Chris McClain

We recently surveyed Aftermarket Leaders to understand what they were prioritizing for 2026; in a surprise, Customer Experience and Retention topped the list followed by Revenue and Profit growth. They recognized the relationship between retention and profit growth (which inspired us to host a #LinkedInLive event on Installed Base Account Planning). What is their focus area to mitigate these risks? Installed Base management and Intelligence! Read more in the carousel below! #2026 #priorities #aftermarket Entytle

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Exciting news from Fujitsu: https://okt.to/LznN4I Fujitsu has launched Frontria, a global consortium bringing together 50+ organizations to tackle one of the biggest challenges in tech today: AI-driven disinformation and security risks. Why does this matter? Disinformation alone caused ¥12.2 trillion in losses in 2023—that’s huge! Frontria’s mission is simple: ✅ Build real solutions to fight misinformation ✅ Ensure AI is trustworthy and compliant ✅ Share tech and ideas across industries The goal? 100+ members by FY2026, working together for a safer digital future. I love seeing collaboration like this—it’s how we make tech work for good. #AITrust #Frontria #ResponsibleAI

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Did you know the real divide in GCCs today isn’t AI maturity – it’s operating model? Traditional GCCs are built to optimize tickets and SLAs at scale. Engineering-led GCCs are built to scale differently – owning product lifecycles, platform performance and the outcomes that shape the business. Let me take you on a journey. At Akkodis, we see GCCs evolving into engineering cores of the enterprise; measured not by volume, but by platform resilience, product velocity and continuous system evolution. This shift demands new governance, new talent and a move from headcount to accountability. Imagine GCCs as integrated engineering hubs, shaping products, accelerating time-to-market and redefining how enterprises compete. That’s #AkkodisIntelligence: advanced technology paired with human expertise, turning ambition into durable capability.

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Looking forward to Siemens Realize LIVE Americas 2026. Our teams will demonstrate how we turn PLM strategy into measurable business impact, across AI-enabled engineering, digital manufacturing, and transformation at scale. If you’re in Detroit, come meet us and explore what’s next. #RealizeLIVE #MakeItReal #PLM

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Today on PartnerTalks, I sit down with Ismail Nalwala, the CEO of IOTAP Inc. IOTAP produces Work 365, a leading billing, subscription management, and CSP automation application. Ismail provides us with some insights into plugging revenue leaks, ISV success, and managing growth ahead of Work 365’s biggest update yet – PV 3.0. PV 3.0 promises to unify billing, reconciliation and provisioning into one simple, seamless platform. The update launches on Thursday, and you can tune in live here: https://lnkd.in/g3Y4cqac -- #Work365 #IOTAP #SaaSBilling #SubscriptionManagement #MSPAutomation #CloudBilling #RecurringRevenue #ISVSuccess #MicrosoftISV

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Great CIOs today don’t just keep the lights on—they illuminate the path to growth. Nancy Avila’s playbook for Analog Devices shows that technology earns its seat at the leadership table only when every line of code is audibly tied to customer impact, revenue upside, and productivity gains. By running a transparent, business-first portfolio process, she forces hard trade-offs, proves ROI in real time, and turns IT spend from “overhead” into “shareholder value.” The result is a CIO who speaks in the language of EBITDA, not ERP, and who is trusted to co-author corporate strategy rather than merely implement it. Leadership, she argues, is equal parts courage and candor: dismantling functional silos, redesigning data-infrastructure as a composable mesh, and acting as the gatekeeper who distinguishes “cool AI toys” from generative-AI tools that unlock real margin. Infrastructure is framed as strategy, not plumbing; governance is framed as value protection, not red tape. In short, the modern CIO is the enterprise architect of trust—creating a culture where technology investments are measured, understood, and celebrated across the C-suite. Three take-aways for bold tech leaders: 1. Hard-wire value to every dollar: A rigorous, transparent portfolio review links tech budgets to strategic business outcomes, building board-level credibility. 2. Architect across, not within, silos: Shift from monolithic platforms to flexible, data-mesh architectures that enable end-to-end customer and supply-chain visibility. 3. Be the trusted gatekeeper of innovation: Champion generative-AI and cloud advances only when they translate into demonstrable revenue, resilience, or risk-reduction. #TechLeadership #ValueDrivenCIO #DigitalBusiness #BoldExecution #TrustThruTransparency https://lnkd.in/gDavu-Hx

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Honored to moderate this panel at PEI. What stood out wasn’t just the alignment between Finance and GTM — it was how quickly performance shifts once those teams finally operate from the same reality. John Turner, Tim Eng, Jonathan Konkoly, and Bijal Sheth didn’t hold back. They laid out the structural issues, the operational gaps, and what it actually takes to convert plans into predictable revenue and cash. We captured the themes in a concise recap — highly relevant for management, operating and deal teams.

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Howdy America !! Immensely pleased to welcome Naveen Merudi to Protectt.ai as VP Sales, America—based out of San Francisco   As Protectt.ai continues to expand globally, Naveen will lead the AI Native Mobile App security Platform and our latest #innovation Agentic AI Security platform in USA market !! He brings in rich experience in enterprise technology, #cybersecurity, and SaaS go-to-market leadership, with a strong track record of building markets, scaling revenue, and developing high-performing teams across global regions.   Delighted to welcome a leader whose expertise and market perspective will contribute significantly to securing global brands and scaling the adoption of Protectt.ai's innovative security platform in North America.

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Global trade moves fast. Resilinc's got the insights to help you keep up. 🔎 Get the latest Q2 Supply Chain Report: https://okt.to/YxjbHA

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🚀 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐀𝐈 𝐢𝐬 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 🚀 Today AI may have some level of intelligence, but the reality is that AI is more about having accurate and complete data than intelligence. 🔍 The Data-Driven Truth: 𝐀𝐈 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 to perform well. For business transformation in CPQ or Quote-to-Cash, a robust PIM system ensures that product data is meticulously defined, whether for catalog or configured products, and maintains the intricate relationships between product families. 🔗 Connecting AI and PIM: Starting with accurate data in a PIM, AI can analyze vast amounts of product data to provide insights and recommendations. This combination allows for 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. 🔺At VISTECH, 𝐰𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 the power of combining 𝐀𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐏𝐈𝐌. Our 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐒𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐂𝐏𝐐 platform includes a PIM that delivers accurate product definitions and configurations, ensuring that your sales and engineering teams can work more efficiently and effectively. 👉 Takeaway: 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚. To prepare for AI-driven initiatives, implement a robust PIM that can accurately define and manage your product data. #AI #DataDriven #PIM #ProductManagement #DigitalTransformation #VISTECH #SolSuite #CPQ #ProductConfiguration

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🚀Yesterday morning kicked off from Swami Sivasubramanian’s keynote, "𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑨𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝑨𝑰 𝒊𝒔 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒆" showcasing how AWS is helping enterprises bridge the critical gap between AI experimentation and production-scale deployment—with real customers delivering measurable results. 💼 Customer Success Stories Taking Center Stage Cox Automotive Inc. is transforming the vehicle buying experience with AI agents deployed at scale: • Virtual assistants improving omnichannel dealer experiences • Agentic marketplace streamlining vehicle discovery • AgentCore Runtime, Observability, and Identity enabling efficient development and testing 🎯 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞 Swami's keynote emphasized a fundamental shift: AI agents aren't just about automation—they're about delivering measurable business outcomes while maintaining enterprise-grade security and compliance. Key announcements supporting this vision: • AgentCore enhancements including episodic memory • Reinforcement Fine Tuning in Amazon Bedrock • Serverless Model Customization in SageMaker AI • Checkpointless training on Amazon SageMaker Hyperpod • General availability of Amazon Nova Act 💡 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 The message is clear: the era of "prototype purgatory" is over. Organizations like Ericsson, Thomson Reuters, and Amazon Devices are already deploying agents that deliver: ✅ Faster time-to-market (weeks to hours) ✅ Significant cost savings (30-80% reductions) ✅ Improved customer satisfaction and operational efficiency ✅ Enterprise-grade security and compliance The convergence of powerful models, simplified customization, and robust infrastructure is accelerating the path from experimentation to production-scale AI agents that deliver real business value. The future isn't just about AI that answers questions—it's about AI that takes action, learns, and transforms business outcomes. ICYMI: https://lnkd.in/ehdtntTS #AWSreInvent #AWSreInvent2025 #AgenticAI #BusinessTransformation #CustomerSuccess #EnterpriseAI #DigitalTransformation #Innovation

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Most leaders can point to dashboards, portals, and digital tools they launched. Very few can clearly show how those investments changed recurring revenue, service speed, or customer lifetime value. Digitization is an activity. Business outcomes are accountability. Real aftermarket transformation requires transparent KPI dashboards that track what matters: revenue growth trends, installed base performance, customer satisfaction trajectories, partner engagement health, and service contract renewal rates. These dashboards make invisible progress visible. They show which initiatives are driving ROI and which are just generating activity and create accountability across the organization. If service response times stay the same, renewals do not improve, and aftermarket revenue remains unpredictable, the problem is not technology. It is the absence of outcome ownership. The shift leaders need to make: Stop asking "what did we digitize?"  Start asking "what measurable outcomes changed because of it?" That is where real transformation begins. #AftermarketMetrics #DataDrivenLeadership #KPIAccountability #DigitalOutcomes #ServiceTransformation

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New episode just dropped: NetSuite founder and EVP Evan Goldberg joined NYSE Floor Talk to share how NetSuite Next is changing the way organizations interact with their business systems and what it takes for any company to unlock the power of AI. https://lnkd.in/g55MG3zZ

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There’s a common belief that CEOs should stay focused on strategy, while CROs focus on hitting the number. In practice, however, that separation is often where growth breaks down. The real leverage comes from building one revenue system, and that means aligning short-term execution with long-term value creation. It also requires discipline, designing systems that earn expansion, protect revenue quality, and scale efficiently. As AI continues to accelerate execution, I believe the role of leadership will shift even further toward system design, judgment, and clarity of direction. I shared more on how to lead as a CEO and CRO simultaneously, and what it takes to build durable, predictable growth. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/gbq9Q6cG

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Collaboration between retailers and CPG partners isn’t just an operational challenge; it’s a direct driver of performance and bottom-line impact. 55% of retailers are already identifying this as their top gap, and it’s showing up in how trade is executed. Seeing this positioned so convincingly by Ananda Chakravarty of IDC, one of the most respected Retail Industry Analysts, provides objective validation and reinforcement that this is an industry-defined problem rather than just a vendor perspective. The IDC Info Snapshot explains where that breakdown happens:

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Over the past few weeks, I’ve been digging into what CTOs are actually prioritizing right now. Across research from McKinsey, Deloitte, IBM, and CIO.com, the themes are clear: AI, modernization, data, speed. None of that is new. What is interesting is where things actually break down. Because when you move from strategy to execution, the problem isn’t building, it’s operating without enough context. * Explaining why a number changed without full visibility into how it was produced. * Making a change without knowing what downstream systems it might impact. * Trying to validate data when the logic, dependencies, and lineage are spread across multiple systems. As systems scale, this gets worse.... not better. More data. More pipelines. More dependencies. More tools. But the context doesn’t scale with it. And that’s what slows everything down. The bottleneck isn’t effort. It’s the time teams spend piecing together context just to move forward with confidence. This is the exact problem we here at Upriver are focusing on addressing for our customers. Side note: I'll be in Boston next week at the CDO Magazine event. If you're in town and would like to grab a coffee on Thursday..let me know.

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⏱️In today’s environment, the most effective leaders are not just focused on speed. They’re focused on rhythm. The modern CFO isn’t just managing numbers. They’re setting the pace of the business. In my latest Forbes Finance Council article, I explore why cadence is the true currency of the modern CFO and how the right operational and financial rhythms drive alignment, agility, and smarter decision-making across the enterprise. Inside the piece, I break down: 🔁 Why consistent financial and operational cadence builds organizational trust 📊 How structured forecasting rhythms improve visibility in uncertain markets 🤝 The role of cross-functional alignment in turning insights into action 🚀 How CFOs can shift from reactive reporting to proactive value creation When cadence is intentional, finance becomes more than a reporting function. It becomes the engine that keeps strategy, operations, and growth moving in sync. ➡️ Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/egWTmHH7 #Esker #ForbesFinanceCouncil #CFO #Finance #Leadership #OfficeOfTheCFO #BusinessStrategy

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Japan’s flagship airline, Japan Airlines (JAL) has selected #IFSCloud for Aviation Maintenance, empowering them to modernize their aircraft management systems and lead the future of aviation in Asia: https://ifs.link/mvWjeh

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