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CTO Dharmesh Shah described an emerging 'AI operating system' where users interact with frontier models like ChatGPT, and HubSpot provides value via connectors, allowing actions to be taken within the HubSpot platform. CEO Yamini Rangan added that content matters more than ever, and Marketing Hub will help customers diversify content across social, podcasts, and LLM answers. She reiterated that the pricing model will be a balance: seats will grow by providing productivity value, while credits will grow by having agents perform work, opening up significant future opportunity.

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CTO Dharmesh Shah described an emerging 'AI operating system' where HubSpot connects to frontier models like ChatGPT, allowing users to query HubSpot data within those apps and take action back in the HubSpot platform. CEO Yamini Rangan added that content is more critical than ever and Marketing Hub will help customers create and distribute it across diverse channels beyond search. She reiterated that the pricing model will be a balance of seats for productivity and credits for work done by agents.

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CFO Kathryn Bueker reiterated that the new credit-based AI pricing will not have a material impact on 2025 revenue. However, she expressed excitement about the medium to long-term opportunity for consumption models to drive top-line growth. She emphasized that the future of AI monetization will be a mix of traditional seats and consumption-based credits, but noted it is still too early to quantify how that balance will play out over time.

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CFO Kathryn Bueker explained that the seat-based pricing model was designed to lower the entry barrier and have customers grow over time. She highlighted that early cohorts on the new model are showing higher upgrade rates and higher net revenue retention, meaning seat growth is faster than overall growth for those cohorts. While a specific data point wasn't shared, this trend supports the model's core assumption.

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CEO Rick McConnell stated there has been no substantial change in the competitive environment and little to no observed leakage to open source. CFO Jim Benson explained that the free cash flow guidance was maintained because while Q1 is seasonally strong, foreign exchange rates create a headwind on the company's euro-heavy expense base.

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CFO James Benson provided a long-term goal of 75-85% of customers on DPS. CEO Rick McConnell addressed portfolio expansion by stating the company is focused on driving both depth in existing products and breadth into new areas, citing the recent acquisition of Medis for database observability as an example of expanding the platform.

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CFO Jim Benson attributed the prudent Q4 ARR guidance to a sales funnel heavily weighted toward large, strategic deals, which increases variability in close timing. He framed this trend as a long-term positive. Regarding taxes, Benson confirmed the recent IP transfer to a Swiss subsidiary will be a tailwind, resulting in lower cash taxes for the company in fiscal 2026.

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CFO Rob Del Bene, while not providing guidance, noted healthy full-year pipelines and estimated a sustained trailing twelve-month book-to-bill of 1.05 to 1.1 is needed for growth. President & CEO Raul Fernandez added that new proactive solutioning will supplement the pipeline. Del Bene also explained that backlog duration depends on the mix of short-term projects versus longer strategic deals.

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CEO Raul Fernandez stated that returning to growth depends on scaling the execution of a higher-quality sales pipeline, noting the foundational rebuild is now in place. He asserted that DXC has ample market opportunity and is not constrained by market contraction. Regarding the Carnival deal, he emphasized it was won against 12 competitors based on superior capability and being a proven partner, not on price, and the key is to replicate that winning motion.

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CFO Rob Del Bene confirmed that DXC is actively pursuing more dispositions beyond the $150 million generated year-to-date and clarified the margin gain was from reversing equity accruals for departed executives. CEO Raul Fernandez expressed high satisfaction with the new, experienced leadership team he has brought in, stating they are having a terrific impact.

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CFO Roei Golan acknowledged that discounting headwinds from bundled refresh deals will likely continue for the next four quarters. However, he expects this to be offset by tailwinds from faster-growing services like Email and SASE, which should lead to a slight acceleration in the overall subscription growth rate.

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CEO Nadav Zafrir outlined the product focus on achieving feature parity and scaling for large enterprises. The go-to-market strategy centers on showcasing successful deployments. He noted that success will be measured by customer feedback on user experience and SASE's contribution to broader Infinity Platform sales, confirming it is a high-investment priority.

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CFO Jayesh Sanghrajka stated that future volume growth would require additional headcount as utilization is already high. He believes that while new pricing models like outcome-based contracts are emerging with AI, a fundamental shift in the overall delivery model is unlikely in the short term and would be a gradual change over a longer period.

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CEO Salil Parekh explained that discussions around AI-driven efficiency gains are at the forefront with clients, especially in areas like customer service. He noted these gains are typically shared as part of broader transformation and consolidation deals, rather than as a simple revenue reduction on existing contracts. He emphasized that AI also creates new revenue opportunities, leading to a positive composite effect on the business.

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CFO Jayesh Sanghrajka clarified that the impact of acquisitions was fully baked into the previous guidance and the current revision contains no incremental change from M&A. He noted the Q2 benefit was 80 basis points. CEO Salil Parekh commented that while the increase in the sub-$50 million deal pipeline is a relevant data point to share, it is too early to determine if this trend is durable.

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Chief Financial Officer Kiran Choudary stated the company was pleased with its NRR remaining above 120%. She noted that while the platform model lends itself to a high NRR, the rate is expected to moderate over time. This is partly because the benefit from the maintenance-to-subscription model transition has normalized and because new customers may land with larger, multi-product deals, which can be a headwind to the NRR calculation. However, she affirmed that the NRR is expected to remain strong.

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CFO Kiran Choudary provided two key reasons. First, he noted that fiscal 2025 ARR growth benefited by approximately two percentage points from the maintenance-to-subscription transition, which had an outsized impact on net new ARR. Second, he stated that as this is the company's first annual guidance as a public entity, they are being thoughtful and setting a target they feel confident in achieving.

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CFO Burt Podbere explained that as customers consume their credits from initial Flex deals, many of which originated from the CCP program, they are expected to "reflex" and make new purchases. This repurchase activity directly contributes to net new ARR, underpinning the company's confidence in back-half acceleration. He also highlighted a ~95% module retention rate as a key indicator of customer commitment.

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CEO Todd McKinnon argued that Okta currently has the most complete solution, with a breadth of products spanning detection, vaulting, and governance for NHIs. While acknowledging this is just the 'entry to the race,' he emphasized that Okta's trusted brand gives it the right to play and define the market, but continued execution and innovation will be key to winning long-term.

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CFO Brett Tighe stated that for the balance of FY'26, their model suggests the net retention rate will remain roughly in the current range, potentially moving plus or minus a point depending on the mix of new business versus upsell deals.

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Executive Jason Macdonnell positioned the current year as an 'investment year,' where targeted investments in growth areas are funded by disciplined reductions in indirect costs. Executive Tobias Dengel added that margin defense comes from offering differentiated services through partnerships and new offerings like AI-first development. CFO Gopi Chande highlighted creating 'win-win' scenarios with clients through geographic optimization and outcome-based pricing, using TELUS as a test case to improve efficiency and margins.

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President and CEO Jeffrey Puritt confirmed they have 'tapped the brakes' on large M&A to focus on organic growth, with future activity likely limited to opportunistic tuck-ins. CFO Gopi Chande clarified that there was no payment, but rather a downward true-up of the earnout provision. This adjustment was driven by a lower performance forecast and a renegotiation of the earnout agreement, which is now based on the combined success of Willow Tree and TELUS Digital.

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EVP and CFO Tim O'Brien confirmed the revenue guide increase was primarily due to FX, as the constant currency outlook was maintained. He stated that for 2026, he expects EBITDA margins to return to the low 30s. President and CEO John Pagliuca added that while there are anecdotes of deal scrutiny, N-able's own bookings and pipeline remain strong and are not showing material changes.

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President and CEO John Pagliuca attributed the moderated growth outlook to headwinds from the long-term contract initiative in the first half of the year and a prudent approach to forecasting the recently acquired Adlumin business. EVP and CFO Tim O'Brien clarified that the pro forma ARR growth exiting 2024 was 7%, and the 2025 guide of 7-9% implies acceleration. He also projected that both gross and net retention would bottom in Q1 2025 and improve thereafter.

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Founder, Chairman, and CEO Ken Xie acknowledged that infrastructure spending can slow in uncertain economies but views it as an opportunity to gain market share due to Fortinet's strong competitive position. COO John Whittle highlighted the company's history of growing through downturns, and CAO Christiane Ohlgart noted the hybrid customer environment is a key opportunity for their unified OS.

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CFO Keith Jensen clarified that without SD-WAN, the SASE customer mix would be even more tilted towards larger enterprises by dollar value. Regarding Europe, he noted that EMEA was the top-performing geography in the quarter. While acknowledging economic pressures, he stated they are not expecting an outsized performance from Europe in Q4 but will monitor its progress.

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CFO Joe Binz responded that the Q4 guidance approach is unchanged, consistently accounting for macro uncertainty and execution risk. He clarified that the Teamwork Collection is a long-term strategic play to drive attach and upsell, with limited impact on FY'26. CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes added that the collection simplifies purchasing, which historically drives long-term growth and stickiness.

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CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes explained that growth is broad-based across the platform, not concentrated in a single product. He highlighted Jira's expansion into business teams and the large number of untapped seats within existing enterprise customers. Cannon-Brookes emphasized that the go-to-market motion is successfully converting initial team landings into larger, strategic relationships, evidenced by a record number of deals exceeding $1 million in Q2.

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CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes reported that JSM continues to grow strongly, driven by a superior price-to-value ratio compared to legacy vendors. He highlighted expansion in both DevOps and broader employee service management (HR, finance). He asserted that Atlassian's AI capabilities, including virtual service agents and alert processing, are industry-leading and provide a significant competitive advantage, a position he said is recognized by industry analysts like Forrester.

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President and CFO Gina Mastantuono clarified the 30% growth was in net new ACV for the quarter and stated that while the team exceeded expectations, the full-year guidance incorporates conservatism for potential short-term headwinds in the federal space. Chairman and CEO Bill McDermott emphasized the massive long-term opportunity to consolidate legacy government systems onto the ServiceNow platform.

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CEO Christian Klein asserted that Business Data Cloud is additive and will not replace other assets. He explained that while the underlying Databricks partnership has an acceptable margin, the premium margin will be driven by SAP's proprietary semantic data products. He declined to give a specific uplift percentage but confirmed the pipeline and deal multiples look healthy.

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CEO Julie T. Sweet explained that the economic model for GenAI is consistent with past technology shifts, where managed services contracts already assume efficiency gains. For Accenture Song, which grew double-digits, she stated its durability comes from helping clients build the foundational data and reinvent processes required to leverage AI, positioning it at the core of their growth agenda.

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CEO Julie T. Sweet acknowledged that it is a very competitive market and that they have seen lower pricing, which is consistent with a constrained spending environment. However, she emphasized that Accenture's Application Managed Services (AMS) is not 'legacy' but a modern offering that helps clients modernize and rotate to new technologies. Regarding Europe, Sweet stated that while the region is in a more challenging environment, their view of European demand is fully baked into the raised full-year guidance, and they feel good about their position there.

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Incoming CFO Angie Park and CEO Julie T. Sweet explained that the inorganic contribution is a function of deal timing, as many fiscal 2024 acquisitions closed late in the year. Park reiterated the long-term book-to-bill targets of 1.0+ for consulting and 1.2+ for managed services. Sweet confirmed there was no material M&A impact on Q4 bookings.

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CEO Jay Chaudhry stated that Zscaler's competitive advantage in AI stems from its massive proprietary dataset of over 400 billion daily transactions. This data powers new AI-driven products built on the Avalor data fabric and enhances existing solutions like ZDX. Furthermore, Zscaler is creating new security solutions specifically for AI, such as an LLM proxy to prevent data leakage, turning the AI trend into a multi-faceted growth opportunity.

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David Wadhwani, President of Digital Media, attributed Document Cloud's durable growth to PDF's ubiquity, strong MAU growth, and the significant value-add from the new AI Assistant. Shantanu Narayen, Chair and CEO, added that consumption will contribute to ARR in FY25 through a new video offering, enterprise Firefly Services, and premium-priced tiers that include higher usage limits, rather than a pure pay-per-use model for most customers.

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CEO Shantanu Narayen and President of Digital Media David Wadhwani answered. Narayen emphasized Adobe's unique differentiation through the combination of apps and models, the strong start for Firefly Services (a consumption model), and the importance of commercial safety. Regarding the Q4 guide, Narayen noted they are on track for record net new ARR in FY24 and pointed out that Cyber Monday falls in Q1 this fiscal year, which impacts the Q4 comparison.

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Pete Godbole explained the NRR decline is primarily due to continued pressure on net expansions, particularly in the transactional business, which has not recovered. Mark Mader stated that the majority of platform users are free collaborators, representing a huge conversion opportunity. He explained that the strategy is to now offer significant value reserved for paid users, but the financial impact of this shift is an FY '25 opportunity.

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A 'transformative' year refers to the convergence of maturity in their business model, go-to-market motion, and product offerings, which will manifest in improved growth, profitability, cash flow, and customer satisfaction. The company declined to comment on the philosophical question about selling the company, stating it was too similar to the earlier question about acquisition rumors.

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