Chasing Tools, Losing Value: The Cost of Misaligned Investment

AI spending often starts with good intentions — then drifts. A team needs a solution. A vendor promises speed. A pilot launches. Before long, the tech stack balloons. Multiple tools overlap. Integrations lag. And yet, the business can’t point to what’s actually improved.

This is the cost of misaligned investment. Not just money spent — but value lost. Because when AI procurement isn’t tied directly to a defined workflow, the outcome is almost always shelfware: technically impressive, operationally unused.

The organisations turning AI into leverage start from the opposite direction. They identify a bottleneck — a delay in insight, a recurring error, a high-cost handoff. Then they ask: where could AI improve this outcome? Who owns the workflow? What would a better version of this process look like with support? That’s where enablement starts: with clarity before capability.

From there, investment becomes purposeful. The tooling isn’t the point — it’s the enabler. And success is measured in operational terms, not deployment stats.

It’s not about spending less. It’s about spending precisely. Because the fastest-growing companies aren’t the ones buying more AI. They’re the ones solving real problems with the AI they’ve already got.