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HONG KONG - Thursday, 25. April 2024 AETOSWire Print 

Lenovo’s third annual global CIO report reveals AI as IT’s most urgent priority, matched only by cybersecurity.
However, speed to adoption and security stand as largest barriers to scaling AI.
 

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- AI is the CIO’s top priority, according to findings of Lenovo’s third annual global CIO report. Inside the Tornado: How AI is Reshaping Corporate IT Today, reveals that while CIOs need to adopt and scale AI urgently, their ambitions are threatened by speed, security, and other organizational functions lagging in AI readiness.

In a stark contrast to previous years, CIOs are tabling non-traditional responsibilities to sharpen their focus on core IT functions. Slightly more than half (51%) of CIOs feel AI/ML is an urgent priority to address, matched only by cybersecurity. This urgency is directly correlated to the pressure that CIOs are under to drive business impact, rather than operational maintenance and preservation. 84% of CIOs revealed they are being evaluated on business outcome metrics more than ever before.

“Today’s CIOs are working in a tornado of innovation. After years of IT expanding into non-traditional responsibilities, we’re now seeing how AI is forcing CIOs back to their core mandate,” said Ken Wong, President of Lenovo’s Solutions and Services Group. “This is driven by the clear promise of AI adoption combined with the pressure that IT leaders face to prove the value of these investments and deliver measurable business outcomes.”

CIOs are optimistic about AI’s impact—80% feel that breakthroughs and developments in AI will have a significant impact on their business. At the same time, CIOs see speed to adoption and security as the most significant barriers to scale AI. Large swathes of their organizations are not AI-ready, which is directly affecting IT’s ability to scale AI quickly. In particular, they called out: new product lines (78%), corporate policy / ethical use (76%), supply chain (74%), IT’s technical skills (51%).

What has remained consistent with previous years is IT’s ongoing challenge to measure impact. Sixty-one percent of CIOs said they find it very or extremely challenging to demonstrate return on investment (ROI) with tech investments. While 96% of CIOs anticipate increased investment over the next 12 months, 42% of respondents admit they do not expect to see positive ROI from AI investments for at least two to three years.

AI as a net-positive for sustainability

Sustainability remains a major component of the CIO role, but this is somewhat complicated by the fact that 38% of respondents admit that sustainability is being de-prioritized as a result of the resources being pulled toward AI adoption. Ultimately, CIOs see AI as a net-positive for sustainability—78% say that leveraging AI will make it easier to meet their organization’s IT sustainability goals.

Questions about human capital and financial resources remain

While CIOs share an optimistic account of IT’s own AI-readiness, continued AI investment could create additional human and financial resource gaps. 89% of CIOs warn that with the continued scaling of AI technologies, the role of human capital will become even more important. With expected budget constraints, increasing headcount to match these AI ambitions could prove challenging.

Similarly, while 96% of CIOs say they expect increased AI investments over the coming year, only 20% expect overall IT budgets to grow by more than 10%. CIOs concede that AI exploration and adoption is pulling resources and attention away from other key IT areas including cloud adoption/digital transformation (48%), sustainability (38%), and employee compensation (38%).

“There’s a clear opportunity for us to help businesses make sense of AI, accelerate its scale, and advise on how the impact of these investments can be effectively measured,” added Wong. “Our customers are already leveraging AI to advance sustainability, security, and digital transformation efforts. We can help them deliver further outcomes by developing cohesive deployment strategies that address CIOs’ challenges.”

The Lenovo Global Study of CIOs is available at https://www.lenovo.com/ai-reshaping-it.

About Lenovo

Lenovo is a US$62 billion revenue global technology powerhouse, ranked #217 in the Fortune Global 500, employing 77,000 people around the world, and serving millions of customers every day in 180 markets. Focused on a bold vision to deliver Smarter Technology for All, Lenovo has built on its success as the world’s largest PC company by further expanding into growth areas that fuel the advancement of ‘New IT’ technologies (client, edge, cloud, network, and intelligence) including server, storage, mobile, software, solutions, and services. This transformation together with Lenovo’s world-changing innovation is building a more inclusive, trustworthy, and smarter future for everyone, everywhere. Lenovo is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange under Lenovo Group Limited (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY). To find out more visit https://www.lenovo.com, and read about the latest news via our StoryHub.

 

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Zeno Group for Lenovo: lenovossg@zenogroup.com

Proven leader with strong track record of success in building multi-billion-dollar enterprise and SaaS companies to spearhead Rimini Street’s global sales strategy, execution, and growth

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Rimini Street, Inc. (Nasdaq: RMNI), a global provider of end-to-end enterprise software support, products, and services, the leading third-party support provider for Oracle and SAP software, and a Salesforce and AWS partner, today announced the appointment of Steve Hershkowitz as its new Chief Revenue Officer (CRO).

“Steve’s leadership and extensive experience scaling businesses to deliver top-line growth will expand our sales reach to capture new logos and increase our opportunity to provide even greater value to our clients,” said Rimini Street president and CEO Seth Ravin. “The global revenue team and I are excited to work closely together with Steve to drive growth and broader capabilities for our company.”

Leading the Next Chapter of Sales Growth and Continued Success for Rimini Street

Prior to joining Rimini Street, Hershkowitz held executive leadership roles at several prominent technology companies, including Cisco Systems and HP/HPE. He also played a key leadership role in the largest business transformation in US history, HP's 2015 split, and was instrumental in creating a new core strategy, divesting businesses, commanding operational turnaround, and establishing HPE as a stronger enterprise high-tech company and global competitor.

Hershkowitz's extensive background includes proven success in scaling enterprise and SaaS software companies in highly competitive markets. With over two decades of experience in leadership roles and full P&L responsibility, Hershkowitz has demonstrated an extraordinary ability to grow multi-billion-dollar businesses and early-to-mid-stage startups.

In his new role, Hershkowitz will oversee all aspects of sales, including the company’s worldwide sales strategy to meet rising market demand and opportunities for Rimini Street’s award-winning support and services.

"I am excited to join the Rimini Street team and contribute to the company's next chapter of growth and continued success," said Steve Hershkowitz, CRO of Rimini Street. "Rimini Street has a strong and mature global sales operation and a full portfolio of proven products, services, and solutions for enterprise software that are still in the global rollout and launch stage. I will be focused on completing the global rollout and launch, scaling the sales operation to achieve accelerating growth while also managing the cost of sales.”

Steve Hershkowitz is a seasoned executive with a strong track record of leading sales growth, managing large enterprise sales, and driving innovation within high-tech firms, contributing to their reputation as a transformational leader with an impressive sales growth track record. Follow him on LinkedIn.

About Rimini Street, Inc.

Rimini Street, Inc. (Nasdaq: RMNI), a Russell 2000® Company, is a global provider of end-to-end enterprise software support, products and services, the leading third-party support provider for Oracle and SAP software and a Salesforce and AWS partner. The Company has operations globally and offers a comprehensive family of unified solutions to run, manage, support, customize, configure, connect, protect, monitor, and optimize enterprise application, database, and technology software, and enables clients to achieve better business outcomes, significantly reduce costs and reallocate resources for innovation. To date, over 5,500 Fortune 500, Fortune Global 100, midmarket, public sector, and other organizations from a broad range of industries have relied on Rimini Street as their trusted enterprise software solutions provider. To learn more, please visit riministreet.com, and connect with Rimini Street on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. (IR-RMNI)

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements included in this communication are not historical facts but are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “currently,” “estimate,” “expect,” “future,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “outlook,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “seem,” “seek,” “should,” “will,” “would” or other similar words, phrases or expressions. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our expectations of future events, future opportunities, global expansion and other growth initiatives and our investments in such initiatives. These statements are based on various assumptions and on the current expectations of management and are not predictions of actual performance, nor are these statements of historical facts. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties regarding Rimini Street’s business, and actual results may differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, adverse developments in and costs associated with defending pending litigation or any new litigation, including the disposition of pending motions to appeal and any new claims; additional expenses to be incurred in order to comply with injunctions against certain of our business practices and the impact on future period revenue and costs; changes in the business environment in which Rimini Street operates, including the impact of any recessionary economic trends and changes in foreign exchange rates, as well as general financial, economic, regulatory and political conditions affecting the industry in which we operate and the industries in which our clients operate; the evolution of the enterprise software management and support landscape and our ability to attract and retain clients and further penetrate our client base; significant competition in the software support services industry; customer adoption of our expanded portfolio of products and services and products and services we expect to introduce; our ability to sustain or achieve revenue growth or profitability, manage our cost of revenue and accurately forecast revenue; estimates of our total addressable market and expectations of client savings relative to use of other providers; variability of timing in our sales cycle; risks relating to retention rates, including our ability to accurately predict retention rates; the loss of one or more members of our management team; our ability to attract and retain additional qualified personnel, including sales personnel, and retain key personnel; challenges of managing growth profitably; our need and ability to raise additional equity or debt financing on favorable terms and our ability to generate cash flows from operations to help fund increased investment in our growth; risks associated with global operations; our ability to prevent unauthorized access to our information technology systems and other cybersecurity threats, protect the confidential information of our employees and clients and comply with privacy regulations; our ability to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting; our ability to maintain, protect and enhance our brand and intellectual property; changes in laws and regulations, including changes in tax laws or unfavorable outcomes of tax positions we take, or a failure by us to establish adequate tax reserves; the impact of environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters; our credit facility’s ongoing debt service obligations and financial and operational covenants on our business and related interest rate risk, including uncertainty from the transition to SOFR or other interest rate benchmarks; the sufficiency of our cash and cash equivalents to meet our liquidity requirements; the amount and timing of repurchases, if any, under our stock repurchase program and our ability to enhance stockholder value through such program; uncertainty as to the long-term value of Rimini Street’s equity securities; catastrophic events that disrupt our business or that of our clients; and those discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in Rimini Street’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on February 28, 2024, and as updated from time to time by Rimini Street’s future Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other filings by Rimini Street with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, forward-looking statements provide Rimini Street’s expectations, plans or forecasts of future events and views as of the date of this communication. Rimini Street anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause Rimini Street’s assessments to change. However, while Rimini Street may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Rimini Street specifically disclaims any obligation to do so, except as required by law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Rimini Street’s assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this communication.

© 2024 Rimini Street, Inc. All rights reserved. “Rimini Street” is a registered trademark of Rimini Street, Inc. in the United States and other countries, and Rimini Street, the Rimini Street logo, and combinations thereof, and other marks marked by TM are trademarks of Rimini Street, Inc. All other trademarks remain the property of their respective owners, and unless otherwise specified, Rimini Street claims no affiliation, endorsement, or association with any such trademark holder or other companies referenced herein.

 

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Contacts
Janet Ravin
VP, Global Communications
Rimini Street, Inc.
+1 702 285-3532
pr@riministreet.com

Renowned football club and fintech pioneer to develop co-branded digital banking solutions across Ouro portfolio of payment brands

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Ouro, a global financial services and technology innovator, and the Real Madrid Football Club today announced a strategic partnership agreement to develop and deliver co-branded financial solutions to fans in key markets globally, including the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Portugal, France and the United Arab Emirates. The alliance makes Ouro the exclusive partner of the men's and women's football teams for the prepaid, debit and credit card product categories.

From the April 15 signing event in Madrid, Emilio Butragueño, Real Madrid’s Director of Institutional Relations, commented, “It’s hugely gratifying. They are leaders in financial services who will partner with us in countries around the world. We share a commitment to values like constant reinvention and trying to get better everyday that are as fundamental to our organizations as integrity. We look forward to an enduring and rewarding partnership.”

As an official partner to Real Madrid in these countries, Ouro will unite the Real Madrid brand and Madridista loyalty program benefits with Ouro branded products and their unique functionalities – this includes Ouro’s flagship Netspend brand which pioneered prepaid debit for underserved consumers across the U.S., and its more recently developed X World Wallet that offers a multi-currency wallet and payments app for mobile, multicultural consumers.

“We are honored to join forces with such a storied and beloved global brand to make financial empowerment products more accessible to more people,” said Bertrand Sosa, president and chief brand officer, Ouro. “This unique opportunity to help people take their money further so they can experience more of what they love is the motivation behind our work, and to have Real Madrid collaborate with us to deliver even more value to such a passionate fan base is very special.”

By joining sports loyalty with financial solutions, Ouro and Real Madrid aim to deepen the Madridistas’ connection with their club, maximize the value of their money and promote financial responsibility and accessibility. The partnership also supports Ouro’s strategic focus on innovation, growth, and expansion to global markets.

“We are proud to announce our partnership with Real Madrid, a global icon that shares our values of excellence, winning spirit, solidarity, and humility,” added Roy Sosa, Ouro CEO and Co-founder. “Today we start a movement that transcends sports. Together, we will empower millions of fans and customers to achieve their financial goals and turn their dreams into reality.”

The partnership will soon launch a co-branded Netspend card featuring the Real Madrid brand in the U.S. in anticipation of the team’s upcoming U.S. Summer Tour.

The partners have also started joint development of a co-branded financial product combining the loyalty benefits of the Madridista Club membership with a digital multi-currency wallet they will begin rolling out to fans around the world later this year. Loyal Real Madrid fans can expect these payment products to bring them even closer to the action, with special access to discounts and experiences at the point of sale and beyond.

Fans who want to be among the first to know about availability where they live can now join the waitlist at ouro.com/realmadrid.

About Ouro

Ouro is a global, vertically-integrated financial services and technology company dedicated to the delivery of innovative financial empowerment solutions to consumers worldwide. Ouro's financial products and services span prepaid, debit, cross-border payments, and loyalty solutions for consumers and enterprise partners. Since its founding in 1999 by industry pioneers Roy and Bertrand Sosa, Ouro products have processed almost a trillion dollars in transaction volume and served millions of customers worldwide. The company is headquartered in Austin, Texas with regional offices across the world. For more information, visit ouro.com.

About Real Madrid

Real Madrid C.F. is a sport entity with 122 years of history. It is the club with the most European Cups of both football (14) and basketball (11) and was awarded by FIFA as the Best Club of the twentieth century. Real Madrid has millions of fans in all corners of the world, with more than 534 million followers on social media, being the strongest football brand in the world according to Brand Finance for the second year in a row and also the highest earning football club in the world in the 22-23 season (Football Money League by Deloitte). More information about Real Madrid C.F. is available at www.realmadrid.com, the most visited football club website for the seventh consecutive year.

 

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Meredith DeSpain, mdespain@legendlabs.com