Latest news with #enterprise
Bloomberg
an hour ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
The Global Race for AI Adoption
00:00 The context here. Victoria is one of the action plan announced by the US Government really to take on China and the AI race that the US wants to win. From a regulatory perspective, how do you think the US is winning or not? So I think there's a lot of good that's in the action plan. But here is one part. You know, there's a lot of conversation about who's going to win the race. And a lot of that focus is on who's going to be at the cutting edge of innovation. And that is obviously important. But a conversation that is just starting to happen that I think is would potentially have an even bigger impact is who is going to win the race on adoption. By that I mean, which are the countries that are going to figure out how to use AI best? Because it is those countries that are going to see the biggest economic benefit from AI. That is the race. And that is that is largely up for grabs right now. I think the United States has an advantage there, and I think the AI action plan has a number of aspects that are focused on adoption, but that race is up for grabs. And I think that is going to be a big indicator of where we see the biggest economic benefit over the next decade. So enough focus, therefore, from your perspective on AI adoption, on training talent, to ensure that in enterprise we're actually getting bang for our buck, productivity actually goes up into the right. So there are a few aspects that I think are critical to adoption. And actually I'd say we release an agenda just before the action plan came out earlier last week. The focus is on three aspects. One is talent and workforce, and that is that is critical. I think there's no aspect more essential. The second is infrastructure and data, and the third is the governance framework and making sure that we get that right. And those three elements are things that the United States but governments around the world need to be figuring out right now if they are going to win the race on adoption. Victoria Last week on the program, Michael Kratsios, who leads the Office of Science and Tech at the White House, came on and he talked about packages that he sees America being a net exporter of everything in the stack from hardware through to the models themselves. You were talking about adoption a moment ago. How does America, as an exporter of AI fit into that? I think that's a critical piece. So a lot of the innovation is happening here in the United States for governments to be able to adopt they to have their private sector using AI in a way that they get the most economic benefit. A big piece of that is going to be AI exportation from the United States. And there was know conversation last week about the data centers and the chips. But obviously an important element of that is the software and the cloud services, because it is literally not possible to adopt AI unless you have cutting edge cloud services, unless you have cutting edge software. And a lot of that's going to be coming from right here in the United States. There was also a discussion about copyright and the president talked about this during his address. Given that you kind of represent more the software side of the stack. How did you think about that? Karan AI It increasingly comes up in the show as a point of priority, particularly for the frontier model or just model makers generally. It's a big issue. It's an issue here in the United States and in other markets as well. So as you know, in the White House and the action plan that was released last week, there's not a lot of discussion of the copyright issue specifically. But the president in his public remarks, spoke to it quite forcefully in terms of the importance of training data and for the air land builders to be able to get that training data and use it with relative ease. So he was very, very clear on that aspect. And that's something that we are anticipating seeing the White House say more about in the next year or so. But the president was very clear in terms of his opinion on the importance of training data and how important that is for the United States to stay ahead of the air race with respect to China. Briefly, Victoria, today's the day we focus on the EU. Its small thing today in terms of competitiveness. They're worried about 50% tariff. How much should they be worried about their own EU act on competitiveness? So again, I think that the EU has huge potential opportunity to benefit from if it starts focusing on adoption. And part of that is addressing some of the digital sovereignty barriers that the EU has put up. There are aspects of the trade deals. You know, the details of the trade deal are not yet fully public. But Ambassador Grier was talking just this morning about looking at things like mutual recognition of cyber security, of streamlining regulations, of steps that Europe can take. And those steps are important not just for us software providers, but for the EU if they are going to be able to adopt and use AI effectively.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Is ServiceNow Stock Headed for a Significant Rally? What Investors Should Know.
ServiceNow (NOW) continues to deliver impressive growth. The provider of cloud-based solutions for digitizing and managing enterprise workflows is witnessing strong demand for its artificial intelligence (AI) and customer relationship management (CRM) offerings, which is translating into a growing customer base with larger annual contract values (ACVs). Yet, despite these strong fundamentals, ServiceNow stock has underperformed broader market indexes this year and remains in the red. This disconnect presents a buying opportunity. The market appears to be overlooking the company's solid long-term prospects. For instance, its customer growth remains strong, retention rates are high, and current remaining performance obligations (cRPO) — a key metric for future revenue growth — are on the rise. More News from Barchart Warren Buffett Warns Inflation Turns Business Into 'The Upside-Down World of Alice in Wonderland' But Weeds Out 'Bad Businesses' Why GOOGL Stock May Be the Market's Next Big Winner Alphabet Posts Lower Free Cash Flow and FCF Margins - Is GOOGL Stock Overvalued? Markets move fast. Keep up by reading our FREE midday Barchart Brief newsletter for exclusive charts, analysis, and headlines. ServiceNow: AI Demand to Push Stock Higher Most notably, demand for ServiceNow's AI-powered platform continues to accelerate, reflecting broader enterprise adoption trends in intelligent workflow automation. Moreover, internally, AI efficiencies are helping the company drive margin expansion. The strong demand is translating into solid financial performance. In Q2 2025, its subscription revenue rose 21.5% year-over-year to $3.113 billion, while total RPO grew 25.5% year-over-year to nearly $24 billion. The cRPO reached $10.92 billion, up 21.5% in constant currency. The company also achieved a 98% renewal rate, reflecting the significance of its platform for digital transformation. By the end of Q2, ServiceNow had 528 customers generating over $5 million in ACV, and the number of clients contributing $20 million or more jumped by over 30% year-over-year. The quarter also saw the company close 89 net new ACV deals exceeding $1 million, including 11 deals topping $5 million. Notably, every one of its top 20 deals included five or more products, showcasing growing adoption of multiple products, which will drive average revenue per customer and customer retention. ServiceNow's CRM business is another area that's rapidly gaining traction. The company's acquisition of is already paying off, especially in its Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) capabilities, with nine deals closed in June. The company's AI-driven offerings are performing exceptionally well. Products like IT Asset Management (ITAM) Now Assist have seen net new ACV surge nearly sixfold quarter-over-quarter, with average deal sizes more than tripling. Other modules, such as Security Operations (SecOps) and risk, are also doubling in ACV growth, and flagship tools like IT Service Management (ITSM) Plus, Customer Service Management (CSM) Plus, and HR Service Delivery (HRSD) Plus are posting exceptional year-over-year gains in value. The launch of Agentic Workforce Management and the rapid development of new AI infrastructure, such as AI Control Tower and a no-code Agent Studio, position it well for future growth. These new offerings are already experiencing strong demand and generating solid ACV. Financially, ServiceNow is translating this growth into operational efficiency. Margin expansion is being driven not only by revenue growth, but also by AI-driven cost management. In short, the solid adoption of its platform and strong pipeline positions it well to deliver $15 billion-plus subscription revenue in 2026, with $1 billion in Now Assist ACV. What Analysts Recommend for ServiceNow Stock While the stock hasn't yet caught up to these underlying fundamentals, Wall Street analysts are bullish about its prospects and maintain a 'Strong Buy' consensus rating. This suggests that the current market undervaluation may be temporary, and a strong rally could be on the horizon as AI tailwinds continue to drive both top-line growth and operational efficiency. How High Can ServiceNow Stock Go? ServiceNow is well-positioned to benefit from accelerating demand for its AI platform, strong customer retention, and expanding contract values. Despite recent underperformance in the stock, the company's fundamentals remain solid. With analysts maintaining a positive outlook and the broader AI and enterprise automation trends playing in its favor, ServiceNow appears well-positioned for a significant rally. Analysts have an average price target of $1,114.26, implying about 13% upside potential. Moreover, the highest price target for NOW stock is $1,300, indicating 31% upside potential over the next 12 months. On the date of publication, Amit Singh did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published 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
Globe and Mail
5 hours ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Cloud Computing Stocks in Vogue: 4 Picks to Swim With the Tide
An updated edition of the June 05, 2025 article. Fueled by widespread adoption, cloud computing has generated a significant buzz across the length and breadth of the business enterprise ecosystem. Driving innovation and digital transformation by capitalizing on virtualization technology, it has enabled users to access and store data over the Internet without managing their physical servers and intricate IT infrastructure. This on-demand access to computing resources as services over the Internet ('the cloud' per se) has facilitated the development of cutting-edge technologies. Moreover, by enabling multiple users to share the same hardware resources by connecting to the cloud platform through a web browser or dedicated applications, cloud computing has created the framework for seamless omnichannel customer engagement at lower costs. As cloud computing gains traction with greater flexibility and scalability, it has emerged as an attractive theme for investors seeking to invest in blue-chip tech firms. This has made cloud computing companies like Microsoft Corporation MSFT, Inc. AMZN, International Business Machines Corporation IBM and Arista Networks Inc. ANET indispensable for any investment portfolio. But before digging deep into these prized possessions, let us delve a little more into why organizations are increasingly adopting cloud computing. Cloud computing eliminates fixed capital expenses pertaining to the purchase of related hardware and software. It reduces the operating costs of maintaining onsite data centers and deploying IT experts to manage the infrastructure, making it highly cost-effective. Based on a pay-per-use pricing model, enterprises only pay for the computing resources they use. With easy access to a plethora of innovative technologies, it increases productivity with greater agility and flexibility, and improves scalability with higher economies of scale. Moreover, cloud computing services are delivered over a highly secure network with low latency for applications and data backup facilities for improved reliability. Cloud computing services fall into four broad categories, namely infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), serverless and software as a service (SaaS), offering different levels of control, flexibility and management options to business enterprises. Cloud computing, relying heavily on virtualization and automation technologies, provides the requisite infrastructure for AI (artificial intelligence) and machine learning (ML) workloads. It delivers powerful computing abilities to process and analyze data, creating an ideal platform for Big Data management. Per Grand View Research, the global cloud computing market size is expected to swell to $2,390.2 billion by 2030 from $752.4 billion in 2024 at a CAGR of 20.4% with a variety of capabilities across multiple industries. These include better patient monitoring and outcomes in healthcare, personalized financial management and predictive spending, immersive learning in education, superior inventory management in retail and predictive maintenance and better supply chain management in the manufacturing sector. If you intend to capitalize on this buzzing trend, our Cloud Computing Thematic Screen could make it easy to identify high-potential stocks in this domain at any given time, just like the four mentioned above. By leveraging advanced tools, our thematic screens identify companies shaping the future, making it easier to benefit from emerging trends. Zacks Thematic Screens and discover your next big opportunity. 4 Cloud Computing Stocks to Keep an Eye on Microsoft is one of the prominent public cloud providers that can deliver a wide variety of IaaS and PaaS solutions at scale. Microsoft Azure, its cloud computing platform, allows users to build, run and scale applications in the cloud. It offers a variety of services, including storage, networking, analytics and AI. Microsoft has doubled down on the cloud computing opportunity. Azure's increased availability in more than 60 announced regions globally has strengthened Microsoft's competitive position in the cloud computing market. Operating through a vast network of global data centers that ensure high availability and reliability for applications, Azure offers seamless access to all the services included in the portal once customers subscribe to it. Subscribers can use these services to create cloud-based resources, such as virtual machines (VMs) and databases, which can then be assembled into running environments used to host workloads and store data. As Microsoft continues to push the boundaries of networking technology, it aims to create innovative, resilient and secure solutions that enable businesses to leverage AI and the cloud to their fullest potential. It is heavily investing in AI-powered cloud services, integrating Azure OpenAI Service, Copilot and ML into various cloud solutions, making AI a central feature of Azure to empower organizations to manage their applications with greater confidence and efficiency. Microsoft carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Amazon enjoys a dominant position in the cloud-computing market, particularly in the IaaS space, thanks to Amazon Web Services (AWS), which is one of its high-margin-generating businesses. The expanding customer base of AWS, driven by its strengthening cloud offerings, will continue to aid Amazon's dominance in the global cloud space. AWS is the world's most comprehensive and broadly adopted on-demand cloud computing platform, offering more than 200 fully featured services from data centers globally. Millions of customers, including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises and leading government agencies, are using AWS to lower costs, become more agile and innovate faster. It reportedly offers the widest variety of databases that are purpose-built for different types of applications to enable subscribers to choose the right tool for the job. Amazon aims to extend AWS' AI and ML capabilities to facilitate improved decision-making. This Zacks Rank #1 company intends to expand its global infrastructure for faster and more reliable service with low latency and maximum availability. From cloud-native applications and AI-driven solutions to edge computing and sustainability initiatives, AWS is likely to push the limits in the realm of cloud computing technology. IBM has gradually evolved as a provider of cloud and data platforms. The Red Hat acquisition, in particular, has helped it strengthen its competitive position in the hybrid cloud market. With the buyout, the company offers a Linux operating system—Red Hat Enterprise Linux—and a hybrid cloud platform—Red Hat OpenShift—that aids enterprises with digital transformation. With a surge in traditional cloud-native workloads and associated applications, along with a rise in generative AI deployment, there is a radical expansion in the number of cloud workloads that enterprises are currently managing. This has resulted in heterogeneous, dynamic and complex infrastructure strategies, which have led firms to undertake a cloud-agnostic and interoperable approach to highly secure multi-cloud management. This, in turn, has translated into a healthy demand for IBM hybrid cloud solutions. In addition, the buyout of HashiCorp has significantly augmented IBM's capabilities to assist enterprises in managing complex cloud environments. HashiCorp's tool sets complement IBM RedHat's portfolio, bringing additional functionalities for cloud infrastructure management and bolstering its hybrid multi-cloud approach. IBM is poised to benefit from strong demand for hybrid cloud and AI, driving growth in the Software and Consulting segments. This Zacks Rank #2 company's growth is expected to be aided primarily by analytics, cloud computing and security in the long haul. Arista provides cloud networking solutions for data centers and cloud computing environments. At the core of the company's cloud networking solutions is the Linux-based Extensible Operating System (EOS), which supports leading cloud and virtualization solutions, including Microsoft System Center, OpenStack and other cloud management frameworks. In addition to high capacity and easy availability, its cloud networking solutions promise predictable performance, along with programmability that enables integration with third-party applications for network management, automation and orchestration. Arista provides routing and switching platforms with industry-leading capacity, low latency, port density and power efficiency. The company boasts a multi-domain modern software approach built upon a unique and differentiating foundation, the single EOS and CloudVision stack. The versatility of Arista's unified software stack across various use cases, including WAN routing and campus and data center infrastructure, sets it apart from other competitors in the industry. With customers increasingly deploying transformative cloud networking solutions, the company has announced several additions to its multi-cloud and cloud-native software product family with CloudEOS Edge. This Zacks Rank #1 stock has introduced cognitive Wi-Fi software that delivers intelligent application identification, automated troubleshooting and location services. Research Chief Names "Single Best Pick to Double" From thousands of stocks, 5 Zacks experts each have chosen their favorite to skyrocket +100% or more in months to come. From those 5, Director of Research Sheraz Mian hand-picks one to have the most explosive upside of all. This company targets millennial and Gen Z audiences, generating nearly $1 billion in revenue last quarter alone. A recent pullback makes now an ideal time to jump aboard. Of course, all our elite picks aren't winners but this one could far surpass earlier Zacks' Stocks Set to Double like Nano-X Imaging which shot up +129.6% in little more than 9 months. Free: See Our Top Stock And 4 Runners Up 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 Inc. (AMZN): Free Stock Analysis Report Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): Free Stock Analysis Report Arista Networks, Inc. (ANET): Free Stock Analysis Report
Forbes
6 hours ago
- Business
- Forbes
Business At An Inflection Point: Will You Evolve Or Reinvent?
Business At an Inflection Point: Will You Evolve or Reinvent? I believe we're witnessing a pivotal inflection point in how businesses operate. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not merely a tool for optimization; it stands to reimagine how enterprises function. The question we've been discussing frequently with leaders is: Are you going to add AI to what you're already doing and evolve, or are you going to reinvent how you operate altogether? From what I've seen, AI's influence can be observed along a spectrum. At one end, companies are evolving and implementing AI to improve. It augments existing technology stacks and advances the performance of current systems and platforms. It streamlines workflows and enhances operational throughput. At the individual level, it serves as a co-pilot, amplifying the productivity and decision-making capacity of employees and teams. But it's at the far end of this spectrum – reinvention – where I believe the most profound potential lies. Here, AI surpasses enhancement and becomes transformation. It enables enterprises to fundamentally rethink core business processes, functional domains, and even the structures and strategies that underpin the organization itself. Why Reinvention Is So Hard – and So Important Reinvention is the most daring and potentially the most difficult to carry out. It requires a commitment to doing things differently. One of the significant challenges we encounter in our client discussions is helping leaders envision and anticipate what reinvention will look like. Many executives struggle to picture how transformation will take shape within their specific context. They're often weighing the consequences of taking a more incremental path, evolving existing business processes or functional areas rather than fundamentally rethinking them. This is a natural and important consideration. If there is a viable path to evolve the current structure, it often requires less disruption, carries lower risk, and is generally easier to implement. However, you still need to anticipate what that evolutionary path entails. It requires readiness to make tough calls and to invest capital and effort where needed. Companies will need to navigate complex choices around technology, talent, and change management. And they must be able to justify those decisions through tangible outcomes and sufficient returns. As the old saying goes, the juice has to be worth the squeeze. Still, there's a real risk in avoiding reinvention altogether. If there's potential to completely rethink a process or function – and we ignore it – we're exposing our business to being left behind. In my view, most companies that delay reinvention will eventually be forced into it – under far less favorable conditions. Building Scenarios: A Strategic Imperative At Everest Group, we've uncovered a powerful technique to help leaders navigate this uncertainty: build forward-looking scenarios for both evolution and reinvention. For evolution, we ask a series of key questions to explore this potential path, such as: What would the business model look like? What are the benefits and required investments? How should the tech stack and people model adapt? What would be the consequences of an evolutionary path? And finally, what are the signals that suggest the industry is trending in this direction? For any forward-looking projection, the further we look out into the future, the more uncertainty we face. It's much like standing on a horizon; the closer the objects are, the clearer you see them; the further away, the more indistinct they become, and the more you don't understand the context around them. We must constantly monitor new information and adjust our scenarios as the landscape shifts. These scenarios should be viewed not as a definitive prediction, but as our best current understanding of what the future is likely to hold. As we move forward, it's essential to continuously monitor the signals that reinforce this view, while staying alert to emerging signals that may introduce new variables or shift the trajectory. It's a continuous, forward-looking vehicle that we need to build. The reinvention scenario also forces difficult but necessary conversations. We ask: Why do we believe this business function can be reinvented? What is the evidence supporting it? What technology and talent shifts are needed? What is the impact on our customers and internal stakeholders, and what are the cascading consequences? Developing both scenarios in parallel has helped organizations evaluate which path aligns best with their goals or whether a dual-path approach is warranted. However, every firm, until it moves to a reinvention, will be on an optimization or an evolutionary trajectory. One thing companies will have to answer is whether evolution will become reinvention over time, and whether they will have the time to get there. This approach also allows executives and their teams to make more informed decisions about which path to pursue. And, by continually monitoring key signals, they can build confidence in the direction they're taking and generate the conviction needed to align stakeholders and secure the necessary investment. At Everest Group, we're actively developing forward-looking scenarios across a wide range of business processes and functions, and creating industry-specific forward-looking models tailored to sectors such as healthcare, oil and gas, and banking. These frameworks are proving to be invaluable in helping organizations navigate this critical inflection point with greater clarity and purpose. Considerations for the Path Chosen As businesses look ahead and use these scenarios to guide their strategic choices regarding AI, it's essential to thoughtfully consider the following factors that will influence which path they ultimately pursue. For customer-facing functions, we often see that the existential threat to the company will not come from failing to evolve. It will come from failing to reinvent. If a competitor reimagines the space and successfully brings a disruptive model to market, think the iPhone, they are no longer just losing share. They are at risk of losing the entire business. If, however, reinvention is not the path and the path is evolution, failing to keep pace may result in losing ground, but it is a slow erosion, not a collapse. You can still gain or lose share, but the company is unlikely to be phased out. Likewise, for internal-facing functions, reinvention is less likely to redefine an industry, but it can dramatically shift the economics. If a company's competitors can operate the same functions at a fraction of the cost because they have reimagined how it works, they will widen margins, increase profitability, and potentially shift valuation multiples. This is not an existential threat, but it is a structural one. And over time, it compounds. What's at Stake? AI is going to change how we operate our companies. That's not up for debate. The real question is whether we will meet that change with incrementalism or ambition. In many cases, the answer will be both. We will evolve some functions. We will reinvent others. In my view, the key is knowing which is which – and making that choice deliberately.
The Australian
6 hours ago
- Business
- The Australian
Why CFOs may already own sustainability
Given its need for enterprise-wide advocacy and targeted resources, sustainability often finds a fitting environment in the finance function. CFOs have a responsibility to ensure that investment and operational performance drive returns for the business both in the short and longer term. As the demands and expectations of stakeholders change with respect to sustainability performance, CFOs who do not regard this aspect as part of the overall financial strategy of the company may not be able to deliver the most value for the business. The speed of change in expectations can vary depending on the stakeholder, the sector, and the region of operation, but the increasing focus on sustainability is fast becoming an imperative, even as the politics waver. As such, CFOs should view the responsibility for sustainability as introducing a unique set of risks, opportunities, and trade-offs to be considered. Scenario planning A useful approach that CFOs can take is to consider how each of their stakeholder groups might change over the next five years; what impact that shift could have on company performance; and what opportunities may consequently arise to increase market share, profit margins, or even product range. Some of the potential high impact challenges that specific stakeholders could present over the next 5-10 years [1] might require CFOs to adapt by focusing on the following actions: ■ Reassessing asset valuation impacts. Investors may reassess, both negatively and positively, asset valuations due to the inclusion of physical climate risk impacts on operating cashflows or supply chain resilience. ■ Meeting changes in regulatory compliance. Governments may implement a 'Green New Deal' approach to decarbonisation in some major jurisdictions. ■ Accommodating shifts in demand. Customers may switch to demanding low-carbon sustainable alternatives, thereby reducing demand for traditional products and virgin materials. ■ Stepping up recruiting and retaining efforts. Failure of employee attraction or retention could lead to gaps in the workforce and in the leadership pipeline. ■ Shielding company reputation. Local communities' perception of the business could affect its reputation and social value, resulting in boycotts or even in loss of license to operate. ■ Helping suppliers navigate challenges. Widespread and binding requirements for suppliers may require them to report and then reduce emissions as companies target scope 3 emissions. ■ Partnering with legal teams. CFOs need to be aware of the prospect of major litigation from a combination of NGOs that have suffered loss, activists, and class-action lawyers. These could be material and, if successful, they may incur balance sheet impacts up to and including bankruptcy. This type of scenario planning should be undertaken by each business considering its own circumstances. It's important to approach this not as an exercise in forecasting but rather as a consideration of plausible scenarios and the subsequent impacts on the company. By running this type of exercise, CFOs can better understand the 'value at risk' of business as usual and the cost of inaction with respect to both the operations and full value chain collaboration. Value chain collaboration What will likely become increasingly evident is that companies will depend on the performance of the full value chain to a greater extent than they previously have. If the final product sold to a consumer has a sustainability claim, or has regulations to comply with, then each input to that final product has a part to play. For this reason, CFOs should engage with their partners and critical suppliers and customers to understand their planned rate of transition to make sure the full value chain is aligned. To deliver on this effectively, CFOs may need to look at various carrots and sticks. In encouraging suppliers to change their operations through specification changes, contract term extensions or even co-funding have been used as incentives. On the other hand, in some cases, a simple requirement for suppliers to change as a 'ticket to play' can be used to force change. This all requires careful analysis to work out the cost of action, the cost of inaction, and the opportunities that can be created through leading change. Value beyond compliance There is a significant focus and effort at the moment on understanding the emerging reporting requirements, making sure that companies have a reliable single source of truth of sustainability data, so that the company can be compliant. At the same time, the responsibility for sustainability data and reporting is often in the process of transferring from the sustainability team to the CFO and controller teams. In addition to the need for compliance, CFOs also have an opportunity to harness the same data to think through and deliver risk mitigation and value creation. There are a few activities that CFOs can consider, such as ensuring that as new data gathering and analytics systems are designed and deployed, additional capability is included to use this same data to optimise operational performance, manage supply chain transparency, and prioritise capital allocation. As emissions reduction and other sustainability-related targets are set, CFOs can use the baseline and ongoing data to develop clear pathways—including resource allocation, financial and otherwise—to deliver on those commitments. These pathways may include uncertainties and dependencies, which need to be considered, as do contingencies. Some of this work might then be published as a Climate Action Transition Plan [2] to provide clear guidance to the market about how the company will change and how it will fund those changes to meet market needs. Put simply, don't waste the required effort of compliance just on delivering compliance. Rather, harness that same effort to drive real business value. Emerging trends The most impactful trends lie in evolving stakeholder expectations and where there might be step-changes in demands. To effectively provide value for the company, CFOs need to understand the possible scenarios for change and identify and monitor signals [3] that might indicate that changes are approaching. For instance, signals that might be worth considering when bearing in mind investor expectations include: ■ Increasing divestment activity from institutional and retail investors ■ Increasing percentage of individual uptake of socially aware/low-carbon portfolios ■ Shareholder resolutions/engagement on sustainability issues To protect and create high-quality value from these macro trends, CFOs should also be aware of technology changes that facilitate more effective real-time monitoring and traceability of sustainability impacts. This can enable them to take quicker corrective action and improve opportunity selection. It is also important for CFOs to understand the breadth of sustainability demands in addition to carbon emissions, which has been a primary focus at the moment. Nature, water, land, community, waste and recycling, and circularity targets are all starting to be adopted and this can extend the sustainability remit for CFOs significantly. While not all of these will be material for every business, a consideration of the materiality can help organisations determine that they develop the most effective sustainability strategies. For already-stretched CFOs, this can feel at times like a whole new set of requirements that doubles their work. However, this is the result of a changing business environment that has encompassed new requirements from customers, financiers, and governments and requires additional information to be collected, analysed, and acted upon. With that view, it is no different than considerations of safety, digital, cyber, and AI. Sustainability ought to be understood and integrated into the overall company strategy to deliver the best outcomes for owners through efficiently and effectively meeting the needs of stakeholders. John O'Brien is partner, Deloitte Sustainability, Deloitte & Touche LLP 1. 'The Chairperson's Guide to Climate Stakeholders: Understanding how key groups are responding today and how they might respond tomorrow,' World Economic Forum Climate Governance Initiative in collaboration with Deloitte, April 2022. 2. 'How to Chart a Credible Path to Net Zero? Try a Climate Transition Action Plan,' WSJ Pro Sustainable Business, October 9, 2023. 3 'The Chairperson's Guide to Climate Stakeholders: Understanding how key groups are responding today and how they might respond tomorrow.' As published by the Deloitte US Chief Financial Officer Program in the 13 November 2024 edition of The CFO Journal in WSJ. Disclaimer This publication contains general information only and Deloitte is not, by means of this publication, rendering accounting, business, financial, investment, legal, tax, or other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such professional advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified professional adviser. Deloitte shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person who relies on this publication. About Deloitte Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee ('DTTL'), its network of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL (also referred to as 'Deloitte Global') does not provide services to clients. In the United States, Deloitte refers to one or more of the US member firms of DTTL, their related entities that operate using the 'Deloitte' name in the United States and their respective affiliates. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting. Please see to learn more about our global network of member firms. Copyright © 2025 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved. CFO Journal With advancements in automation and streamlined processes, there's a growing opportunity to realign roles in ways that could potentially increase productivity. CFO Journal Cyber risk decision-making should be as credible, defendable, and trustworthy as financial statements. Organisations need a shared understanding of cyber data, metrics and how it ties to risk.
