Consultants Promised AI ROI. Enterprises Got Slide Decks.

Summary

A new Wall Street Journal investigation confirmed what many business leaders have felt: big consulting firms promised AI transformation, but delivered very little. Enterprises spent millions only to end up with stalled pilots, proof-of-concepts, and endless slide decks.

The bottom line? ROI doesn’t come from strategy theater. It comes from building and scaling use cases that actually move P&L.

Key Takeaways

For Business Leaders:

• Don’t confuse consulting slide decks with transformation.

• Real ROI is unlocked when AI is embedded in workflows that save cost, drive revenue, or reduce risk.

• Your own teams may already know as much (or more) about AI as outside advisors.

For Investors:

• The consulting vacuum is creating a massive opportunity.

• The winners will be founders building vertical AI solutions with measurable ROI, not firms selling workshops.

• Pay attention to startups that replace “AI theater” with execution.

For Founders:

• This is your moment. Enterprises are frustrated and looking for working systems.

• Focus on vertical deployments (claims automation in insurance, dynamic scheduling in construction, demand forecasting in logistics).

• Execution speed is your advantage — deliver ROI in weeks, not years.

  
  

Want the Full Deep Dive?

In this week’s Insider Edition of Insights on AI ROI, I break down:

• Why consulting firms are failing at AI delivery

• How enterprises can avoid the “$20M slide deck trap”

• Where the real ROI opportunities are hiding in 2025

• Exclusive strategies to apply AI ROI frameworks directly inside your organization

👉 Read the full Insider Edition Here.