Software + Hardware: A conversation with 3 CIOs mid-‘26 perspectives on AI, Cloud, PCs, and vendors (conf. call transcript)

Research evidence excerpt

Software + Hardware: A conversation with 3 CIOs mid-‘26 perspectives on AI, Cloud, PCs, and vendors (conf. call transcript)

20 July 2026

Global Technology

Software + Hardware: A conversation with 3 CIOs mid-'26

perspectives on AI, Cloud, PCs, and vendors (conf. call transcript)

We recently hosted a conference call with three CIOs to get their perspectives on enterprise Mark C. Newman

+1 212 845 7822 IT spending. This note provides key takeaways and a full edited transcript. A replay is here.

mark.newman@bernsteinsg.com

AI-driven productivity gains are concentrated in software development and

Peter Weed targeted business workflows. All three CIOs highlighted coding as the clearest AI

+1 917 344 8390 success story, with high adoption and meaningful efficiency gains, alongside use cases in

peter.weed@bernsteinsg.com

predictive maintenance, quality control, customer service, marketing, engineering design,

legal and compliance monitoring, and AI agents automating complex processes. Mark L. Moerdler, Ph.D.

+1 917 344 8506

mark.moerdler@bernsteinsg.com Build vs. Buy: AI Is pressuring the long tail of SaaS, not core systems of record. One

CIO is replacing simple, non-strategic SaaS applications (e.g. Smartsheet, Clarity) with

Firoz Valliji, CFA internally built tools to cut costs and redirect spending to AI. However, no CIOs are looking

+1 917 344 8316

firoz.valliji@bernsteinsg.com to replace mission-critical systems of record given their scale, governance, compliance

requirements, and entrenched business processes. Instead, they are building AI agents on

April Li top of these systems with an orchestration layer that route tasks between deterministic

+1 917 344 8339 software or an AI agent for more complex decision-making.

april.li@bernsteinsg.com