John O’Connell Featured in Kiplinger: Will AI Pay Dividends for Your Firm? To Find Out, Budget for the Whole Iceberg, Not Just the Tip

John O’Connell was recently published in Kiplinger on why most firms miscalculate AI ROI. His argument is that the vendor’s token bill is just the tip of the iceberg, and the costs that actually decide whether AI pays off never appear on that invoice. There are three: review, because every output reaching a client must be checked by a qualified human first, a cost that scales as advisers generate more; training, because untrained staff get worse results and make the tool look like a poor investment; and governance, the acceptable-use policy, vendor due diligence, and inspectable records a regulated firm needs, which is the line most likely to be missing. His deeper point is that these costs live in three parts of the firm, technology, leadership, and compliance, so when tech owns the budget alone, the rest go unfunded.