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In February 2025, SAP & Databricks announced a landmark partnership to offer SAP Databricks, a natively integrated data + AI service inside the new SAP BDC (Business Data Cloud). SAP BDC itself is anchored within SAP BTP (Business Technology Platform). SAP Databricks allows customers to run machine learning, generative AI and advanced analytics directly on semantically rich SAP business data, governed by Unity Catalog and shared seamlessly via Delta Sharing (SAP News, Databricks Blog). It represents the art of the possible as it eliminates data copies, curates trusted data products and enables cradle‑to‑grave governance as part of SAP’s broader BTP journey. But here lies the professional hazard: not every SAP customer is ready to immediately adopt BTP and Business Data Cloud. Licensing models, project funding and organizational readiness mean that for many CIOs, SAP BTP remains a North Star destination, not tomorrow’s reality. Meanwhile, they’re under pressure: supply chain volatility, finance close windows shrinking and auditors watching for tell‑tale signs of gaps in governance. Many firms already run Databricks, feeding it IoT telemetry, Salesforce CRM, Kafka streams and e‑commerce data. They now want to blend S/4HANA ERP or SAP BW on HANA data without waiting for a BTP pivot. source

Fewer new apps and functions Abhishek Singh, a partner at the Everest Group, argues that Oracle’s decision, announced on Monday, to replace its longstanding CEO with two CEOs gives a big clue where the layoffs will likely hit. The change in the CEO structure “makes it somewhat clear how this is likely to play out: with fast-growing cloud and AI infrastructure under one mandate, and industries, healthcare, and applications under the other,” Singh said. “That separation means Oracle can push aggressively into hyperscale growth while applying tighter discipline and consolidation in businesses that drag on margins or no longer fit the long-term strategy.” In Singh’s view, that means, “[the layoff] pressure will fall heaviest on legacy application suites, overlapping corporate functions and some international operations. But even the infrastructure side is not immune — on-premises support and lower-margin infrastructure services could be candidates for carve-outs or divestitures, as Oracle sharpens its focus on hyperscale AI.” source

Scaling AI isn’t just tech — it’s trust. a ‘trust loop’ keeps enterprises transparent, compliant, and future-ready. source

During the HUAWEI eKit Autumn Launch 2025 in Shanghai, Huawei’s Executive Director of the Board, David Wang, released a suite of new HUAWEI eKit 4+10+N SME Intelligence Solutions. The event, themed “Together for Growth, All Intelligence”, focused on the launch of new one-stop scenario-based solutions designed to provide last-mile services for SMEs undergoing intelligent transformation. The need to get SMEs on board with AI AI is starting to be applied broadly within the business world. While current applications focus on intelligent assistants for employees, future use cases are projected to focus on deep integration with core production systems. This process will have a profound impact on product, service, business, and operations models, making AI as a key role in driving their growth. SMEs play a significant role in the economy. China alone has more than 58 million SMEs, which create over 80% of the country’s urban jobs and generate 60% of national GDP. Despite the increased application of AI being seen around the world, SMEs generally struggle to adopt these new technologies because of low AI awareness, technical capabilities, and AI applications. Most SMEs face high barriers to adopting AI technologies. During the launch event, Wang explained that intelligence should be easily accessible as water and electricity. “I hope every person, home, and organization can benefit from AI. Huawei is ready to help SMEs tackle these challenges and go intelligent faster. No one will be left behind in the intelligent world.” Many SMEs turn to externally developed intelligent solutions to overcome the technology and talent gaps that prevent them from applying AI on their own. These companies look for solutions that are easy to use, quick to deploy, and specifically designed to boost efficiency and drive growth. In the past, installers provided these solutions by using complicated by-product subcontracting models, which often resulted in inefficiencies. Understanding the 4+10+N intelligence solutions Huawei overhauled its distribution business to address this market pain point, shifting from selling standalone products to offering one-stop scenario-based solutions that are easier for installers to deliver. Under this new approach, Huawei designs its specific solutions around real-world business use cases. The HUAWEI eKit 4+10+N SME Intelligence Solutions have all been designed according to this approach. The 4 in the 4+10+N refers to four major scenarios that encompass most business operations: intelligent office, intelligent business, intelligent education, and intelligent healthcare. The 10 refers to the 10 one-stop, scenario-based solutions released, which include SME office, intelligent hotel, digital diagnosis platform, and intelligent interactive classroom solutions. The N finally refers to a series of star products tailored to these different scenarios. At the event, Huawei launched 26 products as part of this N series of solutions, including the HUAWEI eKitEngine AR180 series enterprise-grade routers. These ultra-high-speed routers integrate a number of functionalities, including routing, switching, Wi-Fi, and VPN functions. New IdeaHub products that combine AI conferencing, acoustic baffle, and AI applications were also launched today. All these offerings feature an all-in-one design, intelligent interactions, and comprehensive security. Wang stressed, “We handle the complexity so customers and partners can focus on growing. Our one-stop scenario-based solutions will help SMEs go intelligent more easily and quickly. HUAWEI eKit one-stop scenario-based solutions are our newest examples of this. These solutions are an upgrade in terms of solution development, sales enablement, and delivery services. By using these solutions to power our partners, we bring the benefits of AI to SMEs.” Democratizing AI rollout for both customers and partners All of the products come with significantly more advanced AI technologies than previous releases. These technologies come pre-integrated and pre-validated with the solutions, which makes delivery more flexible. This allows installers to easily bundle products to meet the specific needs of different scenarios. Huawei is also providing additional sales enablement for its distribution partners, including quicker access to related resources, solution demonstrations, and scenario-based configuration plans that significantly reduce product selection and solution design difficulty for both installers and customers. For delivery services, Huawei supports unified installation, centralized network management, and consolidated customer support for customers to rapidly adopt AI, aimed at streamlining delivery processes for installers. “These solutions will power the last mile of the intelligent world for SMEs. We are more than welcome to stand strong with distribution partners and installers to pool resources and fully empower SMEs to go intelligent,” concluded Wang. For more information, visit HUAWEI CONNECT 2025 online at www.huawei.com/en/events/huaweiconnect source

Envision the revenue, cost, productivity and other impacts of the AI projects you’re doing, plus new ones you believe will have a forceful impact. Gather data (internally, plus external research across companies) to benchmark today and measure the impact of your initiatives. Deliver initiatives, rinse and repeat. For finances, you’ll want data on revenue growth linked to AI-augmented teams; sales per employee; reduction in labor, time, materials, etc.; customer acquisition/retention (including faster onboarding, less churn, etc.). For productivity, you’ll want task completion rates, error rates, process/project cycle times and throughput. For quality and innovation, you’ll want customer satisfaction, product/service quality and innovation rates, e.g., number of new ideas, new ideas implemented, features released, patents filed, etc. For engagement, collaboration and skills/growth it’ll be engagement scores from Gallup Q12 surveys, Glint, etc.; net promoter score (for employees recommending your organization); job satisfaction; absenteeism; turnover; frequency and quality of human–AI interaction (self-reported and system logs); AI tool adoption and utilization rates; skills development using/alongside AI; and role changes/promotions linked to AI skill adoption. Remember to collect and share qualitative data/stories that’ll soon become legends and part of your culture, as well as making the numbers feel “real” and personal. source

Australia’s most impactful technology leaders and their teams, along with the country’s leading cybersecurity executives, were honoured at the joint CIO50 and CSO30 Awards on Tuesday night. source

Repatriation implies abandoning cloud. Portfolios remain hybrid. Elastic, global and managed services often stay in public cloud, while steady or tightly governed workloads may fit better on private or colocated platforms. Costs always fall when services move back. Savings depend on workload shape and design. Poorly scoped moves or immature operations can increase cost or risk. Sovereign offerings settle jurisdictional questions. They improve residency and operational autonomy. Legal reach is a separate matter managed through contract and customer-held keys. Everything must move together. Selective moves are common. Stateful cores or data layers may shift while elastic components remain in place. From argument to action An effective operating model treats placement as a periodic, evidence-based review that weighs unit economics over a 12 to 36 month horizon, performance and latency expectations, data gravity and regional legal obligations. Portability is engineered through open interfaces and data formats so that movement, when justified, is executable rather than rhetorical. Reversibility is treated as a property of the system and evidenced through rehearsal, data extraction tests and curated audit artefacts. Status is reported with spend, reliability and risk so that placement is governed as part of the portfolio, not as an exception. Repatriation as selective optimization Repatriation is selective optimization within a wider placement discipline, not a retreat from cloud. Public cloud remains central for elastic scale, global reach and rich managed capabilities. A move for a subset of workloads becomes attractive when economics, performance, jurisdiction or exit feasibility point to a better fit elsewhere. The organizing principle is straightforward: Place each workload where cost, control and service quality align, and preserve the option to move again as signals change. Decisions rest on evidence rather than sentiment. Unit economics, sensitivity to egress and cross-zone traffic, latency and data gravity, and the regulatory posture of the service together define the right answer for each workload. Portability and reversibility are designed in, then proven in practice. Treated this way, repatriation is one option within disciplined portfolio management. It protects value, strengthens control and leaves strategy free to adapt. source