Monday Morning Impact – May 18
Gartner: By 2029, CFOs Who Implement Strategic AI Will Improve Margins
By 2029, CFOs in organizations that implement strategic AI and technology portfolio resource deployment will unlock an additional 10 points of margin growth, according to a recent report by Gartner, Inc.
“Three quarters of CFOs are raising their tech budgets for 2026, with nearly half by 10% or more, as AI is reshaping core finance, process automation and analytics,” said Mike Helsel, Senior Director Analyst in the Gartner Finance practice. “However, CFOs will not unlock margin gains from AI by chasing isolated pilots: the biggest returns will come from managing finance technology as a portfolio — strengthening proven applications, accelerating high-value automation and scaling AI where governance and integration are maturing.”
Generative AI ranked as the highest future investment priority, while AI agents also showed strong investment intent by finance leaders despite early adoption. Embedded AI is also gaining momentum across cloud ERP and finance point solutions, reflecting demand for practical AI capabilities that enhance existing finance applications.
“To capture the margin upside, CFOs need to align AI and technology investments to business outcomes, supported by strong governance, explainability and data readiness,” said Helsel. “However, CFOs should not allow AI to cause them to overlook valuable core finance technologies if not already implemented.”
Cloud ERP remains the highest-performing technology across the finance technology landscape, with adoption up 7% year over year. Reporting automation was among the most valuable technologies, helping finance teams reduce manual work, improve compliance and decision quality.
“Cloud ERP is increasingly valued not only as a foundation for finance operations, but also as an application for embedded AI that can unlock new levels of insight and automation across finance,” said Helsel.”
The company surveyed 314 organizations worldwide in September through October of 2025. Gartner clients can read more in the “2026 Finance Technology Bullseye Report,” and nonclients can read “The CFO Report.”
Channel Impact®
The data can be helpful to partners seeking to demonstrate the value of AI to clients, as well as in the formation of their own AI strategies.
PwC: Global infrastructure spending to top $150 trillion through 2050
Global infrastructure is entering an unprecedented investment cycle, with annual spending forecast to rise from US$4.4 trillion in 2024 to US$6.9 trillion in 2050, according to PwC’s Global Infrastructure Outlook.
Across the period, cumulative global investment is forecast to reach US$151.1 trillion, as countries modernize transport, power and industrial systems to meet the demands of AI, electrification and urbanization.
The outlook highlights that investment in power, transport and digital infrastructure will converge to create more intelligent networks, where traditional assets operate as part of connected, digitally enabled and electrified systems.
“This is not a traditional construction cycle,” said Clara Cutajar, Global Infrastructure Leader at PwC Australia. “This next generation of infrastructure will be intelligent, connected and adaptable—whether that’s roads built for autonomous vehicles and wireless charging or businesses running automated supply networks powered by clean energy and secure compute. Systems will need to anticipate demand, allocate resources dynamically and optimize performance—delivering structural productivity gains across every sector.”
The report says that transport and power will continue to be the biggest areas of investment, accounting for about half of global infrastructure spending to 2050. As mobility networks modernize and cities grow, annual transport spending is expected to rise from US$1.4 trillion in 2024 to US$2.4 trillion in 2050, representing a cumulative total of US$50 trillion.
Annual spending on both rail and airport infrastructure is predicted to nearly double from 2024 levels, with annual airport spending 1.9 times higher in 2050 at US$154.2 billion, and rail spending 1.8 times higher at US$675.3 billion in 2050.
Annual spending on power infrastructure is forecast to increase from US$631 billion in 2024 to US$1.1 trillion in 2050, totaling US$25 trillion over the period. Reflecting the pace of electrification, by 2050, annual investment in power storage will be nearly US$91 billion—3.7 times 2024 levels, while transmission and distribution spending will grow 2.6 times to US$472 billion, according to the report.
Between 2024 and 2027, annual investment in data center buildings is expected to rise 2.2 times, from US$113.8 billion to US$251.8 billion. Total investment from 2024 to 2032 will top US$1.5 trillion in a remarkable short-term escalation, which will be followed by a period focused on improving the utilization, efficiency, and adaptability of existing built stock.
The PwC analysis offers long-term infrastructure spending forecasts to 2050 for nine sectors, 20 subsectors and 45 countries and territories, which represent 88% of global economic output. It draws on the last 20 years of spending data and models future spending based on economic and policy factors.
Channel Impact®
The report spotlights key areas of investment, providing channel partners with data that can be valuable in the development of strategy.
Kaseya Unveils Agentic IT Management Platform for MSPs
Kaseya has introduced its first agentic IT management platform combining comprehensive data across IT operations, cybersecurity, and cyber resilience with an execution layer that autonomously takes actions such as triaging tickets, containing threats, verifying backups, and optimizing workflows without manual intervention. The platform leverages a wide range of data, spanning endpoints, help desks, security operations, and backup infrastructure.
“The industry doesn’t need another AI feature bolted onto a disconnected tool,” said Rania Succar, Chief Executive Officer of Kaseya. “What MSPs and IT teams need is a platform that runs their operations – one that sees across every system, understands context, and acts autonomously. That’s what we’ve built. Kaseya Intelligence is the engine. The platform is the operating system. And the outcome is IT that manages itself.”
Kaseya has unified on-prem, SaaS, Endpoint, and Cloud backup into a single integrated portal. Coverage is expanding further across cloud and virtualization, according to the company. Azure Files support is now generally available, extending Azure VM protection to file shares and unstructured data – giving partners a cost-effective way to protect critical Azure workloads beyond a single-cloud environment. Agentless Hyper-V backup follows in June 2026, protecting virtual machines without individual agents to deploy or maintain.
Channel Impact®
The company is attempting to build a value proposition that extends beyond intelligence, promising accurate, autonomous action.
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