3 articles
Enterprise software procurement is shifting from cost optimization to risk-adjusted continuity. Pricing volatility, geopolitical fragmentation, and infrastructure scarcity are forcing buyers to weight sovereignty, compliance, and operational resilience alongside price.
Compliance infrastructure is splitting into a compressing cost-center layer and a small number of rent-extracting moat layers. The barbell is forming at the data-network edge and the regulator-interface edge, while the middle of the stack commoditizes.
Enterprises spent $684 billion on AI in 2025, and $547 billion produced no measurable result. The money is going to the wrong places — idle compute, tool sprawl, consulting markup — while actual return drivers get starved.