Your first AI agent invoice will scare you. Here's how to fix it.
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Welcome to this week’s edition of CIOsurge!
This week:
Anthony Enoh on why not every task needs an agent, and the FinOps discipline that saved his margins
Vanguard proves AI ROI is possible. Only 12% of executives can say the same.
Verizon's DBIR shows vulnerabilities now cause more breaches than stolen credentials
Let’s make this week a game-changer.
Stay sharp. Stay ahead.
💡 Not Every Task Needs an Agent: A FinOps Lesson Learned the Hard Way
A lot of companies are getting scared away from AI because they think it is a costly venture. I actually believe the opposite, that it is high value and relatively low cost, especially for mundane tasks. But controlling costs requires discipline, and Anthony Enoh, CEO of Enbros Technologies, learned that lesson firsthand.
"One of the first agents we built, we used 100% inference and it was very expensive," Anthony told me. "We were very eager to show value and we just started seeing the bills. The customer had visibility because we believe in transparency. He got on a call and said, what's going on here?"
That moment forced Enbros to build a dedicated FinOps team. Their lead developer wrote a paper titled "Not Every Task Requires an Agent." The design philosophy: use frontier models for specific tasks, push routine work to lower-tier models, and use open-source where appropriate.
The takeaway for CIOs: build FinOps into your AI program from day one, not after the first surprise invoice. Match model tier to task complexity. Treat cost optimization as an ongoing discipline, not a one-time exercise.
— Zack Tembi, CEO, SingleFin
Vanguard's AI Investments Pay Dividends
Vanguard has moved from AI experimentation to measurable business impact by anchoring every use case to a clear hypothesis and quantifiable outcome before scaling. Under Global CIO Nitin Tandon, the firm created an AI champions program with senior stakeholders who set priorities across client-facing and shared service functions, paired with digital ambassadors who surface bottom-up innovation at the operational edge. One standout: an Expert Insights tool in Financial Advisor Services that uses AI to analyze investor portfolios and generate improvement narratives, helping scale specialist expertise as FAS demand has quadrupled in six years. For context, PwC found that 56% of CEOs report no significant financial benefit from AI, and only 12% have achieved both cost and revenue gains.
Vanguard is doing what most enterprises claim to want but fail to execute: tying AI to business outcomes before they scale. The dual structure of champions and ambassadors is worth studying. Top-down strategy without bottom-up experimentation stalls. Bottom-up tinkering without executive sponsorship never gets funded. You need both.
- Zack Tembi
Vulnerabilities Have Become Cyber Attackers' No. 1 Door to the Enterprise
Verizon's 2026 DBIR, analyzing 31,000 incidents across 145 countries, shows a dramatic shift in how attackers get in. Exploited vulnerabilities now account for 31% of breaches, surpassing credential abuse at 13%. Only 26% of CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities were fully remediated in 2025, down from 38% the prior year, while median patch time stretched to 43 days. Ransomware appeared in 48% of breaches, and AI-assisted attacks are compressing exploit windows from months to hours. Supply chain risk is equally alarming, with 48% of incidents involving third-party breaches.
Patching is falling behind, and attackers are getting faster. A 43-day median patch time against AI-accelerated exploitation is a losing equation. CIOs need to push vulnerability management from an IT operations function to a board-level priority with real accountability and real deadlines.
- Zack Tembi
💡 CIO Spotlights
Chris Ballard Appointed EVP & CIO at Northwest Bancshares
25+ years of technology leadership across financial services
Previously CIO, Shared Services Operations at Wells Fargo, where he built a KYC platform and deployed AI agents
Prior tech leadership at JPMorgan Chase and PNC, leading AI platform and core banking transformations
Mandate: advancing technology, operational efficiency, and customer experience across Northwest's footprint
Cumberland Farms taps Murphy USA tech chief as new CIO
20+ years of technology leadership across convenience retail and restaurant industries
Previously CIO at Murphy USA for 5.5 years, overseeing all technology initiatives
Former CIO and CDO at Focus Brands (now GoTo Foods), leading tech, digital marketing, and analytics across seven international food service brands
Earlier: CIO at Jack in the Box, leading technology and strategic alignment across both the Jack in the Box and Qdoba brands
