Christopher Mahoney

In a world where volatility has become the new normal, Kroll CEO Jacob Silverman sheds light on navigating today's "VUCA" environment – volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. From safeguarding assets and people to building a culture of resilience and protection, Silverman shared leaders must balance safety with seizing opportunities. Watch the full interview here: http://ms.spr.ly/6042SIQUp

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Many workers are wary of AI. That’s why BNY is training them to use AI so they’ll understand its value and applications, says CEO Robin Vince. “Then, they actually can be creative with it. How can we solve a customer problem? How can we deploy AI in a new way? How can we hire a new digital employee to perform some new set of tasks? And that gets very exciting for people.” https://lnkd.in/eNh4hvMk 

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Tariffs and geopolitical conflicts are upending trade and supply chains in a vastly integrated world. What are the experts saying? Find out at this week's French-American Chamber of Commerce Midwest Chicago Supply Chain Management event.

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Recent tariff adjustments have steadied some markets, but the path ahead remains uncertain. Policy updates can quickly change sourcing priorities and cash requirements. Executives are reviewing payment terms, reinforcing supplier strength, and creating contingency plans to manage potential policy swings. Companies that prepare early can respond faster to evolving trade dynamics.

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Procurement teams are under more pressure than ever to streamline vendor selection and RFQ processes, yet many are still burdened by fragmented systems, manual checks, and time‑consuming data consolidation. This slows down sourcing cycles and makes it harder to ensure compliance, cost optimization, and supplier diversity. This great blog explores how Amazon Bedrock AgentCore and Strands Agents can transform this experience. The post walks through the Smart Procurement Assistant - a purpose‑built, AI‑powered agent that automates key steps in the procurement workflow, reduces cycle times, improves real‑time compliance validation, and frees teams to focus on higher‑value supplier management. Well worth a read for anyone looking at how agentic AI can modernise procurement operations. https://lnkd.in/e7nr5JKx #ProcurementTransformation #AIinProcurement #SupplyChainInnovation #AgenticAI #DigitalSourcing

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Our newsfeeds are increasingly filled with headlines about tariffs and their disruptive impact on global supply chains. Richard Howells talks to Lori Harner and Jay Foster in this podcast on how companies can leverage advanced supply chain planning solutions to proactively mitigate these risks through responsive planning, agile sourcing, and resilient execution. Great listen.

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Procurement teams are under pressure to do more faster and with greater visibility. Cloud marketplaces are emerging as a powerful solution. In this LinkedIn Live, Everest Group will break down how leading organizations are using cloud marketplaces to: • Streamline vendor onboarding • Automate procurement workflows • Improve spend governance and compliance • Reduce sourcing complexity across IT portfolios Discover how procurement leaders are unlocking efficiency and agility by rethinking traditional sourcing channels. Save your seat today: https://okt.to/AxqpoO Get in touch: Amit Lad, Matthew Corsi, CPSM

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Get a preview of Oracle's most recent breakthroughs in AI, multicloud, and high-performance data services. Don’t miss the Data Deep Dive track at #AIWorld: https://lnkd.in/g6H2vfc5

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Oracle Earnings Deliver. AI Demand Still Surging. Oracle reported a strong quarter Tuesday after the close, beating Wall Street expectations on both revenue and earnings and sending the stock higher in after-hours trading. The results reinforce the view that the recent selloff had become disconnected from the company’s underlying growth story. The Results • Adjusted EPS: $1.79 vs $1.70 expected • Revenue: $17.19B vs $16.91B expected • Revenue growth: +22% YoY • Net income: $3.72B vs $2.94B YoY • Total cloud revenue: $8.9B (+44% YoY) Cloud remains the engine. Infrastructure demand tied to AI workloads continues to accelerate, pushing total cloud revenue up 44% year over year. Cloud infrastructure alone generated roughly $4.9B in the quarter, also ahead of expectations. Guidance and Outlook Oracle raised its long-term growth expectations and reiterated the scale of the opportunity ahead. • FY2026 revenue expectation: ~$67B • FY2027 revenue target raised to: ~$90B • FY2026 capital expenditures expected around: $50B Management continues to invest aggressively in cloud infrastructure to support AI demand, including major capacity tied to OpenAI deployments. The Abilene, Texas data center project remains on track, despite recent media reports suggesting otherwise. The Bigger Picture Coming into this report, Oracle shares had been hit hard. The stock had fallen more than 50% from its September highs as investors questioned whether the company’s massive infrastructure spending would generate sufficient returns. That skepticism has been the central debate around the stock. Capital expenditures have surged as Oracle builds out AI capacity, and the market has worried that the balance sheet may be stretched before revenue catches up. But the underlying demand signals tell a different story. Cloud growth north of 40% and a massive contracted backlog suggest these investments are not speculative. Companies do not commit to infrastructure at that scale without long-term workloads attached. My View Ahead of earnings I wrote that the selloff looked overdone and that the stock could recover toward $200 as investors reassess the AI infrastructure opportunity. This quarter supports that thesis. Oracle is clearly emerging as one of the key infrastructure providers for the next phase of AI deployment. The spending is large, but so is the demand behind it. If cloud growth remains at this pace and the backlog continues converting to revenue, the narrative around Oracle’s capital spending could shift quickly from risk to competitive advantage.

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Get the four-stage roadmap that turns your procurement team into a value-driving machine by moving from basic tasks to fully autonomous AI spend management. https://bit.ly/3WGyVof

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