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How to overcome structural barriers to digital transformation – Akkodis study ‘What CTOs think’ reveals insights

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The report combines insights from global CTOs on this latest era of digital transformation and recommendations for navigating the shift to an AI-powered enterprise

ZURICH, Sept. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — In recent years, digital transformation has become an indispensable priority for the C-suite, with many CTOs recognizing that digitalization is an ever-evolving concept; unlike earlier phases that focused on process automation, a majority of CTOs now see “catalyzing business growth” as a top benefit. However, according to a major study published today by global digital engineering company and Smart Industry leader, Akkodis, CTOs report numerous challenges and acknowledge that there is still much progress to be made. There are still many uncertainties surrounding the introduction of AI technologies and there is also a discrepancy between the CTOs’ concepts and the corporate reality.

“What CTOs Think: Navigating the Path to the AI Enterprise” is a report that explores how CTOs are approaching this current era of digitalization and offers recommendations for a successful transformation to an AI-powered enterprise. The survey[1], conducted in collaboration with Oxford Economics, covers 2,000 C-suite leaders, including 509 CTOs, across nine countries and 18 sectors, including Aerospace, Automotive, Energy, Life Sciences, and Technology.

Uncertainty and inaction hold back digital transformation

Despite a clear imperative for CTOs to digitally transform their organizations, uncertainty paralysis poses a barrier to action. External challenges rank high, including regulation and compliance, as well as security risk concerns. Yet, with new tech rapidly evolving, the number one barrier CTOs cite across industries is selecting the right technology. AI stands out as a defining feature of this emerging new digitalization era. Although most CTOs see it as a game changer for their companies, the technology remains nascent and 60% of CTOs believe their organization’s leadership lacks sufficient AI skills and knowledge. Skills gaps within the C-suite may trickle down to impact readiness across the wider workforce.

CTOs need to collaborate to deliver the AI enterprise

There is a gap between CTOs’ ambition and implementation when it comes to their AI strategies, worsened by broader uncertainties. While 80% of CTOs are “very confident” in their AI plans compared to 67% from the rest of the C-suite, there’s still work to be done. Only about half of CTOs say their organizations offer AI usage guidance, provide a framework for ethical data use, and offer AI training (56%, 51% and 46%, respectively). To address the disruption new technologies bring across business models, CTOs must foster cross-departmental collaboration to secure enterprise-wide buy-in.

There is an urgent need for digital workforce strategies

CTOs identify critical digital skill gaps that are expected to widen as this new wave of digital transformation accelerates. They expect this will likely to drive up wages for technical staff, with strong demand for digital skills anticipated over the next five years. CTOs are bold on upskilling and reskilling existing employees and expect generative AI to positively impact workforce strategies across the organization in the coming year. To address these gaps, there’s a need to balance building, buying, and renting talent, with a focus on upskilling and reskilling existing employees.

“This research highlights the challenges and opportunities business leaders face with the new wave of digitalization and emerging technologies,” said Jan Gupta, President, Akkodis. “The Smart Industry is all about leveraging digitalization to help us connect everything, use data to inform sharper decisions, and create new business models and smarter systems. The CTO plays a crucial role in bringing this to fruition. Their collaboration across the C-suite is critical to navigating talent gaps, building AI-ready foundations, and ultimately transforming the enterprise.”

The full report is available here.

Notes to Editor

1. Akkodis’ “What CTOs think” is based on the Adecco Group’s Business Leaders research, which investigates the changing world of work from the executive perspective.

About Akkodis 

Akkodis is a global digital engineering company and Smart Industry leader. We enable clients to advance in their digital transformation with Consulting, Solutions, Talent, and Academy services. Headquartered in Switzerland and part of the Adecco Group, Akkodis is a trusted tech partner to the world’s industries. We co-create and pioneer solutions that help to solve major challenges, from accelerating the clean energy transition and green mobility, to improving user and patient centricity. Empowered by a culture of inclusion and diversity, our 50,000 tech experts across 30 countries combine best-in-class technologies and cross industry knowledge to drive purposeful innovation for a more sustainable tomorrow. We are passionate about Engineering a Smarter Future Together. akkodis.com | LinkedIn | Instagram | FacebookTwitter

About the Adecco Group

The Adecco Group is the world’s leading talent company. Our purpose is making the future work for everyone. Through our three global business units – Adecco, Akkodis and LHH – across 60 countries, we enable sustainable and lifelong employability for individuals, deliver digital and engineering solutions to power the Smart Industry transformation and empower organisations to optimise their workforces. The Adecco Group leads by example and is committed to an inclusive culture, fostering sustainable employability, and supporting resilient economies and communities. The Adecco Group AG is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland (ISIN: CH0012138605) and listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ADEN). www.adeccogroup.com

Media contacts: 
Anne Friedrich
SVP
Global Head of Communications
Akkodis
+4915174633470
anne.friedrich@akkodis.com

Lisa Bushka
VP
Global External Communications
Akkodis
+18604630770
lisa.bushka@adeccogroup.com

SOURCE Akkodis

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Safetyfirst Systems, LLC Provides Notice of Data Security Event

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PARSIPPANY, N.J., July 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Safetyfirst Systems, LLC (“SFS”) is providing notice of a data security event that may involve information relating to certain individuals. While SFS is not aware of any misuse of information associated with this event, it is providing notice to potentially affected individuals out of an abundance of caution.

On January 19, 2026, SFS identified suspicious activity involving a limited portion of its server environment. Upon discovering the activity, SFS quickly took steps to secure its systems, notified federal law enforcement, engaged leading third-party forensic specialists, and performed a detailed investigation into the nature, scope, and impact of the activity. The investigation determined that an unauthorized actor accessed and/or acquired certain files from limited SFS systems between January 16, 2026, and January 19, 2026. SFS then conducted a comprehensive review of the affected files to determine what information may have been involved and identify the individuals to whom the information relates. The review has recently concluded, and SFS is providing this notification to potentially impacted individuals out of an abundance of caution. Although the types of information vary by individual, the affected information may include names, Social Security numbers, and driver’s license numbers.

Protecting the privacy and security of the information entrusted to SFS is a responsibility the company takes very seriously. In response to this event, SFS promptly strengthened security measures, continues to enhance its technical safeguards and monitoring capabilities, and is reviewing existing policies and procedures to further protect against similar incidents in the future. SFS is also providing notice to potentially affected individuals and, where required, appropriate regulatory authorities.

Although SFS is unaware of any misuse of personal information impacted by this event, individuals are encouraged to remain vigilant against events of identity theft by reviewing account statements, explanation of benefits, and monitoring free credit reports for suspicious activity and to detect errors. Any suspicious activity should be reported to the appropriate insurance company, health care provider, or financial institution.

Individuals seeking additional information regarding this event can contact SFS’s dedicated assistance line at 1-833-289-5523 between the hours of 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. Individuals may also write to SFS at PO Box 101, 3299 US Highway 46, Parsippany, NJ 07054-9998.

 

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/safetyfirst-systems-llc-provides-notice-of-data-security-event-302831894.html

SOURCE Safetyfirst Systems, LLC

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Sunrate and Mastercard Release White Paper on Agentic AI and the Future of B2B Global Payments

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SHANGHAI, July 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Sunrate, the global payment and treasury management platform, and Mastercard, a global technology company in the payments industry, unveiled a joint white paper, Beyond Automation: Defining Agentic Global Payments, at the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC).

Among the first reports in the payments industry to examine the impact of Agentic AI on B2B cross-border payments, the white paper provides a comprehensive framework for understanding how AI agents are reshaping enterprise payment operations. It proposes that cross-border payments are evolving beyond digitisation and automation into a new stage: Autonomy—where AI agents with reasoning, planning, and execution capabilities can independently orchestrate and optimise end-to-end payment and treasury workflows within defined governance frameworks.

As businesses expand across borders, B2B cross-border payments continue to be constrained by fragmented workflows, disconnected systems, foreign exchange inefficiencies, rising compliance requirements, and complex reconciliation processes. While traditional automation improves individual tasks, the white paper demonstrates that Agentic AI represents a fundamental shift by enabling intelligent agents to coordinate entire payment journeys across systems, counterparties, and approval workflows.

Drawing on Sunrate’s global payment infrastructure and AI-native product capabilities, together with Mastercard’s expertise in secure payment networks and data intelligence, the white paper defines Agentic Global Payments — a new category of AI-native global payment infrastructure built to automate and manage complex enterprise workflows.

The report identifies 16 major pain points across the B2B payment lifecycle and outlines 13 high-value AI use cases spanning supplier onboarding, accounts payable and receivable, virtual commercial cards, payment routing, foreign exchange management, compliance screening, fraud detection, reconciliation, and conversational operational support. It also demonstrates how AI agents can automate complex workflows—from extracting information across multiple document formats and conducting compliance checks to initiating payments, optimising FX execution, and completing reconciliation—while operating within enterprise governance and control frameworks.

The white paper further highlights that trusted adoption of agentic payments depends on more than technological capability. It identifies governance, transparency, security, and ecosystem collaboration as essential foundations for enterprise deployment, supported by frameworks such as Know Your Agent (KYA), payment tokenisation, auditability, and cross-industry interoperability.

Sunrate.AI portfolio currently includes the Payment Agent, FX Agent, Compliance Agent, Onboarding Agent, and Chat Agent, designed to help enterprises automate and optimise critical payment and treasury processes while maintaining compliance and operational control.

Mastercard has also been actively building the foundations for trusted agentic commerce – combining AI capabilities with verifiable authorisation, clear accountability and proven payments security. Its work in this area, including Agent Pay (alongside Agent Pay for Machines) and Verifiable Intent, are proof points in how Mastercard is enabling AI to participate in commerce safely and transparently. 

“Our mission is to make global payments seamless, compliant, and intelligent,” said Paul Meng, Co-founder and CEO of Sunrate. “As businesses continue expanding internationally, AI agents will fundamentally reshape how enterprises manage global payments—enabling smoother capital flows, reducing operational friction, and embedding real-time intelligence into every payment decision. This white paper represents an important step in helping the industry understand how Agentic AI can be deployed responsibly at enterprise scale.”

“Agentic commerce is changing how businesses make and execute payment decisions, but speed without accountability creates new categories of risk,” said Anouska Ladds, Executive Vice President, Commercial & New Payment Flows, Asia Pacific, Mastercard. “As AI starts to act on behalf of businesses, autonomous payment decisions need a clear, auditable chain of identity, intent and action. That’s what allows organisations to delegate with genuine confidence — and what will determine whether agentic commerce scales past pilots.”

Released under WAIC 2026’s theme, “Intelligent Partners, Co-creating the Future,” the white paper provides business leaders with practical guidance on adopting AI-driven payment capabilities, covering implementation approaches, governance considerations, and real-world enterprise applications.

By combining Sunrate’s expertise in global payments and treasury management with Mastercard’s trusted payment infrastructure and network capabilities, the collaboration reflects a shared commitment to accelerating the next generation of intelligent, secure, and autonomous B2B global payments.

Click here to check the white paper.

About Sunrate

Sunrate is a leading global payment and treasury management platform for businesses worldwide. Founded in 2016, Sunrate has enabled companies to operate and scale both locally and globally in 190+ countries and regions with its cutting-edge infrastructure, global network, and unified solutions.

Sunrate operates through offices across key markets, including Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and London. The company partners with the top global financial institutions, such as Citibank, Standard Chartered, Barclays, J.P. Morgan. Sunrate is also the principal member of Mastercard and Visa. To learn more about Sunrate, visit https://www.sunrate.com/.

About Mastercard

Mastercard powers economies and empowers people in 200+ countries and territories worldwide. Together with our customers, we’re building a resilient economy where everyone can prosper. We support a wide range of digital payments choices, making transactions secure, simple, smart and accessible. Our technology and innovation, partnerships and networks combine to deliver a unique set of products and services that help people, businesses and governments realize their greatest potential. 

www.mastercard.com

SOURCE Sunrate

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JAMS Launches AI for Enterprise Job Scheduling: JAX and JAMS MCP

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A new AI agent and an open-standard connector let IT teams query, diagnose, and manage automation in plain language, on the model they choose, with operational data able to stay onshore inside their own network

SYDNEY, July 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — JAMS Software, an orchestration solution for scheduled and event-driven automation, today announced the general availability of two AI capabilities for enterprise job scheduling: JAX, an AI agent built into the JAMS Web Client, and JAMS MCP, a connector built on the open Model Context Protocol standard that brings JAMS into external AI coding tools. Both capabilities ship at no additional cost as part of JAMS Web.

Automation environments grow faster than the teams that run them. Jobs multiply across SQL Server, Azure Data Factory, Airflow, SAP, JDE, and Banner, and when one fails, finding the root cause often means searching several consoles at once, frequently outside business hours. At the same time, IT leaders carry pressure to adopt AI while staying accountable for where operational data goes. JAX and JAMS MCP close both gaps together.

Full details on how JAX and JAMS MCP work, including the control model behind every action, are available at jamsscheduler.com/product/ai.

JAX is an AI agent that runs inside the JAMS Web Client. It finds jobs, troubleshoots failures, and answers how-to questions in plain language, with each response grounded in the JAMS user guide and checked against a built-in glossary. JAX acts only when a user asks it to. Reads flow freely, and every write action pauses for the user’s explicit approval before it runs. JAX does not learn between sessions, and conversations are not retained on the server.

JAMS MCP is a connector, built on the open Model Context Protocol standard, that brings JAMS into the AI tools engineering teams already use, including Cursor, VS Code with Copilot, Claude Code, Claude Desktop, and Codex. Users query jobs, investigate failures, and manage runs in plain language without leaving their tool.

Both capabilities run inside the customer’s own network and act as the signed-in user, with that user’s exact JAMS permissions. There is no elevated AI account: whatever a user cannot do in the JAMS interface, JAX and JAMS MCP cannot do on that user’s behalf. Every JAX and MCP operation is recorded in its own dedicated log, and changes made through the JAMS API land in the JAMS audit trail like any other change. Customers choose their own AI model, whether a commercial provider such as OpenAI or Anthropic or a model running entirely on their own hardware, and JAMS never trains on customer data. In the current release, neither feature edits or deletes a job, folder, schedule, or agent definition. For teams that need operational data to stay onshore, JAX runs on a local model entirely inside the customer’s own network, so nothing leaves at all.

“Adopting AI usually means giving something up, most often visibility into where your data goes,” said Pete Hegland, Chief Executive Officer of JAMS Software. “We built JAX and JAMS MCP so that trade does not have to happen. Every action runs as the signed-in user, every change waits for approval, and the model can run on the customer’s own hardware, keeping operational data onshore.”

“For teams across Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore, two things matter: keeping data onshore, and getting answers when a job fails after hours,” said Shayne Cooper, Account Executive for APAC at JAMS Software. “JAX and JAMS MCP address both. The model can run on the customer’s own hardware, and the answer arrives in plain language at the moment it is needed.”

JAX and JAMS MCP are available now to all JAMS Web customers across Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore, with no separate licence, SKU, or additional cost. AI-assisted creation of new jobs and workflows from a plain-language description is on the roadmap for a future release, gated by the same approvals and permissions as every other action.

Learn how JAX and JAMS MCP work at https://jamsscheduler.com/product/ai.

Fast facts

JAX is an AI agent built into the JAMS Web Client for job scheduling and workflow automation.JAMS MCP is a connector built on the open Model Context Protocol standard, for Cursor, VS Code with Copilot, Claude Code, Claude Desktop, and Codex.Both act as the signed-in user, with that user’s exact JAMS permissions, and there is no elevated AI account.Customers choose the AI model, including a local model that runs entirely inside their own network.JAMS never trains on customer data.Both are available now at no additional cost as part of JAMS Web.

About JAMS Software
Founded in 1987, JAMS Software is an orchestration solution that helps IT teams centralize, automate, and manage scheduled and event-driven jobs across complex, hybrid environments. Over 850 customers rely on JAMS to run their automated workloads. JAMS Software, LLC is headquartered at 108 Patriot Drive, Suite A, Middletown, DE 19709.

Media Contact
Bobby Schmidt, Vice President of Marketing
press@jamssoftware.com
800.261.4267

 

 

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View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/jams-launches-ai-for-enterprise-job-scheduling-jax-and-jams-mcp-302833800.html

SOURCE JAMS Software

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