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Europe’s AI Boom Has a Content Problem: Adoption Soars 650%, but the Foundation It Runs on Erodes

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AI adoption up 650%, yet 54% of organisations admit data is too messy to use AI reliablyContent services maturity plummets 13 points as only category to decline—the only category to decline as overall scores rise57% experience stalled innovation pilots, signalling billions wasted on fragmented digital strategies

LONDON, July 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — A comprehensive benchmark study of 3,000 European IT decision-makers reveals a troubling paradox at the heart of the continent’s digital transformation: organisations are accelerating innovation at unprecedented speed while neglecting the very infrastructure required for advances to be scalable and sustainable over time. The findings, published in Hyland‘s annual Digital Maturity Index, paint a picture of a dangerous imbalance that threatens to stall innovation, waste investments, and undermine years of digital progress.

Europe’s overall digital maturity score rose to 69/100, an encouraging 6-point increase from 2025. But beneath this headline improvement lies a crisis: content services maturity, the foundational infrastructure enabling all AI innovation, plummeted 13 points to 56/100, representing the only category to decline. This dramatic disconnect shows organisations making a critical miscalculation: they’re investing heavily in innovation while starving the operational foundations those technologies depend upon.

Nearly 60% of European organisations already experience stalled innovation pilots, a direct result of fragmented, inaccessible data. Whereas forward-thinking organisations are recognizing that content-powered agentic enterprises require a different investment calculus.

The Paradox: Innovation Soaring, Infrastructure Eroding

The data tells a stark story of misaligned priorities as AI adoption has exploded. Fifteen percent of European organisations now report deploying AI throughout every key system in their enterprise, a stunning 650% increase from just 2% in 2025. Yet 54% of those same decision-makers admit their organisation’s information and documents are too “messy or scattered” to use AI reliably.

AI is forcing the issue: every new deployment exposes how far data quality lags ambition. Forty-two percent of organisations are either fully cloud-based or have migrated everything they can to the cloud, up from 32% last year. But 50% of enterprises report that their systems don’t connect well, slowing innovation, and that figure that rises to 64% in Germany.

The Cost of Chaos: Content Silos Undermine Everything

The root cause is systemic fragmentation:

60% of European organisations admit to having content silos within their operations, limiting access to critical information, creating bottlenecks, and stifling innovation5% of organisations still primarily use paper-based records, a shocking holdout that drastically impacts growth potentialOnly 9% of European businesses have a fully federated and scalable enterprise content management system, leaving 91% short of a single, unified governance and security foundation57% of decision-makers acknowledge that too many innovation initiatives stall at pilot stage and never go live

The Trap Revealed: Speed Without Foundation

A stark finding from the report shows that while enterprises are accelerating innovation investments, they’re starving content infrastructure which is creating a self-inflicted data governance gap. This means that while they adopt cloud, AI, and automation at breakneck speed, they inadvertently multiply data silos. Every new AI deployment makes weak data foundations harder to ignore. Innovation is accelerating faster than the foundations it depends on.

“You can’t build an intelligent enterprise on unmanaged content,” John Newton, chief innovation strategist at Hyland. “Europe is pouring money into AI while the information foundation beneath it erodes. On the surface it looks like progress, but AI is only as good as the content it can reach, understand and trust, and right now that foundation is quietly failing.”

“The next competitive bottleneck won’t be information, it will be the confidence to act on it,” Newton added. “The content already exists inside these organisations, but the path to unifying, governing and connecting it so people and AI can act with confidence is missing. The companies that win the AI era will be the ones that fixed their content foundation first.”

The UK leads Europe in digital maturity at 74/100, suggesting that organisations investing in foundational infrastructure first can adopt innovative tools and respond to trends faster. Meanwhile, the Nordics trail at 67/100 overall, with just 6% having fully federated enterprise content management systems, and 7%—the highest in Europe—still relying primarily on paper-based records.

These gaps suggest that digital maturity is not inevitable. Organisations that deprioritize content services infrastructure risk falling further behind competitors who treat data governance as a prerequisite, not an afterthought.

Key Findings at a Glance

Overall Digital Maturity: 69/100 (Up 6 points from 2025)

Cloud Services & Infrastructure: 74/100 (Up 8 points)AI & Automation: 71/100 (Up 14 points)Cybersecurity: 76/100 (Up 11 points)Open-source, Low-code, No-code: 69/100 (Up 10 points)Content Services: 56/100 (Down 13 points)

Critical Challenges:

60% of organisations admit to content silos54% say data is too messy/scattered to use AI reliably57% experience stalled innovation pilots50% report systems don’t connect well5% still primarily use paper-based records

Regional Leaders:

UK: 74/100 (most mature)Spain: Strong performance with 12% fully federated ECMNordics: 67/100

About the Digital Maturity Index 2026

Hyland commissioned a benchmark survey of 3,000 IT decision-makers across Europe (UK, France, Germany, Spain, Benelux, and Nordics) to self-report their level of infrastructure maturity across five key criteria:

Content Services MaturityCloud Services & Infrastructure AdoptionOpen-source, Low-code, No-code Technologies UseAI & Automation Technologies AdoptionData Security & Cybersecurity Approaches

The report evaluates digital transformation progress across regions and identifies the barriers, drivers, and opportunities that define Europe’s digital journey. The full report is available at Hyland.com.

About Hyland

Hyland is the pioneer of the Content Innovation Cloud™ , delivering ubiquitous enterprise intelligence to organisations with solutions that unlock actionable insights and drive automation. Trusted by thousands of organisations worldwide, including many of the Fortune 100, Hyland’s solutions create the foundation for a connected, agentic enterprise, where teams harness the power of AI to redefine how they operate and engage with those they serve. For additional information on Hyland’s platform and services, please visit Hyland.com.

Media contact: 

Jason Gerdon

jason.gerdon@hyland.com

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BCE reports results of Series S and T preferred share conversions

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MONTRÉAL, Oct. 19, 2026 /CNW/ — BCE Inc. (TSX: BCE) (NYSE: BCE) today announced that 400 of its 4,798,333 fixed-rate Cumulative Redeemable First Preferred Shares, Series T (“Series T Preferred Shares”) have been tendered for conversion on November 2, 2026, on a one-for-one basis, into floating-rate Cumulative Redeemable First Preferred Shares, Series S (“Series S Preferred Shares”). In addition, 676,765 of its 1,866,877 Series S Preferred Shares have been tendered for conversion on November 2, 2026, on a one-for-one basis, into Series T Preferred Shares. Consequently, on November 2, 2026, BCE will have 5,474,698 Series T Preferred Shares and 1,190,512 Series S Preferred Shares issued and outstanding. The Series T Preferred Shares and the Series S Preferred Shares will continue to be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols BCE.PR.T and BCE.PR.S, respectively.

The Series T Preferred Shares will pay on a quarterly basis, for the five-year period beginning on November 2, 2026, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of BCE, a fixed cash dividend based on an annual fixed dividend rate of 5.523%.

The Series S Preferred Shares will continue to pay a monthly floating adjustable cash dividend for the five-year period beginning on November 2, 2026, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of BCE. The monthly floating adjustable dividend for any particular month will continue to be calculated based on the prime rate for such month and using the Designated Percentage for such month representing the sum of an adjustment factor (based on the market price of the Series S Preferred Shares in the preceding month) and the Designated Percentage for the preceding month.

About BCE
BCE is Canada’s largest communications company1, leading the way in advanced fibre and wireless networks, enterprise services and digital media. By delivering next-generation technology that leverages cloud-based and AI-driven solutions, we’re keeping customers connected, informed and entertained while enabling businesses to compete on the world stage. To learn more, please visit Bell.ca or BCE.ca.

1 Based on total revenue and total combined customer connections.

Media inquiries:
Ellen Murphy
media@bell.ca

Investor inquiries:
Krishna Somers
krishna.somers@bell.ca

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bce-reports-results-of-series-s-and-t-preferred-share-conversions-302913268.html

SOURCE BCE Inc.

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3M announces collaboration with GSEO to advance Expanded Beam Optical manufacturing and development

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ST. PAUL, Minn., Oct. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — 3M (NYSE: MMM) today announced a collaboration with Genius Electronic Optical Co., Ltd. (GSEO, Taiwan: 3406), an optical technology company, to advance technology development and manufacturing for 3M’s Expanded Beam Optical (EBO) solutions. In support of these efforts, 3M expects to make a strategic investment to acquire approximately 4.7% of GSEO’s common shares as part of the company’s private placement of newly issued shares, subject to customary closing conditions.

The collaboration brings together 3M’s EBO technology leadership, optical interconnect expertise, materials science, manufacturing scale and customer relationships with GSEO’s precision optics manufacturing capabilities and production scale. Together, the companies aim to support EBO commercialization and long-term capacity expansion to meet growing demand from hyperscale data centers and other advanced connectivity applications.

“3M is investing in capabilities and partnerships that can accelerate innovation for our customers,” said William Brown, 3M Chairman and CEO. “By selecting GSEO as a manufacturing partner and investing in the company, we are strengthening the path to scale next-generation optical connectivity solutions for high-performance data center infrastructure.”

GSEO’s existing precision optics manufacturing capabilities and technical development experience are expected to support manufacturing readiness for 3M’s EBO ferrules, co-packaged optics solutions and related optical interconnect applications. The collaboration is part of 3M’s broader EBO ecosystem strategy, which includes continued work with customers and partners across the optical interconnect market.

“GSEO is pleased to expand its relationship with 3M as we work together to advance optical interconnect solutions for next-generation data center infrastructure,” said Micro Kuo, GSEO CEO and President. “This collaboration brings together complementary technology and manufacturing strengths to support continued innovation and help meet the performance demands of high-growth connectivity markets.”

3M expects the strategic investment to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions.

Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this release are considered “forward-looking statements” under the federal securities laws, including the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, and are intended to enjoy the protection of those laws. Forward-looking statements may appear throughout this release and are typically identified by the words “aim,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “can,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “evaluate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “future,” “goal,” “guidance,” “impact,” “initial,” “intend,” “likely,” “may,” “outlook,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “probable,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “strategy,” “target,” “will,” “would,” and other words that are similar to, or have the opposite meanings of, those words. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, 3M assumes no duty to update those statements, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any of those statements. Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and expectations of future events and trends that are subject to risks and uncertainties, including those described in Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors” of 3M’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025.

About 3M
3M (NYSE: MMM) is focused on transforming industries around the world by applying science and creating innovative, customer-focused solutions. Our multi-disciplinary team is working to solve tough customer problems by leveraging diverse technology platforms, differentiated capabilities, global footprint, and operational excellence. Discover how 3M is shaping the future at 3M.com/news.

Contacts
3M
Investor Contact:
Diane Farrow, 612-202-2449
Media Contact:
3MNews@mmm.com 

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SOURCE 3M Company

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Scott Vicknair Personal Injury Lawyers Announces Second Annual Operation Fur-Ever Home Pet Adoption Event at Lafreniere Park

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NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Scott Vicknair Personal Injury Lawyers is excited to announce the return of its second annual Operation Fur-Ever Home, a free community pet adoption event taking place on Saturday, November 14, 2026, from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at Lafreniere Park in Metairie, Louisiana.

The free, family-friendly event will give attendees the opportunity to meet adoptable pets from local animal shelters, learn about responsible pet ownership, and potentially welcome a new furry companion into their homes. Those who preregister for the event will also be entered for a chance to win a Soundcore speaker and a free pet adoption.

“Last year’s event was everything we hoped it would be, and we are incredibly excited to bring Operation Fur-Ever Home back for a second year,” said David Vicknair, founding partner of Scott Vicknair Personal Injury Lawyers. “There is something special about watching a family meet a pet that could become part of their lives for years to come. We wanted to create another opportunity to make those connections while supporting the organizations that work tirelessly to care for animals in our community.”

Building on the success of the first event, this year’s event continues the firm’s commitment to supporting local animal shelters and creating meaningful opportunities for families throughout Southeast Louisiana.

“Giving back to our community has always been an important part of who we are as a firm,” said Vicknair. “Whether we are helping students prepare for school, recognizing deserving teachers, or supporting local animal shelters, our goal is to make a positive difference in the communities we serve.”

Operation Fur-Ever Home is free and open to the public. Families, animal lovers, and anyone interested in adopting a pet are encouraged to attend and preregister.

About Scott Vicknair Personal Injury Lawyers

Scott Vicknair Personal Injury Lawyers is a New Orleans-based personal injury firm committed to providing exceptional legal representation while also investing in the communities it serves. Their experienced team of dedicated attorneys specializes in car accidents, personal injury, and wrongful death cases in New Orleans. With diverse personal and professional backgrounds, they craft legal strategies tailored to each client’s specific case and needs.

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SOURCE Scott Vicknair Personal Injury Lawyers

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