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- 🤖 Automation spend spikes, but fragmented strategy limits value
🤖 Automation spend spikes, but fragmented strategy limits value
Automation Spend Rises, Google's $25B Data Center Push, Leadership Insights from Nextdoor's Shyam Bhojwani
Aimply Team & Zack Tembi
July 21, 2025
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Welcome to this week’s edition of CIOsurge!
This week:
Enterprises are boosting automation budgets, but fragmented strategies continue to limit true value and scale.
Google invests $25 billion in U.S. AI data centers, intensifying the hyperscaler infrastructure race and underscoring regional sustainability efforts.
In our guest series, Nextdoor's CIO Shyam Bhojwani highlights why successful CIOs must speak both business and technical languages fluently.
Let’s make this week a game-changer.
Stay sharp. Stay ahead.
💡 Guest Expert Insights: Shyam Bhojwani
🔄 IT Leaders Must Be Bilingual—Business and Tech
In my recent interview with Shyam Bhojwani, CIO at Nextdoor, he underscored a powerful concept: effective IT leaders must be fluent in both business and technical languages. Shyam emphasized that technology proposals must clearly articulate their business value, whether it’s revenue growth, operational efficiency, or strategic alignment.
He trains his teams to frame innovative ideas within a broader business context, helping secure stakeholder buy-in and ensure alignment with organizational goals. This bilingual capability fosters deeper collaboration and trust, ultimately bridging gaps between technical teams and business leadership.
According to Shyam, mastering this dual language isn’t optional, it's a defining trait of successful IT leadership in today's complex environment.
🤖 Automation spend spikes, but fragmented strategy limits value
Redwood Software’s latest report shows 73% of enterprises boosted automation spending in 2025, with nearly 40% achieving cost savings of at least 25%. However, 61% admit their automation tools remain underutilized due to fragmented strategies, siloed implementations, and lack of centralized orchestration. Only 6% achieved end-to-end autonomous automation, highlighting untapped potential.
CIOs know automation isn't optional—it’s critical. But too often, we see organizations scatter investments across silos without a unified plan, undermining efficiency gains. Automation delivers real results when backed by cohesive strategy, centralized oversight, and thoughtful orchestration.
For IT leaders, this means prioritizing governance and alignment. Fragmented tools won’t scale or deliver real ROI. A trusted orchestration partner and a clear strategic roadmap are key—otherwise, you'll leave efficiency and cost savings on the table.
- Zack Tembi
⚡ Google invests $25B in US AI data centers, fuels cloud infrastructure race
Google plans a $25 billion expansion of its AI and cloud data centers within the PJM Interconnection power grid over the next two years, alongside a $3 billion upgrade to Pennsylvania hydropower plants and a new AI skills training initiative. The move aligns with the broader hyperscaler trend of massive infrastructure investments driven by surging enterprise AI demands.
Google’s latest bet highlights the urgent enterprise need for AI infrastructure—but it also underscores the reality CIOs face: AI capabilities are limited by available compute and power resources. As infrastructure investment accelerates, CIOs must plan carefully around vendor lock-in risks, regional resiliency, and the environmental footprint of rapidly growing data centers.
Google’s energy strategy—co-locating data centers near sustainable power sources and modernizing legacy plants—offers a template for balancing scalability with sustainability. CIOs should watch closely how this evolves, because the decisions hyperscalers make now will shape enterprise IT strategies for years to come.
- Zack Tembi
🗞️ At A Glance
💡 CIO Spotlights
McDonald’s names Valerie Ashbaugh as US CIO in strategic role swap
Valerie Ashbaugh will become McDonald’s U.S. CIO on August 1, swapping roles with current tech chief Whitney McGinnis.
Ashbaugh, with experience from Nike, Boeing, and Dell, previously led global engineering and operations, implementing AI prototypes and new digital platforms.
As CIO, Ashbaugh will leverage her global perspective to further enhance McDonald’s U.S. tech strategy and innovation.
Fire-Dex names Ben Pfahl CIO to drive digital transformation
Fire-Dex appointed Ben Pfahl as CIO, tasking him with accelerating the company's digital strategy, data security, and systems integration.
Pfahl joins from Schaeffler Group, where he led large-scale IT transformations, ERP implementations, and cross-regional integrations.
Fire-Dex President Lauren Burke DeVere emphasized Pfahl’s record in aligning technology and business strategy to support growth.