Technology Buying Power Has Shifted - Here's What It Means
As companies scale AI across the enterprise and technology touches every function and role, new questions have emerged: Who actually decides what technology companies invest in - and has that changed? What role do enterprise purchasing committees play today, and what objectives are guiding their decisions?
To explore these questions, and others, we conducted the Forbes Enterprise Technology Purchasing Report, which surveyed more than 1,000 global executives across various functions. All respondents are involved in decision-making for technology purchases.
Our research finds a major shift in purchasing influence underway. Five years ago, most technology decisions were owned by the CIO, even as departments like marketing and HR gained budget authority. Today, the landscape is far more complex.
Technology has long outgrown its roots as a back-office function. It's now the foundation of enterprise strategy, shaping how organizations operate, compete and grow. Today's technology investments signal where organizations are headed, who holds influence and how leaders are thinking about risk, growth and accountability.
This year's survey makes it clear that the stakes are higher than ever, shaped by economic uncertainty and the accelerating pace of digital transformation. As a result, technology purchase decisions are increasingly shared by both technology and business leaders. This distribution of responsibility highlights the importance of governance, alignment and cross functional leadership.
Leaders across the enterprise recognize that smart technology investments build resilience and future-proof their organizations. While only 14% of companies reported double-digit growth in tech budgets in 2024, 57% expect to exceed that threshold in 2025, with artificial intelligence and machine learning leading the way. But it's not just about how much companies are spending, it's about who is making these decisions and why. We've observed several shifts:
The Rise of Business-Led Tech Investment & Committee Driven Decision Making
Today, 59% of technology purchases are led by IT departments, but in just three years, the balance is expected to shift, where 53% of technology purchases will be driven by business units, with IT accounting for 47%. This shift is about more than who holds the budget, it also reflects an evolution in technology strategy.
Technology purchasing decisions are not made by a single individual. Committee approval is now the top deciding factor for tech investment. The data show
Technology Acquisition Committees
that organizations have multiple technology acquisition committees. In this year's survey, 60% of respondents say they have multiple committees based on lines of business, and 60% report having multiple committees based on technology types. All respondents confirmed they have a technology acquisition committee in some form.
Regional differences are striking. In North America, 72% of organizations have business-unit based committees compared to 66% with technology-based ones. Business-led purchasing committees are 21% more common in North America than in EMEA, and 26% more common than in APAC. This suggests a strong alignment between tech investments and outcomes like growth, customer experience and innovation - areas often owned outside of traditional IT - for North America based decision makers.
In conversations I've had with C-suite leaders across industries, it's clear this shift is well underway. Technology strategy is a team sport—one that demands shared language, urgency and accountability.
Future Proofing: Cybersecurity, Regulations and the Economy
Enterprise leaders are under pressure to future-proof their organizations against a convergence of external forces. Of these, cybersecurity stands out as the most urgent and complex challenge.
In our survey, 83% of enterprise technology buyers cited increased cybersecurity threats as their top external factor shaping tech purchase decisions over the next five years. That concern is showing up in budget priorities: cybersecurity is the second-highest planned investment area for 2025 following only AI and machine learning. As organizations adopt more advanced technologies and automate critical workflows, cybersecurity is at the center of brand reputation, regulatory risk and boardroom accountability. The bar is high: 84% of business leaders strongly agree that data privacy and security are essential criteria in tech purchasing decisions.
Leadership Lessons from Tech Accelerators
To understand what sets the most effective leaders apart, we examined a cohort we call 'Tech Accelerators'. These are CIOs and CTOs at companies with 5%+ in year-over-year revenue growth. This group represents 5% of the research sample.
Their leadership approach is collaborative, confident and focused on growth. Compared to their peers, Tech Accelerators are:
● 20% less likely to say they lack a clear technology strategy roadmap.
● 10% less likely to say they have difficulty integrating technologies into legacy systems.
● 7% less likely to say there is difficulty aligning the technology value proposition with overall business goals.
What is the impact? These leaders enable their organizations to build competitive advantage by fostering cultures of innovation. Their agility – rooted in clear priorities, and fast, aligned decision making – positions them for growth.
In an environment defined by accelerating AI innovation, rising cybersecurity threats and economic volatility, enterprise leaders face pressure to adapt in real time.
The most innovative leaders are using technology to drive growth and long-term resilience. That's what the future of leadership looks like.
One force increasingly shaping these decisions, and deserving closer attention, is sustainability. I'll explore that in a follow-up.
Read more about the Enterprise Technology Purchasing Report here and take a quiz here.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Nvidia's Arm chips rapidly gain share in server market as AI booms — Nvidia's Arm-powered GB200 servers surge as market reaches a record $95 billion in the first quarter
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The global server market experienced an unprecedented surge to nearly $100 billion in the first quarter as companies heavily invested in AI-related infrastructure, according to IDC, and 'accelerated' servers running Arm-based processors comprise one of the most rapidly growing categories, with Arm-powered server shipments rising 70% this year. It appears that the vast majority of these Arm-powered machines are Nvidia's GB200 NVL72 rack-scale solution, based on the Grace Blackwell platform, which features an Nvidia Grace CPU and eight B200 AI GPUs per server. Overall server purchases totaled $95.2 billion in Q1 2025, reflecting a 134.1% increase from the same period in 2024. This figure represents the fastest quarterly growth ever observed in this market, according to IDC. The widespread deployment of GPU-accelerated AI servers is fueling momentum, including those used by hyperscalers, with Nvidia's Arm-based Grace CPUs contributing to a 70% year-over-year increase in Arm server shipments this year. Based on this surge, the annual projection for the 2025 server market was revised upward to $366 billion, representing a 44.6% increase compared to the previous year. Spending on servers based on the x86 instruction set architecture (ISA) is expected to grow 39.9% for the year, reaching $283.9 billion. Meanwhile, systems using Arm and other non-x86 CPUs will gain even more, at a rate of 63.7% year-over-year, with projected sales of $82 billion in 2025. Sales of GPU-based AI and HPC servers are projected to grow by 46.7% in 2025, accounting for nearly half of all spending in this segment. This trend has been amplified by the need for massive computing power to support new AI workloads and training pipelines. Arm-based platforms are also gaining momentum, with shipment volumes projected to rise 70.0% compared to 2024. By the end of 2025, Arm systems are expected to represent approximately 21.1% of total server units shipped worldwide. This is considerably lower than Arm's long-term expectations of 50% market penetration. However, 21.1% is still a huge slice of the pie, considering that the lion's share of these CPUs are Nvidia's Grace processors. Spending on servers is expected to continue rising sharply in the coming years, starting at around $249 billion in 2024 and reaching $588 billion by 2029. The largest category in this period is Accelerated x86 (AI servers based on GPUs or AI accelerators with AMD or Intel processors), which is projected to grow from $112 billion in 2024 to $324 billion by 2029. However, Accelerated Arm machines are also set to expand rapidly, increasing more than threefold from $32 billion to $103 billion by 2029, reflecting a rather rapid adoption of Arm-based systems for AI and cloud workloads. Keep in mind that Accelerated Arm machines released between 2027 and 2028 can use not only Nvidia's processors, but also CPU designs from the 'NVLink Fusion camp,' such as those from Fujitsu, Marvell, MediaTek, and Qualcomm. Of course, it remains to be seen whether they will be able to capture significant market share. Accelerated Other Non-x86 (including FPGA and ASIC servers) is also set to grow, albeit modestly, reaching $31 billion in 2029. Demand for Accelerated AI servers will be driven by more advanced LLMs and LRMs, in addition to the speculation that artificial general intelligence (AGI) is possible. AGI would require even more compute performance than today's AI technologies, according to IDC. "The Stargate project re-announcement promised to invest up to $500 billion in AI infrastructure to help create artificial general intelligence (AGI)," said Kuba Stolarski, research vice president, Worldwide Infrastructure Research. "Shortly thereafter, the release of DeepSeek's R1 reasoning model caused concerns about the necessity of investing in so much infrastructure. [DeepSeek] R1 needed more infrastructure than was reported, and the evolution from simple chatbots to reasoning models to agentic AI will require several orders of magnitude more processing capacity, especially for inferencing. Improvements in the efficiency of model creation were expected and, in fact, a goal in the industry. Efficient models will use fewer resources, and therefore may scale better in multi-user environments, enabling high-level reasoning and possibly eventually leading to AGI." Meanwhile, spending on traditional servers (Non-Accelerated x86) will continue to rise steadily from $91 billion to $130 billion, but it'll become a smaller share of the overall market value. Unfortunately, IDC doesn't make forecasts about the adoption of general-purpose servers based on Arm CPUs, such as those from Arm itself, custom CPUs from hyperscale CSPs, or companies like Ampere Computing. Among geographic regions, the U.S. server market is expected to show the fastest expansion, with sales projected to increase 59.7% year-over-year, accounting for approximately 62% of the total revenue in 2025. China's market is also projected to experience substantial gains of 39.5%, accounting for over 21% of the quarterly server sales. Given that America and China are in an AI arms race, and both countries are unlikely to reduce their spending, such rapid growth is not surprising. Other areas of the world are seeing mixed results. Japan's market is projected to grow by 33.9%, while the Asia/Pacific region, excluding Japan, is expected to grow by 10.8%. Europe, the Middle East, and Africa are forecast to rise 7.0%, and Latin America will see a modest 0.7% advance. However, Canada stands out with a decline of 9.6%, as the prior year included an unusually large transaction. The demand for servers is white-hot across the globe, and it might be a sign that Jensen Huang's 50-year plan to build out AI infrastructure is already underway. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
The next phase of Starbucks' turnaround plan is offering executives up to $6 million in stock grants, as baristas scrap to get annual raises above 2%
will reward company executives with up to $6 million in stock grants should they effectively fulfill cost-saving and timely rollout goals of the company's 'Back to Starbucks' turnaround strategy. Starbucks Workers United representatives dubbed the move 'ridiculous and irresponsible' amid contract negotiations over barista wages. Starbucks is sweetening the pot for executives to expedite the company's turnaround efforts, even as workers protest the company's wages for baristas. The coffee chain will give its executives up to $6 million in stock grants should they expeditiously deliver on cost-saving goals, according to documents filed Wednesday. The entirely performance-based incentive is in an effort to advance the company's 'Back to Starbucks' plan introduced by new CEO Brian Niccol to return Starbucks to its cozy, third-place roots. 'These grants are designed to motivate and retain our senior leaders to deliver on the significant transformation required by our turnaround plan,' the filing said. 'The grants are directly tied to the achievement of key components of the Back to Starbucks plan to encourage our senior leaders to achieve these goals as quickly as possible.' These goals pertain to the rollout of Starbucks' Green Apron Service program to leverage technology to expedite orders, as well as 'new food and beverage platforms' and 'a reimaged Starbucks Rewards program,' per the filing. Employees are eligible to receive the stock grants at the end of Starbuck's fiscal 2027, which ends in September 2027. While employees can unlock a payout of up to 200% of the target, they must have worked through the service date of the performance-based restricted stock units. Upon joining Starbucks as CEO in September 2024, Niccol has rolled out sweeping changes to the Seattle-based coffee chain, including a green apron dress code for baristas, human touches like hand-written order names, and a revamped hiring process to beef up store staffing. Amid slumping sales, the CEO wants to return Starbucks to its reputation of yore, when customers lingered over lattes in comfortable in-store seating. Niccol stands to make up to $113 million in his first year as CEO, including a base salary of $1.6 million, a $75 million equity grant, and $10 million in signing bonuses for sticking at the job for the first six months. Unlike those in the C-suite, Starbucks employees behind the counter are fighting for incremental increases in hourly wages. Baristas last year earned smaller pay increases in 2024—about 2% to 3%—compared to the 3% to 5% increase from years prior, Bloomberg reported in December, citing an internal document. The pullback in wages, which are not tied to performance, came amid a challenging year for Starbucks, in which it battled lower traffic and sales following boycotts and slowing service. The coffee chain pays its baristas $19 an hour on average, totalling about $30 an hour when you include benefits. Unionized Starbucks baristas have taken issue with wages as they seek to ratify a new contract with management two years after negotiations began, with Starbucks Workers United rejecting a company proposal in April guaranteeing at least a 2% pay increase annually. Starbucks did not respond to Fortune's request for comment. Executive bonuses like what Starbucks disclosed on Wednesday are another worker grievance, particularly amid contract negotiations. Jasmine Leli, a barista in Buffalo, New York, and a bargaining delegate with Starbucks Workers United, told Fortune the $6 million incentives for executives is a 'ridiculous and irresponsible step for Starbucks.' 'Starbucks cannot tell us that there is no money to put into a fair union contract for baristas when they paid Brian [Niccol] $96 million for 120 days of work in 2024 and have allocated millions upon millions for a glitzy manager conference and C-Suite bonuses,' Leli said in a statement. ''Back to Starbucks' will only succeed when baristas can thrive—and the first step is finalizing fair union contracts that lock in the staffing, hours, and protections we need to do our jobs.' Not all baristas are sold on the company's 'Back to Starbucks' strategies more broadly. More than 2,000 Starbucks baristas at 120 U.S. stores went on strike in May, arguing the new dress code was not a relevant step to improve the customer experience. 'It would be more productive if the union would put the same effort into coming back to the table that they're putting into protesting wearing black shirts to work,' Starbucks said in a statement at the time. Other workers have advocated for an easier way for stores to pause digital orders to mitigate overwhelm among baristas. Leli indicated baristas are still struggling to make drinks efficiently due to understaffing and high traffic volumes, despite Niccol's efforts to decrease wait times to just 30 seconds. 'Baristas are the most important part of the Starbucks experience,' Leli said. 'We've yet to see any progress in our demands including better staffing, guaranteed hours, improved take-home pay, and on-the-job protections.' This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
4 Oil Giants Invest Billions to Lead the Low-Carbon Energy Shift
The energy world is changing fast, and for oil and energy companies, the message couldn't be clearer: low-carbon solutions aren't just a nice-to-have anymore — they're essential. With record-breaking heat, stricter regulations and growing pressure from customers, cutting carbon isn't just about doing the right thing — it's opening up real business opportunities. It's pushing companies to innovate, explore new markets, and rethink what it means to lead in this space. For oils-energy companies and investors, this shift isn't just about keeping up with regulations. It's about staying competitive, finding new paths to grow, and making sure their investments are built to last. In today's fast-changing energy world, integrated oil and gas companies are in a great position to lead the way. These big players handle everything — from finding and extracting oil and gas to refining it and getting it to customers, which gives them the know-how and resources to try new ideas and technologies. Companies like Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM, Shell plc SHEL, TotalEnergies SE TTE, and Chevron Corporation CVX aren't just sticking to traditional oil and gas anymore — they're upgrading their whole systems to include low-carbon solutions like carbon capture, hydrogen, and renewable energy. By combining what they've done for years with these new, cleaner options, they're finding smart ways to stay competitive and make real progress toward a greener future. Because they cover the entire process, they can move quickly, make smart investments, and lead the industry through one of its biggest transformations yet. Low-carbon solutions — from carbon capture to hydrogen and renewables — are vital for several reasons: Regulatory Pressure and Market Demand: Governments worldwide are tightening emissions standards and setting legally binding climate commitments. This means companies that can't show real progress on decarbonization risk losing their license to operate, facing higher costs, or missing lucrative contracts. Massive Market Opportunity: Hard-to-decarbonize sectors like industry, power, and transportation account for about 80% of global CO2 emissions. The market for emission-reduction technologies in these sectors could be worth up to $6 trillion by 2050. For oil and energy companies, this is a huge opportunity to capture new value pools and diversify revenue streams. Investor and Consumer Expectations: Investors are increasingly channeling capital toward businesses with strong sustainability credentials, while consumers are demanding cleaner products. Companies that lead in low-carbon innovation can enhance their brand, attract investment, and build long-term customer loyalty. Cost Savings and Efficiency: Advanced carbon management technologies and smart energy systems can help businesses slash energy waste, cut costs, and increase operational efficiency—all while reducing their environmental impact. Future-Proofing: As the energy transition accelerates, companies that invest early in low-carbon solutions will be better positioned to adapt to changing policies, technologies, and market dynamics. Let's explore how the largest energy companies — ExxonMobil, Shell, TotalEnergies, and Chevron — are evolving to lead in the low-carbon future: ExxonMobil, a Spring, TX-based integrated oil and gas company, is placing big bets on carbon capture and low-carbon hydrogen. In its first-quarter 2025 results, the Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company reported earnings of $7.7 billion and highlighted ongoing transformation efforts to ensure resilience in uncertain markets. Notably, ExxonMobil has pledged up to $30 billion between 2025 and 2030 for lower-emission initiatives, with about 65% of this investment aimed at reducing emissions across the broader industry, not just its operations. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. The Baytown low-carbon hydrogen project, poised to be one of the world's largest blue hydrogen facilities, serves as a key pillar of this strategy. Using CCS technology, Baytown will capture up to 10 million metric tons of CO2 annually, enabling both ExxonMobil and third-party emitters to cut emissions at scale. ExxonMobil's deep infrastructure and engineering expertise give it a strong advantage in commercializing these solutions efficiently. The company is also advancing biofuels and lithium extraction, aiming to support both the decarbonization of its operations and those of other industries. Furthermore, ExxonMobil is deploying advanced methane detection and reduction technologies, underlining its commitment to tackling all major greenhouse gases as part of its broader emissions-reduction strategy. Shell's first-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings were $5.6 billion, but the real story is its portfolio transformation. The company sold its Nigerian onshore operations for $2.4 billion, exiting a legacy region with significant operational risks. Simultaneously, Shell acquired Pavilion Energy, strengthening its LNG trading capabilities and positioning itself for long-term growth in cleaner fuels. The Zacks Rank #3 company is also ramping up investments in renewable power and hydrogen. While specific hydrogen projects weren't disclosed in the first quarter, the London-based integrated oil and gas company has a clear capital expenditure (CapEx) outlook of $20-$22 billion, much of it directed at transition technologies, including renewables, energy storage, and distributed energy platforms. Shell is accelerating its energy transition strategy by investing $10-$15 billion in low-carbon solutions between 2023 and 2025, with a strong focus on hydrogen, renewables, and carbon capture. A key milestone in Shell's sustainability initiatives is the construction of Holland Hydrogen I in Rotterdam, poised to become Europe's largest renewable hydrogen plant when it begins operations in 2025. This facility will use offshore wind power to produce green hydrogen, which will help decarbonize Shell's refineries and support clean transportation. Beyond hydrogen, Shell is rapidly expanding its EV charging infrastructure and renewable energy generation, particularly in wind and solar. The company's carbon capture initiatives, such as the Polaris CCS project in Canada, are designed to capture significant volumes of CO2 and support Shell's goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. Shell's progress is evident in its achievement of over 60% of its targeted reduction in operational emissions by 2030, even as it adapts its long-term plans to the evolving energy landscape. Among the most aggressive movers, TotalEnergies, a France-based integrated oil and gas company, is rapidly expanding its renewable electricity and green hydrogen assets. In first-quarter 2025, the Zacks Rank #3 company posted strong results driven by an 18% year-over-year rise in electricity production, largely powered by renewables. TotalEnergies also acquired VSB Group, a German renewables developer, further cementing its role in Europe's green energy ecosystem. A landmark initiative is its partnership with Air Liquide to build two green hydrogen facilities in the Netherlands, targeting 45,000 tons of annual production. These projects aim to reduce up to 450,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year, primarily by decarbonizing TotalEnergies' refining operations, while supporting broader EU climate targets. TotalEnergies' integrated approach combines renewable generation, storage, and distribution, positioning the company as a key player in Europe's evolving green energy ecosystem and enhancing its resilience in a rapidly changing market. Chevron, a Houston, TX-based Integrated Oil and Gas company, is taking a more measured yet innovative path. The first-quarter 2025 earnings were $3.5 billion, with highlights including the start-up of the Ballymore field in the Gulf of America. On the decarbonization front, the Zacks Rank #3 company launched a 5-megawatt solar-to-hydrogen project in California's Central Valley, its first such initiative. The facility uses solar energy to produce hydrogen for industrial and transport applications, showcasing Chevron's intent to blend renewables with traditional energy. In addition, Chevron is supporting more than 140 clean-tech startups through its Chevron Technology Ventures, investing in lithium production, recently acquired lithium-rich acreage as part of a strategic expansion and intelligent fracking technologies to boost efficiency while reducing emissions. The shift to low-carbon energy is no longer a distant ideal — it's a critical business transformation already underway. Leading oil and energy companies are evolving from fossil fuel producers into diversified energy innovators. For investors, this means opportunities to back companies with bold decarbonization strategies that promise growth, resilience, and competitive advantage. In the race to net zero, those who invest early and think beyond traditional oil and gas will define the energy leaders of tomorrow — and reap the rewards today. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Chevron Corporation (CVX) : Free Stock Analysis Report Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) : Free Stock Analysis Report TotalEnergies SE Sponsored ADR (TTE) : Free Stock Analysis Report Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR (SHEL) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
