CHARLOTTE, N.C., Apr. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Drawing on more than two decades of working alongside equipment owners across industries and economic cycles, Commercial Credit Group (CCG) has launched a new thought leadership series focused on the real‑world lessons that shape resilient, growth‑oriented businesses.

The five‑part blog series, Lessons From Over 20 Years of Equipment Financing, draws from the experiences of CCG’s leadership team as they’ve partnered with equipment owners across industries and economic cycles. Rather than focusing on short-term market trends, the series delivers real-world insights that help companies evaluate financing strategies, avoid common pitfalls, and align equipment investments with long-term business goals.

For companies considering equipment purchases, expansion, or refinancing, the series provides perspective on:

How successful equipment owners structure financing decisions to support cash flow and growth

Common mistakes that can limit flexibility or create risk over time

Proven principles that hold up across changing markets, interest rate environments, and business cycles

“After more than 20 years of financing equipment through multiple market cycles, we’ve seen firsthand that while the market evolves, the fundamentals of lending and responsible growth haven’t changed,” said CEO and founder, Dan McDonough. “This series is designed to help equipment-focused businesses make smarter decisions today that still serve them years down the road.”

The series is particularly relevant for owners, executives, and finance leaders in construction, transportation, manufacturing, and waste industries who want to better understand how financing choices impact operational flexibility and long-term performance.

The Lessons From Over 20 Years of Equipment Financing series is now available on the CCG website. Readers are encouraged to explore the full series to gain practical insights drawn directly from decades of real-world financing experience.

About Commercial Credit Group Inc.:

Commercial Credit Group Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Commercial Credit, Inc., is an independent commercial finance company that provides equipment loans and leases to small and mid-sized businesses in the construction, fleet transportation, machine tool, manufacturing, and waste industries. The company’s sales force is located throughout North America. Since its inception in 2004, CCG has originated over $8 billion in equipment loans and leases. CCG is headquartered in Charlotte, NC. For more information, please visit www.commercialcreditgroup.com.

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SOURCE Commercial Credit Group Inc.

SAN ANTONIO, April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Frost & Sullivan Institute (FSI) is pleased to unveil this year’s recipients of the Visionary Leadership Best Practices Recognition. These individuals exemplify purpose-driven leadership, bold innovation, and measurable impact aligned with FSI’s mission to inspire solutions that advance Education, Environment, Healthcare, Human Rights, Infrastructure, Security, and Economic Progress.

These distinguished leaders have demonstrated exceptional commitment to creating long-term, systemic impact, whether through pioneering environmental solutions, transforming access to education or healthcare, improving social infrastructure, or advancing community well-being.

“At the Frost & Sullivan Institute, we believe change accelerates when we recognize and celebrate those who lead with courage and clarity. This year’s honorees remind us that visionary leadership is not just about bold ideas but about creating meaningful outcomes that uplift people and communities,” said David Frigstad, Executive Director, Frost & Sullivan Institute.  

Our evaluation process is grounded in a best practices framework, assessing nominees across three parameters namely Impact, Innovation, and Implementation. A panel of experts conducts a structured review, followed by benchmarking and consensus-building to ensure fairness, credibility, and alignment with FSI’s seven global priority areas. The final honorees represent leaders whose work shows clear, sustained, and scalable impact.

The list of visionary leaders for 2026 includes:

Aadith Moorthy

Ai-jen Poo

Aki Ra

Akshay Saxena

Alex Kelly

Alex Stephany

Aline Sara

Amira Yahyaoui

Ana Bella Estévez Jiménez de los Galanes

Andrew Bastawrous

Anna Luísa Beserra Santos

Anna‑Lena von Hodenberg

Anshu Gupta

Anshu Sharma

Asma Mansour

Atul Gawande

Barbara Mutabazi

Barbarita Lara

Blaise Judja-Sato

Boyan Slat

Brigitha Faustin

Bruce Schneier

Catalina Escobar

Colette Pichon Battle

Connor Schoen

Diana Johanna Willemina Theresia Nijboer

Dr Mihai Ranete

Dr. Abhay Bang

Dr. Alex Dehgan

Dr. Devi Shetty

Dr. Katrin Schuhen

Dr. Peter Rohloff

Dr. Rebecca Onie

Dr. Rebecca Richards-Kortum

Dr. Tan See Leng

Dr. Tererai Trent

Esra’a Al Shafei

Esther Kimani

Esther Olalude

Fábio Luiz de Oliveira Rosa

Faith Kuya

Fatemah (Fatema) Alzelzela

Feliciano Reyna

Gillian Henker

Harish Hande

Hasina Kharbhih

HH Sheikha Intisar AlSaba

Irene Mbari‑Kirika

Jairo Trad

Jason Ballard

Javier Goyeneche

Jay Chaudhry

Jayshree Satpute

About Frost & Sullivan Institute

The Frost & Sullivan Institute (FSI) is a non-profit organization dedicated to utilizing business practices to address global priorities. The genesis of the institute goes back to the vision of either creating or becoming part of a solution that addresses threats to humanity. The Institute has identified strategic imperatives for transformation and believes that we can truly accelerate innovation to zero. To learn more about FSI, visit www.frostandsullivaninstitute.org

About Frost & Sullivan

For six decades, Frost & Sullivan has been world-renowned for its role in helping investors, corporate leaders, and governments navigate economic changes and identify disruptive technologies, Mega Trends, new business models, and companies to action, resulting in a continuous flow of growth opportunities to drive future success. Contact us: Start the discussion.

Media Contact:

Bivechana Gautam
Email: Bivechana.gautam@frost.com

Related Links:
www.frost.com
www.frostandsullivaninstitute.org

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SOURCE Frost & Sullivan

A critical AI success gap is emerging for organisations, with 30% surveyed seeing an impact on new revenue streams.

SYDNEY, April 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Most organisations have moved beyond experimenting with artificial intelligence, but few are realising its full value. New research from Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, sponsored by Appian, finds that while 59% of organisations (who are moving forward with AI to some extent) have AI in production, the majority are currently focused on incremental gains that prioritise efficiency and productivity over top-line growth.

Notably, AI has the strongest impact in bolstering productivity, not enabling growth. Respondents indicated that of the AI performance measures their organisation tracks, most see impact in productivity improvements (64%) and operational efficiency (58%), while metrics like new revenue streams (30%) and ROI (35%) are among the least likely to have improved. This points to a significant opportunity for organisations to use AI to deliver broader business outcomes and growth.

“Enterprises are at an inflection point. Instead of using AI to drive productivity, organisations must evolve to focus on business growth. That’s where Appian comes in,” said Matt Calkins, CEO of Appian. “The true potential of AI can only be realised when it moves from a standalone tool to an embedded worker that drives revenue. To get there, leaders must prioritise the foundational orchestration and rules-based guardrails required to safely apply AI to high-impact work.”

AI Still Sits Outside the Flow of Work

In most organisations, AI is being used alongside work, not built into how work gets done, limiting its ability to drive higher-level business outcomes. Only 18% of respondents report that AI is primarily integrated within workflows, while a larger share (34%) continue to use AI as standalone tools alongside processes/workflows, with another 34% reporting a mix of both approaches and 12% not yet using AI in processes/workflows at all.

Most See Some Returns on AI, but Not Yet at Scale. 

Most respondents are seeing some returns from AI investments, but only 16% report realising a high degree of measurable value. The majority describe the impact as moderate (33%), slight (36%), or have no measurable value (8%). Still, expectations remain high, as 86% agree that their organisation is looking to realise more business value from its use of AI. It’s clear that AI is delivering some results, but translating those results into meaningful, scalable business impact is proving difficult.

AI Delivers Value When Embedded in Workflows

As organisations advance their AI strategies, value is closely tied to how effectively AI is integrated into workflows and applied to operational work. Seventy-one percent of organisations embedding AI into processes realised substantial or moderate value from those efforts, according to respondents. In parallel, approximately three-quarters report strong returns from modernising legacy infrastructure/systems (76%), integrating data sources (75%), and orchestrating processes/workflows across systems/applications (73%).

Legacy Systems Continue to Limit AI’s Impact

Nearly seven in ten respondents, 69%, agree that legacy systems are limiting their ability to scale AI across the enterprise. This reinforces the need for modernisation and better integration across systems and data. Siloed or low-quality data (34%), a lack of integration across systems (31%), and a lack of AI talent/skills (30%) are also among the most commonly cited barriers to embedding AI into workflows.

AI Agent Adoption Lags in Core Operations

The research also highlights differences in how AI agents are being applied across the enterprise. Organisations are more actively deploying AI agents in areas such as software development (35%), IT operations (31%), marketing and sales (26%), and customer service (25%). In contrast, agent adoption is more limited in core operational areas such as procurement (9%), manufacturing (10%), and supply chain (11%), where processes tend to be more complex and require greater control and consistency. As organisations look to expand AI into these environments, governance becomes critical.

Most Organisations Lack the Guardrails Needed to Scale AI Agents Safely

Ninety-two percent of respondents agree that AI agents need rules-based guardrails to operate safely and effectively, yet fewer than half (48%) agree that their organisation has defined such rules (among those at organisations using, considering or exploring agentic AI). As organisations explore agentic AI systems (currently used by 25% of organisations and under consideration by 62%), the need for clearly defined processes and guardrails will become even more critical. Without clear guardrails, agents can act unpredictably across systems, increasing the risk of unintended outcomes.

Process Design Is Emerging as the Key to Unlocking AI Value

Realising the full value of AI and achieving sustainable ROI requires rethinking how work is structured and governed. According to respondents, organisations are increasingly focused on better defining rules/guardrails that AI must follow (50%), standardising processes/workflows across functions (49%), and increasing cross-functional coordination (47%) to improve the success of AI implementations.

“Organisations are adopting AI, but many haven’t integrated it into the core processes that drive business outcomes,” said Alex Clemente, managing director of Harvard Business Review Analytic Services. “Those that successfully embed AI into workflows will be better positioned to realise meaningful value.”

Read the full study. 

About the Research

In March 2026, Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, sponsored by Appian, surveyed 385 business decision makers from organisations that are exploring, piloting, or actively using artificial intelligence (AI).

About Appian

Appian provides process automation technology. We automate complex processes in large enterprises and governments. Our platform is known for its unique reliability and scale. We’ve been automating processes for 25 years and understand enterprise operations like no one else. For more information, visit appian.com. [Nasdaq: APPN]

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SOURCE Appian