Latest news with #CIODive
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Nvidia's next AI move? Bringing GPUs into the enterprise
This story was originally published on CIO Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CIO Dive newsletter. Nvidia is gearing up to supply enterprise customers with AI processing power amid a rush to deploy agentic tools, the company's CEO Jensen Huang said Wednesday, during a Q1 2026 earnings call for the three-month period ending April 27. 'It's really hard to move every company's data into the cloud, so we're going to move AI into the enterprise,' Huang said. 'We're going to see AI go into enterprise, which is on-prem, because so much of the data is still on-prem.' The GPU giant saw quarterly revenue increase 69% year over year to $44.1 billion as AI usage levels spiked. 'AI workloads have transitioned strongly to inference, and AI factory buildouts are driving significant revenue,' Nvidia EVP and CFO Colette Kress said during the earnings call. Nvidia's fortunes soared in the last two-and-a-half years, driven by massive tech sector investments in AI-optimized data center infrastructure to train and deploy large language models. While hyperscaler hunger for GPUs remains robust, the company is betting on the enterprise market to pick up momentum. Large cloud providers installed an average of roughly 72,000 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs per week during the quarter and are on track to increase consumption, according to Kress. 'Microsoft, for example, has already deployed tens of thousands of Blackwell GPUs and is expected to ramp up to hundreds of thousands of GB200s with OpenAI as one of its key customers,' Kress said. Revenue by quarter, in billions This embedded content is not available in your region. The GB200 Grace Blackwell Superchip, released a year ago, is a high-capacity processor that powers a larger rack designed to handle the most compute-intensive AI workloads, such as model training. In March, Nvidia unveiled its successor, the more powerful GB300 NVL72 rack system. Cloud providers began sampling the new processors earlier this month and Nvidia expects shipments to commence later this quarter, Kress said. As its footprint among hyperscalers continued to expand, Nvidia added to its enterprise product portfolio and forged deeper enterprise partnerships. The company rolled out a line of GPU-powered laptops and workstations in May, turning to its PC manufacturing partners to deliver enterprise customers. 'Enterprise AI is just taking off,' Huang said Wednesday, pointing to the new line of on-premises AI hardware. Kress touted an AI development partnership the company inked with Yum Brands in March. Nvidia will help the corporate parent of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell deploy AI in 500 restaurants this year and 61,000 locations over time to 'streamline order-taking, optimize operations and enhance service,' Kress said. The initiative represents a step up into the AI big leagues for Yum Brands. The company worked with an unnamed AI startup to create a Taco Bell drive-thru chatbot last year. It also marked Nvidia's first foray into the restaurant business, according to the announcement. Yum used Nvidia technology to power its proprietary Byte by Yum platform and enable AI voice agents, computer vision tools and performance analytics capabilities. 'Enterprise AI must be deployable on-prem and integrated with existing IT,' Huang said. 'It's compute, storage and networking. We've put all three of them together finally, and we're going to market with that.' 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
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
CIOs tackle talent strategies, org structures as AI takes hold
This story was originally published on CIO Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CIO Dive newsletter. Cambridge, Mass. — The rapid pace of AI development is putting CIOs in a tricky spot: Not only are they responsible for deploying tools that can boost productivity, they're also working to ensure the tools can be utilized once deployed. The dynamic has made workforce upskilling efforts a priority. It's up to tech leaders to help shape a culture that enables AI experimentation, according to Monica Caldas, global CIO at Liberty Mutual Insurance. "I do not believe that AI thrives in heavily authoritarian, top-down environments," said Caldas, speaking last week at the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium. "I think the way people pick it up is through play." Along with encouraging experimentation, the risk profile of AI necessitates guardrails as businesses tackle change management. "It's not anarchy, but it's also not authoritarian," Caldas said. "You have to hit that sweet spot, and that's where adoption really starts." Other businesses are preparing their employees through targeted training programs. More than half of leaders said they plan to upskill their workforce ahead of AI implementation plans, according to a January survey from Revature. More than 4 in 5 decision-makers flagged access to talent as a top concern. Potential productivity wins can help existing staff embrace upskilling efforts, said Dimitris Bountolos, chief information and innovation officer at infrastructure company Ferrovial. "What we have seen is an excitement of staff to be self-sufficient in activities that were really bureaucratic," Bountolos said. The deployment of generative AI tools caused a rush of interest in prompt engineering roles. Interest has since fizzled, as businesses began to understand that learning to prompt generative AI systems is a core skill that should be developed more broadly. AI savviness should be embraced by the entire organization, according to Reshmi Ramachandran, head of partnerships and go to market strategy at consulting firm Cprime. "When we consult with companies we often tell them: never do prompt engineering in isolation. It's not an isolated job, it is actually a cross-functional skill," Ramachandran said. "You get some of your best prompts from marketing leaders, from HR, because that's where the context is." In addition to changes in job functions, departmental structures are also evolving. The wave of AI adoption is helping to accelerate a shift away from the established pyramid-shaped organizational structures in software development, according to Aamer Baig, senior partner, Chicago, at McKinsey & Company. "In the last decade or so, we've proven that is not the most effective and economical way of delivering software," said Baig. A diamond-shaped model with a team of somewhere between eight to 12 was identified as the most effective. But with the influx of agentic AI, that organizational structure is also changing. "Now, we have a new model, which is enabled and powered by AI, that has a product person, product builders and many, many agents to support, which can deliver as much output as a diamond-shaped team does," Baig said. In addition to serving as CIO, tech executives will need to take on additional roles including "chief influencing officer, chief change management officer" as organizations adjust to shifts in their core talent and operational structures. "The ability to move that sort of organization and that complexity forward will differentiate the winners and the losers in large companies," Baig said.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Salesforce flags rising AI revenue, more Agentforce deals
This story was originally published on CIO Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CIO Dive newsletter. Salesforce executives touted customer and revenue wins during a Wednesday earnings call. The company saw revenue increase 8% year over year, to $9.8 billion, according to the announcement. Data cloud and AI annual recurring revenue surpassed the $1 billion mark during the quarter, up 120% year over year. The company reported 4,000 paid Agentforce users, up from 3,000 during the prior quarter. 'We are now very well positioned to take advantage of this multitrillion-dollar opportunity in AI, enterprise software and digital labor,' said Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, pointing to the company's increased revenue guidance for the 2026 fiscal year to $41.3 billion, up more than $400 million from the previous forecast. Salesforce is betting on agentic AI adoption to further extend its enterprise presence. The Agentforce platform, introduced last year, lets customers access a library of pre-built agents and create their own customized offerings. 'We're learning a lot about how to make agents successful, productive, how to scale, how to tune our own organization, and really get our customers all ready for this AI transformation in the enterprise led by agents,' Benioff said Wednesday. Earlier this week, Salesforce announced it will acquire cloud data management company Informatica for $8 billion, with plans to bolster its cloud-based data and AI capabilities. The deal will let Salesforce integrate Informatica's governance and data management services across several products, including Data Cloud. 'This is a moment where Informatica is more important to our customers than ever before,' Benioff said, in reference to enterprises' need to enhance their own data capabilities in order to deploy AI. Data governance woes represent a top challenge for enterprise agentic AI ambitions. Data privacy and security features were among the key changes IT executives leaders wanted to see from available agentic AI offerings, according to an April report published by Cloudera. 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
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Retailers plug in AI to optimize costs as economic pressures mount
This story was originally published on CIO Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CIO Dive newsletter. Retail companies are leaning on AI and other technologies as pressures from tariffs and consumer spending patterns push businesses to optimize costs to stay competitive. With many retailers bracing for slower growth rates for the rest of the year as volatility continues, Ralph Lauren Corporation, Revolve Group and Williams-Sonoma are prioritizing investments in AI tools that they hope will mitigate economic headwinds and improve experiences for customers and employees. 'This is a time to stay on offense while remaining prudent and agile in how we allocate our resources,' Ralph Lauren Corporation President and CEO Patrice Louvet said during the company's Q4 2025 earnings call last week, citing AI, data and analytics as key pursuits. The company uses AI in a number of functions, including generative AI to enhance consumer navigation on its website, to help with problem resolution within contact centers and to accelerate predictive buying and allocation. 'With the recent tariff announcements, what we're doing is we're assessing and we're activating our various proven levers to offset the related impact,' CFO Justin Picicci said during the earnings call. 'These levers include … continuing to drive overall cost savings across the value chain and increasingly leveraging AI and analytics to enable even more efficient inventory planning.' Earlier this month, Ralph Lauren promoted Naveen Seshadri to global chief digital officer, following a short stint as global head of consumer technology and digital commerce in North America. The appointment aligned with the company's sustained focus on modernization, including an ERP overhaul and a three-year strategic growth initiative. Ralph Lauren plans for capital expenditures to reach up to 5% of its revenue in fiscal year 2026, representing ongoing investments in technology and AI, among other initiatives. The American fashion brand isn't alone in seeing AI as a lever to manage costs. Williams-Sonoma reaffirmed its goal of using AI to curb headcount in its latest financial report. 'From a cost perspective, we are committed to staying lean on headcount using AI tools to drive productivity gains in areas that make sense,' President and CEO Laura Alber said during the company's Q1 2025 earnings call last week. The retailer, which owns Pottery Barn and West Elm, is also using the technology across its digital platforms to create personalized emails and tailored homepages as it aims to become an AI leader in the industry, executives said. 'Our omni-channel capabilities are another core strength, and we are further optimizing them with AI,' Alber said during the call. 'This includes improvements in sales performance, cost efficiency and delivery speed.' While AI adoption strategies vary, most retailers are hoping their projects bring improved customer experience and support, better store layouts and enhanced inventory management, according to an Everseen report published in February. Online fashion retailer Revolve Group credited its AI efforts with providing greater visibility and awareness within customer service interactions. 'Our internal data science team has developed AI technology algorithms that now automatically transcribe customer service phone calls, providing greatly increased visibility into agent performance and greater awareness of customer issues,' co-founder and co-CEO Michael Karanikolas said during the company's Q1 2025 earnings call earlier this month. The company said it's still early days, but the potential for operational efficiency gains and customer service team training improvements is promising. Revolve Group is also refining its shopping experience with AI and is testing out a third-party virtual styling feature to elevate product discovery and reduce returns. While the retailer lowered its gross margin outlook for FY 2025, executives touted double-digit top-line growth during the quarter. 'We achieved these strong results while continuing to invest in key foundations for long-term success, including advancing our AI technology and personalization capabilities,' Karanikolas said. Karanikolas attributed 'huge gains' to AI and other technologies in the preceding quarters and said investments will continue. 'We think we have a lot of things that are working, a lot of investments that are going well,' Karanikolas said. 'We're always going to judge an investment on the basis of 'does the ROI on this investment look good?' rather than 'how does this investment affect the P&L statement for this current quarter?' Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
CarMax cruises into generative AI after revamping data infrastructure
This story was originally published on CIO Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CIO Dive newsletter. As generative and agentic AI deployment pushes companies to improve governance, businesses are accelerating efforts around data management and accessibility. Auto retailer and financier CarMax got an early jump on the process when it began overhauling its data practices amid broader modernization efforts nearly a year ago. The company had long relied on an on-premises platform for data warehousing that struggled to scale, leading to project delays and raising other concerns, according to Abhi Bhatt, VP of technology – data and AI at CarMax. 'When you're trying to modernize, it's not just one component: It's the entire ecosystem,' Bhatt, who manages three teams, including one focused on customer experience, told CIO Dive. 'It's not just your data platform, it's your data integration platform as well, it's also your consumption platform and analytics and reporting … that's how it became a full-blown modernization program.' During the planning phase, executives rallied around three goals: increased data accessibility, better uptime and cost optimization where possible. 'The importance of data has always been here,' Bhatt said. 'What's transpired with everything from an AI perspective is this shift in mindset that it's not just the structured data that we need to be thinking about.' The leadership mindset shift was a fairly easy feat and felt like an extension of what the company had already prioritized, Bhatt said. But getting the technology in place to enable better data processes was more of a challenge. Bhatt's teams wanted to improve access and quality of the data sitting in SharePoint, Word and policy documents. 'All of that really needs to be pristine,' Bhatt said. 'It has to have the same governing principles of stewardship, retention and monitoring so that you can leverage generative AI.' Businesses across industries want to avoid the effects of poor data management. Persistent data woes are leading to decreased trust in AI outputs, project delays and increased costs, according to a Semarchy survey of enterprise decision-makers. In need of remediation, fewer than half of business leaders surveyed said they could reach their AI goals this year. CarMax tapped Snowflake to migrate data pipelines and business intelligence reports to the cloud. Snowflake subject matter experts helped train engineers and end users on how to effectively use the tools. The company also supplemented the engineering team with assistance from a consulting partner to ease change management. After the migration, CarMax continued to host training sessions when necessary and designated 'champions' within different domains to educate others and further mitigate adoption concerns. 'Once you have the right platform, and you have the data in it, that's when it becomes easier for us to then start thinking about data quality, data governance and the next step of this evolution,' Bhatt said. Car companies have revved up AI efforts in recent months while facing economic uncertainty tied to tariffs. Carmakers Ford, General Motors and Toyota are pursuing use cases that have the potential to optimize costs and enhance customer experience. Online auto retailers like Carvana are leaning into the technology, too. Despite implementing traditional AI and machine learning technologies for the past decade, CarMax more recently paved the way for generative AI adoption through data modernization efforts. "CarMax is leveraging generative AI across various use cases with differing levels of maturity,' Bhatt said. Two key initiatives are enhancing access to its knowledge base and boosting productivity via Microsoft's 365 Copilot and AI coding assistants. Bhatt said platform fragmentation could become a potential disruptor to data accessibility and management. The company is already working to combat this by consolidating on as few platforms as possible. CarMax also plans to mature its practices around unstructured data to mitigate stewardship challenges. 'I don't end a day without bringing up the importance of data and data quality for AI,' Bhatt said. Recommended Reading How CIOs can course-correct data strategies with AI goals in mind 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
