Evan Schuman's Stories in CIO

Macy’s $154 million 'hidden' accounting mess shows the limits of today's audit, GRC, and accounting systems

The midmarket CRM vendor wasn't explicit about the reason for the layoffs, but suggested that some roles were duplicative while others needed different skills. Read full story

Freshworks lays off 660 — about 13 percent of its global workforce — despite strong earnings, profits

The midmarket CRM vendor wasn't explicit about the reason for the layoffs, but suggested that some roles were duplicative while others needed different skills. Read full story

As the WordPress saga continues, CIOs need to figure out what it might mean for all open source

Said one prominent industry analyst: “CIOs need to monitor the stability of open source ecosystems. Otherwise, they will be continually subject to the whims of business leaders who choose to act like petulant children.” Read full story

Given IBM consulting's genAI rollout, should CIOs rethink consulting strategies for 2025?

Although there are various factors in play, the most critical element is AI ownership. When does it make sense to use — and pay for — the consultant's AI, and when does it make sense to force them to use yours? Read full story

SAP sustainability tracking rollout focuses on data consistency, outlier detection

Enterprise CIOs are under increasing pressure from global regulators to rein in sustainability shortfalls due to partner problems. SAP's pitch is that most enterprise partners are already using SAP, so it's in an ideal position to collect and distribute partner data. Read full story

UL's leap into the genAI evaluation business raises key questions

This CIO piece covers UL Solutions decision to not evaluate the foundation models, but will instead look at the value-add that an enterprise layers on top. But that forces even more questions about the reliability of such third-party evaluations. Read full story

Things get nasty in lawsuit between WordPress.org and WP Engine

This CIO piece covers the legal squabble between the two companies threatens to make that market segment too toxic for the enterprise. Read full story

Accenture — Nvidia deal: A first peek into the new world of genAI-centric strategies

This CIO piece covers Wednesday's Accenture announcement that only makes sense in the context of how enterprise IT can function in a universe that is being wholly rewritten by genAI business rules. Read full story

Google EU complaint: Microsoft is punishing enterprises that use rivals to Azure

This CIO piece covers Google recent complaint on Wednesday to the European Union (EU) that Microsoft is illegally using its dominant market position in Windows to force enterprises to use its Azure cloud service or face a 400% price penalty and a denial of upgrades and security patches. Read full story

Cognizant sues Infosys for misusing shared information

This CIO piece highlights the dicey nature of sharing sensitive information with competitors in lawsuit filed in a Texas federal court on Friday. Infosys is accused of using protected information to create a competitive product. Read full story

Federal judge strikes down FTC's ban on non-compete agreements

This CIO piece looks at the judge's ruling that the FTC lacked the authority to make such a ban. That authority must come from Congress, she ruled. Read full story

ServiceNow embroiled in DOJ probe of government contract award

This CIO piece looks at the probe that also involves what ServiceNow said was the improper hiring of the Army CIO to serve as ServiceNow's global head of public sector. That executive, Raj Iyer, told CIO "I resigned because I didn't want to be associated with this fiasco in any way. It's not my fault." Read full story

Patagonia lawsuit raises thorny GenAI data issues

This CIO piece looks at how a lawsuit against retailer Patagonia, which the plaintiffs hope to eventually get certified as a class action, is raising a variety of privacy and data leakage issues from the company's use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in its customer service organization. Read full story

Morgan Stanley's gen AI launch is about global analysis

This CIO piece looks at how the ability to have near-real-time view into what every client and Morgan Stanley person is saying in calls has massive potential. Read full story

AI avatars in the workplace: A tricky equation CIOs must prepare for

This CIO piece looks at how important it may soon be for IT leaders to lead the discussion on AI avatar and human digital twin usage in the enterprise following new genAI capabilities from Asana and a recent interview with Zoom CEO Eric Yuan show. Read full story

IT staff shortages damage the bottom line: IDC report

This CIO piece discusses the IDC survey of IT execs, missed revenue growth, quality declines, and plunges in customer satisfaction are among the key business impacts of understaffed IT orgs. Read full story

China-US AI talks Tuesday have absurdly low expectations

This CIO piece discusses the best case scenario from the talks is that China will agree to maybe talk some more, but given how high the stakes are, that may be enough. Read full story

Colorado AI legislation further complicates compliance equation

This CIO piece examines how the Colorado legislature passed this week AI regulations aimed at private companies, adding to the increasingly complex patchwork of AI statutes rising across the US and potentially giving the state's Attorney General the authority to prosecute companies that use AI to discriminate against consumers. Read full story

What LinkedIn learned leveraging LLMs for its billion users

This CIO piece is an inside look at what LinkedIn's engineers learned when the social media giant turned to generative AI to improve its member services. Read full story

4 hidden risks of your enterprise cloud strategy

This CIO piece examines the unexpected challenges that await IT leaders unaware of — or unprepared for — shifting risk postures, emerging regulations, or shortcomings in their approach to the cloud. Read full story