When it comes to bringing new technology in the door of a business you have to be sure reasonably sure that your new tech is going to solve the problem, improve the experience, or do whatever magical dance that you said it would. One way to test out your theory and gather some of that data is the Proof of Concept or POC.
The many reasons to do a POC
Gathering data on how much revenue, savings, time, effort, risk can be saved or created, whatever your proposed reasoning for the new tech.
Finding any gotchas; things that you though were going to work or be easy that just don't pan out.
Chance to improve the concept, often once something is working, even on a small scale we can measure it and improve it.
And the few to not do a POC
If you do a POC and invite people outside of your department or working to test out your new tech, they may feel that they should get a part in the decision process or may feel disenfranchised if you do make a decision that reflects the feedback they gave. If this group of people are going to then have to use your new tech they may sow the seeds of discontent among the ranks.