Exotec research traces “robot regret” to three decisions buyers make before the contract is signed: cost, accountability and readiness

ATLANTA, Oct. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Exotec, a global warehouse robotics provider, today released Avoid Robot Regret: What Separates Automation That Delivers from Automation That Disappoints, based on a survey of 250 supply chain decision-makers across the United States and Canada. The findings reveal a gap between what buyers expect from automation and what they get, with one in four supply chain leaders saying they wish they had gone a different way. However, once they made the decision, 94% said switching providers would be prohibitively expensive, leaving most buyers with the system they chose for the next 10 to 15 years.

Larger budgets and bigger teams don’t prevent the problem. Companies with over $1 billion in revenue were more likely to say their most significant automation investment underperformed compared to those with less than $1 billion in revenue (21% vs. 13%). Across the survey, regret traced back to three decisions made before implementation: underestimating lifetime ownership cost, leaving accountability for issue resolution unclear, and implementing automation before the operation was ready.

Lifetime cost. Sixty-five percent of leaders say total cost of ownership came in higher than expected. Seventy percent say undisclosed costs have raised their annual maintenance spend. Among respondents whose systems underperformed, 43% said total costs ran 26% to 100% above expectations.

Clear accountability for performance. Sixty percent of respondents had a system designed by more than one company, and one in seven say they haven’t seen the benefits of automation because no vendor takes full responsibility for performance. Buyers who worked directly with the equipment manufacturer rated the speed of root-cause identification higher than other buyers (75% vs. 69%).

Timing. More than a quarter (27%) say their operation wasn’t ready when they invested. Early adopters with dedicated automation teams and leadership oversight rarely regretted their choice: 1% say they picked the wrong vendor, compared with 11% of fast followers.

“What we heard from supply chain leaders is that regret is rarely about the technology itself,” said Romain Moulin, CEO and co-founder of Exotec. “It starts when a system built by several vendors stops working as one, and the customer is left figuring out who is responsible for the fix. The operations that get the most from their automation are the ones where a single partner owns the whole system performance, from design through the years it runs.”

Buyers who chose low-cost providers report regret most often. They were nearly five times as likely to say they picked the wrong vendor (24% vs. 5% of other buyers), and only 52% rated root-cause identification as fast, compared with 74% of other buyers. Across all respondents, 59% say low-cost providers hide costs and common complications upfront, and 22% say their vendor didn’t deliver what it promised during the sales process.

Additional findings from the report

Automation is now table stakes. 91% of supply chain leaders say automation is now a basic requirement, and 86% of those who have automated say they head into peak season more confident than before.AI use is near-universal, maturity is not. 99% of organizations use AI in some form, but 24% are still in the pilot phase.Humanoids trail purpose-built robots on expected ROI. Most respondents (77%) trust purpose-built fulfillment automation to deliver better ROI than humanoids in the next five years, though 48% say they’re optimistic about implementing humanoids.

Exotec conducted this research using an online survey prepared by Method Research and distributed by RepData among n=250 supply chain decision-makers working full-time in North America (Canada and United States) who oversee and have influence over automation solutions in their warehouses and organizations. Data was collected August 17 to 31, 2026.

To read the full report, click here.

About Exotec

Exotec is a global warehouse automation leader delivering flexible, reliable end-to-end robotic solutions for modern fulfillment operations. By designing and manufacturing its own technology and solutions, Exotec serves as a single automation provider, reducing complexity and risk while accelerating time to value compared to traditional systems. Over 75 industry-leading brands including Oxford Industries (Tommy Bahama, Lilly Pulitzer), Carrefour, Decathlon, and UNIQLO trust Exotec to improve operations across 200+ sites worldwide.

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SOURCE Exotec

MCLEAN, Va., Oct. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — TempusDirect, a technology-enabled provider of third-party claims cost containment solutions serving the property and casualty (“P&C”) insurance industry, today announced a strategic investment from Aldrich Capital Partners (“ACP”), a private equity firm focused on investing in technology-driven business services companies with strong leadership teams and significant growth potential.

The investment will support TempusDirect’s next phase of growth as the Company continues to scale its technology platform, expand its market presence, and enhance its service capabilities. TempusDirect plans to invest in product development, client services, and business development, while advancing automation and technology-driven efficiencies across its suite of solutions. These initiatives will further strengthen the Company’s ability to deliver faster, drive meaningful cost savings, and offer exceptional service to its insurance carrier partners.

“We founded TempusDirect ten years ago believing there was a better way to help insurance carriers manage the complexity and rising costs of third-party claims. Our success has been built on delivering measurable value to our clients, developing innovative solutions, and assembling an exceptional team. Our partnership with Aldrich marks an exciting next chapter, providing the resources and strategic support to accelerate innovation, expand our capabilities, and deliver even greater value to our carrier partners,” said Greg Gaughan, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of TempusDirect.

TempusDirect offers a comprehensive suite of three complementary solutions designed to address critical cost containment needs across the third-party claims lifecycle. Its bill validation and benchmarking solution leverages proprietary claims data to evaluate medical charges and establish defensible benchmarks for attorney-represented claims. Its direct provider negotiation solution facilitates the resolution of medical bills for unrepresented claimants through direct engagement with healthcare providers. Additionally, its demand package review solution provides carriers with a data-driven assessment of medical expenses presented in attorney-represented claims at the demand stage. Together, these integrated capabilities enable insurers to make more informed claims decisions, manage growing claims costs, and accelerate resolution while maintaining consistency and efficiency throughout the claims process.

“Operational excellence and responsive service have been at the core of TempusDirect from day one. As carrier demand for our solutions continues to grow, this investment allows us to expand our capacity, continue innovating across our platform, and keep delivering the speed and accuracy our partners rely on,” said Josh Dickerson, Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder of TempusDirect.

“We’re excited to back Greg, Josh, and the talented team they’ve built at TempusDirect,” said Raz Zia, Managing Partner at Aldrich Capital Partners. “We are active investors in industry specific business services companies and TempusDirect’s tech-enabled solution for the insurance market really stood out. Customers and industry experts consistently pointed to the clear, demonstrable return TempusDirect delivers. We see a significant opportunity to build on that foundation by expanding the platform’s capabilities, having the ACP AI team deploy more advanced capabilities for clients and serving an even broader set of customers in the years ahead.”

About TempusDirect

TempusDirect is a technology-enabled provider of third-party claims cost containment solutions serving the U.S. property and casualty insurance industry. Powered by a proprietary database of historical claims data across multiple insurance carriers, the Company helps insurers validate and benchmark medical bills, negotiate provider settlements, and evaluate demand packages to reduce claims costs and improve resolution efficiency. Founded in 2016, TempusDirect is headquartered in Tempe, Arizona. For more information, visit www.tempusdirect.com.

About Aldrich Capital Partners

Aldrich Capital Partners is a private equity firm that partners with technology-driven businesses led by exceptional management teams. The firm combines growth capital with strategic and operational support to help companies accelerate innovation, scale their operations, and realize their long-term growth potential. For more information, visit www.aldrichcap.com.

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SOURCE Aldrich Capital Partners

Recognized in its first year out of stealth for rethinking endpoint DLP with AI that runs on the device

NEW YORK, Oct. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Bold Security, the real-time DLP for the modern endpoint, today announced it has been named to the 2027 Fortune Cyber 60, the annual list of the most important venture-backed cybersecurity startups that have not had an IPO, acquisition, or other significant exit event. Bold was named in its first year on the list, in the early stage category.

Over the last decade, data loss prevention (DLP) has earned a reputation for noise and false confidence. Legacy DLP matches patterns, so it catches PII and PCI but misses source code, financial models, and board documents. The patterns it does match fire on legitimate work too, so teams get flooded with alerts and turn blocking off. The prevention tool becomes a detection tool.

AI is now moving work back onto the device, into desktop assistants and AI agents that run locally, outside the paths legacy DLP was built to watch. Bold rebuilt endpoint DLP around AI that runs on the device itself. Small language models on every device classify data by meaning rather than pattern, read the context around each action, and block or coach in the moment it happens. There is no cloud round trip, no regex rules to write, and no coverage gap when a device goes offline.

“For years, the industry treated the endpoint as the old perimeter and DLP as a necessary evil, but AI broke both of those assumptions,” said Nati Hazut, Co-Founder and CEO of Bold Security. “People and AI agents move sensitive data through the device faster than a security team can follow, and DLP both overburdens and underdelivers. With Bold, we bet on the endpoint as both the new risk surface and the right place to solve it. Being named to the Fortune Cyber 60 validates the problem and our approach.”

Founded in 2024 by the team behind Polyrize, the cloud data security company acquired by Varonis, Bold has raised $40 million from Bessemer Venture Partners, Picture Capital, and Red Dot Capital Partners. Tekion, HiBob, Cresta, Shutterfly, and others use Bold to prevent data loss, identify risky insiders, and secure AI usage on the endpoint.

“Every security team knows DLP is a problem, but very few companies have been willing to rethink how it works,” said Amit Karp, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. “Bold has built something genuinely different, using AI on the endpoint to understand sensitive data and prevent leaks without getting in the way of employees. That’s why we backed the team.”

The Fortune Cyber 60™ list, developed in partnership with Lightspeed Venture Partners and AWS, recognizes 60 of the most important venture-backed cybersecurity startups that have not yet undergone an IPO, acquisition, or other significant exit. Lightspeed evaluates hundreds of venture-backed cybersecurity companies on annual recurring revenue, year-over-year growth, and validated operating data, then groups the list into three stages of 20. The full list is available here.

About Bold Security

Bold is real-time data security for the modern endpoint. Bold runs AI directly on the device to classify data by meaning and context, identify risk in how people and AI interact with it, and prevent data from leaving in the moment, without data ever leaving the device. Bold works from day one with zero configuration, no tuning, and coverage for any data, not only the patterns regex can catch. Learn more at bold.security.

Media Contact
Ignacio Ramirez
ignacio@switchpr.com

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SOURCE Bold Security