Dell CFO: Budget tokens first, then chase AI speed

Enterprise AI is moving from experimentation into production, with financial services firms leading the way. Dell CFO David Kennedy says finance chiefs should treat token spend as a dedicated budget line item, managed with the same discipline as any other cost. He argues that efficiency in token usage, not raw cost reduction, drives real value. Dell counts 6,500 AI factories across its customer base. Kennedy recommends running repetitive workflows on open-weight, on-premises models to convert variable token costs into fixed ones, freeing organizations to focus on speed and productivity gains.