40 signals from 28 companies. Cloud observability just hit #1, and AI governance is fracturing.
Last issue I named data protection as the new #2 signal. It's still #3 this period, but the story above it is shifting.
Cloud observability just became the #1 theme across the network. 11 of 40 signals this period are about visibility into what IT infrastructure is actually doing: cloud costs, multi-cloud monitoring, AI-powered incident response, tools rationalization. Two months ago this was a background signal. Now it's the thing most teams are prioritizing.
And AI governance, which led every issue this year, is fracturing. It's no longer one project. This period it showed up as three distinct initiatives:
Shadow AI: Organizations with no policy framework discovering what employees are doing with AI tools. "No structured or formalized approach" was the phrase that appeared most.
AI agent visibility: Security teams that need to identify and catalog AI agents running in their environments. Not AI governance in the abstract — finding the agents already deployed.
AI governance with budget: The more mature version. Evaluation underway, timeline set, dollars allocated.
That last bucket is the one to pay attention to.
"We have a project in plan, with budget allocated, to evaluate, select, and implement an AI governance and security solution next fiscal year."
"Currently we have no structured or formalized approach — discovering a lot of AI use that's not known or managed, curious what options and solutions exist for better managing this and enforcing policy."
"I am the enterprise domain architect for observability and the enterprise is trying to conduct a tools rationalization assessment under my domain."
Q2 budgets are finalizing right now. The leaders who have dollars allocated are selecting vendors this quarter. The shortlists form before the RFP drops, and in some of these categories, they're forming this month.
Who entered the network
These leaders joined or submitted new meeting requests in the last two weeks. They are actively requesting vendor conversations now.
Global Chief Information Officer — Omnicom Advertising ($17.3B revenue, 120,000 employees)
Divisional CIO/CISO — Quest Diagnostics ($11.4B revenue, 47,000 employees)
VP, Cybersecurity — Travelers ($47B revenue, 36,177 employees)
Chief Information Security Officer — NOVOLEX ($5.1B revenue, 3,696 employees)
Director, Information Technology Audit — Columbia University ($6.7B revenue, 18,000 employees)
Senior Vice President/Chief Information Officer — Valleywise Health ($699M revenue, 1,683 employees)
Director of IT — M&R Printing ($76M revenue, Manufacturing)
CIO/CTO — HNI Healthcare ($72.6M revenue)
Director of Information Systems — Tachi Palace Casino Resort
Members typically take 2–3 vendor meetings per quarter. Once those slots are filled, the window closes.
What they're actively working on
Budget allocated. Evaluating AI governance and security platforms with a fiscal year implementation timeline. (VP, Cybersecurity at a major U.S. insurance company, $47B revenue)
Tools rationalization for enterprise observability and monitoring. Domain architect running a full vendor assessment. ($100B+ healthcare system)
DSPM vendor selection underway. Data governance project kicked off with active RFP in progress. (Financial services firm, CISO-led)
Cloud and software cost optimization — licensing, usage, and governance aligned with business needs. Director-level initiative. (Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco)
Shadow AI visibility and controls. No current policy framework. Needs a platform to manage undiscovered AI use. (Financial services firm)
Observability and monitoring platform evaluation. Assessing Datadog and alternatives for cloud + on-prem environments. (Global CPG manufacturer, $18B+ revenue)
AI-powered observability to automate root cause identification across a multi-cloud environment. Reducing war-room response times. (Software company, enterprise scale)
Third-party risk quantification — needs a framework to explain cyber risk to leadership in financial terms. (Global business services firm)
TPRM improvements and M&A vendor validation for a healthcare network in active acquisition mode. ($4B+ system)
On-prem server management after reversing cloud-first strategy. Evaluating flexible, cost-efficient infrastructure solutions. (Fortune 100 consumer products company)
Proof it works
The question we hear most from vendors evaluating DoGood: "What's the close rate after a meeting?"
78% of meetings advance to a next step, a follow-up call, a proof of concept, an introduction to the buying committee. 22% convert to a qualified opportunity. Member meeting ratings average 8.2 out of 10. When both sides rate a meeting above an 8, the trajectory almost always continues.
We had a new partner this quarter who described the quality gap clearly: their BDR team spends weeks generating a lead that still needs qualifying. Through DoGood, the qualification happens before the meeting is booked — the member submits a detailed project brief, our team confirms the fit, and the vendor walks in knowing exactly what the buyer is trying to solve. There's no warm-up lap. The conversation starts at the project level.
The math compounds fast when you're not burning rep time on leads that aren't ready.
40 signals. 28 companies. Cloud observability is the #1 theme. AI governance is fragmenting into funded projects. TPRM is still accelerating.
There are 28 IT leaders actively requesting vendor meetings this month. You can't cold-call the VP of Cybersecurity at Travelers and get 30 minutes on their calendar. You can't buy a list that tells you a CISO at a $5B manufacturer has budget allocated and a fiscal year deadline for an AI governance selection.
But these leaders are in the network. They've told us exactly what they're buying. And the vendors who get in front of them now will own the shortlist.
Reply and I'll show you how to get access.