A report by KPMG International out this morning finds that 81% of U.S. executives surveyed said it’s difficult to keep up with the rapid pace of technological change—and they worry about lagging behind other companies. The top concern is market competition (73%). Meanwhile, trust in new technologies (70%), and regulatory challenges (69%) round out the top three concerns, according to the report.

And more than half (56%) of respondents said they often feel they don’t have the budget to keep up with the fast pace. CFOs can encourage prioritizing technology investments that may have “a direct impact on revenue generation and yield significant ROI,” Sanjay Sehgal, head of markets for KPMG Advisory, told me. Finance chiefs can also urge the board and the organization to look critically at what is happening in their industry and the moves competitors are making, he said.

The findings are based on a survey of 400 U.S.-based tech leaders, like chief digital officers, CIOs, CISOs, chief AI officers, as well as other C-suite members and board members. They work at companies with annual revenue of $250 million and above, with 44% at organizations earning $1 billion to $10 billion. The survey is across industries, such as financial services, retail, and tech. 

One pain point in keeping up with the speed of technology is legacy systems. Fifty-eight percent of respondents still face weekly disruptions due to flaws in legacy software, according to the report. Cybersecurity and privacy concerns, along with unaddressed tech debt, are the respondents’ top barriers to digital transformation, which would modernize these systems.

“AI is constantly evolving, putting pressure on businesses to outpace the disruption as they scale their AI-driven transformations across their organization,” Steve Chase, vice chair of AI and digital innovation at KPMG U.S., said in a statement. Company leaders should be investing in workforce readiness and data modernization that will be critical for long-term success, Chase said.

‘Next-generation AI foundation’

While execs are looking over their shoulders at the competition to keep ahead in the tech race, U.S. companies are making strides in AI adoption, according to the report. Seventy-four percent said they’re already generating business value from their AI implementation so far. Of this group, 39% have AI use cases that are delivering business value, and 35% are scaling AI with ROI achieved, according to KPMG. The research finds that U.S. companies, as compared to the global sample, emphasize scenario forecasts and risk identification. 

An MIT Technology Review article published in January predicted that this year tech companies would be in a race to roll out AI-powered products, such as assistants or chatbots that can browse the web, for example. I’d say that the prediction proved to be correct. 

Wedbush Securities tech analysts wrote in a note to investors on Sunday that the overall AI infrastructure market opportunity could grow 10 times from today through 2027. “As this next-generation AI foundation gets built, with our estimates, a $1 trillion of AI cap-ex spending is on the horizon in the next three years,” the analysts said. This will be “a major tailwind” for well-positioned tech players in the software, infrastructure, and cybersecurity areas as more generative AI-driven models get launched in the enterprise, according to Wedbush. 

But as KPMG’s report points out, with the proliferation of AI within enterprises, a big focus for leaders will be advancing maturity levels to unlock broader benefits and move beyond AI proof-of-concept stages.

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

The following sections of CFO Daily were curated by Greg McKenna

Leaderboard

Brad Garner was appointed CFO of flyExclusive (NYSEAM: FLYX), which owns and operates private jets, effective immediately. Garner joins from Hale Partnership Capital Management, where he served as CFO and chief compliance officer since 2015. He simultaneously held the positions of CFO and principal accounting officer at HG Holdings from 2018-22. 

Han Choi was appointed CFO of Vor Biopharma (Nasdaq: VOR), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for blood cancers, effective immediately. Choi previously served as a principal at Oracle Investment Management, a hedge fund that specializes in healthcare investments, where he spent over two decades. He holds an M.D. from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and law degrees from Oxford University and Harvard Law School.  

Big Deal

Eighty-three mergers of U.S. banks have been announced this year through Sept. 10, according to a recent report from S&P Global Market Intelligence, amounting to an aggregate deal value of $10.93 billion. That already surpasses the total deal value of $8.95 billion and $4.15 billion in 2022 and 2023, respectively. It comes nowhere close, however, to the roughly $100 billion in bank acquisitions made during the low interest rate environment from 2020-21.

Three bank deals worth over $100 million were announced in New York over the past month ending Sept. 10., making it the only state home to three of the 20 largest deals in 2024. The most-targeted region overall has been the Midwest, where thirty-two banks are being acquired this year. 

Last quarter, S&P’s U.S. Bank Outlook survey found that 39.5% of respondents said their institutions were “somewhat” or “very likely” to pursue an acquisition over the next 12 months. 

Going deeper

“What businesses can expect in a Kamala Harris presidency,” is a new report from Fortune’s Geoff Colvin. Harris’s public rhetoric might do little to win over businesspeople, but she is still attracting support from many of them. So, what would a Harris presidency mean for issues like taxes, antitrust enforcement, tariffs, housing, and the national debt? 

Overheard

“Looking forward, if the economy evolves broadly as expected, policy will move over time toward a more neutral stance. But we are not on any preset course. The risks are two-sided, and we will continue to make our decisions meeting by meeting.”

— Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, in a speech at the National Association for Business Economics indicating that future cuts to interest rates will be more gradual than the 50-basis-point reduction earlier this month.