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PulseCheck by THWACK: AI—Budget Line or Bottom Line?

solarwinds_worldwide_llc
2 minute read time

Starting today, we’re launching a new initiative across THWACK called PulseCheck. It’s a quick and consistent way for us to check in with you on what’s happening in your tech world. Across our PulseChecks, we’ll ask for your thoughts on everything from industry trends and tech challenges to community culture and even a few lighthearted topics. These PulseChecks are meant to be quick. Each one will be open for a week, followed by a wrap-up post sharing key results, a few takeaways, and a brand-new question to tackle the week after.

 What’s in it for you? 

  • Earn 150 THWACK points just for voting 
  • Get an additional 300 points if you leave a comment that sparks the conversation. We’ll be selecting a few thoughtful or creative replies each round 
  • Complete 8 or more PulseChecks and you’ll unlock a limited-edition achievement badge plus the bragging rights to go with it 

 PulseCheck #1: Is AI in Your 2026 Budget? 

We are kicking off the series with one of the most talked-about topics in the industry—AI. We want to know what this looks like for your organization. Has your company already set aside a budget for AI in 2026? Is AI a strategic priority or still on the sidelines? Are the conversations around it grounded in practicality or driven by hype? Once you’ve voted, scroll down and share your thoughts in the comments. Whether you’re all in on AI or waiting to see how it shakes out, we want to hear from you.

 

“So far, we've seen budgets for AI investment increasing year over year, including this year, where reports are upwards of $300 billion invested in AI.  While plenty of individuals are expressing concern and skepticism about the actual usefulness of AI as it currently stands, there's still plenty of excitement around the possibilities to reduce workloads, labor costs, reduced time to problem resolution, and more. We've had many conversations around AI over on SolarWinds TechPod, and we are simultaneously excited and trepidatious at the possibilities.” 
  

Want more context? 

Check out these recent episodes of SolarWinds TechPod, where our teams dig deeper into AI and how it’s reshaping the way we work: 

This is just the beginning. We’re excited to hear your thoughts and even more excited to spotlight your voices.

Let the PulseCheck begin. 

 

  • AI is definitely on our radar, but we're approaching it with a practical mindset. While there's growing interest, we haven't committed a specific budget for 2026 just yet. For now, AI is more of a strategic exploration than a top priority. We're focusing on use cases that align with real operational needs, like predictive maintenance, intelligent alerting, and improving user support through AI-driven virtual agents.

  • Our approach to AI varies significantly depending on the funding, leadership, and public pressure, but some general trends can be observed when it comes to public safety and our first responders, some of our smart city initiatives, and public services. There are always public concerns when it comes to lack of transparency, bias, privacy, and lack of AI literacy in some of our leadership.

  • in reply to errorqueen

    that will come with time I reckon, as companies realise the benefit of opening it up more

  • We are primarily an MSP operating in the healthcare sector.  Mention AI in any Hospital environment and watch them flee in terror.  There is the fear that AI could mis-diagnose or mis-prescribe leading to patient negative outcomes (their description).  There is also the fear from doctors and consultants over their jobs.  It doesn't matter that we want to use AI for the IT side of things.  The above fears mean they just block everything. 

    Healthcare is very cautious in adopting anything new (we just decommissioned the last Win2K server at one site and that was difficult to get approval). 

    They don't realise that AI is already in some of their systems,  there's some very advanced MRI and CT scanning software that is picking up things that consultants are missing and I'm starting to see some very obviously ChatGPT generated e-mail content.  That's usually garbage sent by people wanting to look important.

    So currently no budget and no demand although we are preparing just in case.

  • We’re actively investing in AI not just as a tech initiative, but as a cultural shift. That said, the real challenge hasn’t been the budget or tech stack, but the mindset shift across teams. How do you create genuine buy-in without falling into the trap of “AI-washing”? We’re experimenting with cross-functional AI taskforces to move from curiosity to capability.

    Curious how others are bridging the gap between ambition and execution.

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