployed for Everpure’s workforce frequently come from a dedicated, cross-functional team that sits under the CTO’s office and works with various business functions to explore priority AI use cases.
Working closely with vendors is also an option. Everpure’s Bestie Bot was built on top of enterprise AI startup Glean’s AI-powered search software, trained on the company’s corporate policies. That tool is saving HR one hour each day, according to Niki Armstrong, Everpure’s chief administrative and legal officer. She also worked closely with tech startup Eudia to build a contract review tool for the legal department.
“When I think about how we’re using these tools, it’s less time hunting for answers and more time exercising that independent, personalized judgment,” says Armstrong.
“Time saved” is a popular way that C-suite leaders tend to boast about the efficiency savings they get from AI, but what’s not always clear is what employees can do with their extra free time. Armstrong says she has specific tasks that the HR team can tackle with Bestie Bot in action. Her team will spend more time on success planning, pathways to support lateral moves and promotions, improving interview training, and mapping out the skills needed to support the company’s future.
“We can spend more time on the complex, high-stakes cases,” says Armstrong.
Lee says Everpure’s initial approach to generative AI was fairly cautious after the launch of ChatGPT, as the company wanted to take time to set up governance protocols around data privacy and security. Similarly, he has been slower to adopt agentic AI despite all the buzz. One in four enterprises were actively using AI agents by the end of 2025, up from just 11% in the first quarter of the year, according to a survey by accounting giant KPMG.
Everpure is further along in building out agentic workflows that fold into the company’s external product portfolio. But internally, Lee is waiting to get a clearer picture on the agentic tools offered by his enterprise resource planning, payroll, customer relationship management, and other software providers.
“It doesn’t do me any good to spend a bunch of effort to develop an agent if six months later, those vendors come out with their own agents that can largely do the same tasks,” says Lee.
John Kell
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