If US-based Googlers want to say goodbye to their “innies,” the company is offering buyouts to more teams.

Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini told IT Brew via email that the company teams are offering the buyout program with severance for employees based in the US, “who many want to leave the company, whether for professional or personal reasons.”

“Earlier this year, some of our teams introduced a voluntary exit program with severance for US-based Googlers, and several more are now offering the program to support our important work ahead,” Mencini wrote.

The statement continued: “US-based employees on teams offering the voluntary program are able to apply regardless of role or level.”

Plus, Google’s going hybrid mode.—CN

It should be safe to assume executives at a corporation are in conversation with members of their board, but it seems some CISOs are being left out of the group chat.

According to recent findings from research group IANS, 40% of surveyed security officers at small and midmarket firms reported minimal or no access to their boardroom. About 20% of the 363 pros polled said they meet with the full board at least semiannually, and 40% do so quarterly.

That lack of interaction can pose a risk to an organization, according to IANS Senior Research Director Nick Kakolowski, as it could be an indicator that “the business doesn’t adequately understand the impact cybersecurity has on its overall organizational risk, that it thinks of cyber as an isolated thing.”

Now introducing. When Michael Welch became CISO at OSI Group—a food supplier with over 20,000 employees and 65 global facilities—it took him 11 months to get into the boardroom.

Why can’t the CISO chat with the board?—BH

Does adding artificial intelligence to a service justify a price hike? Salesforce says so.

Starting August 1, the customer relationship management (CRM) service provider is raising the costs of its enterprise and unlimited editions of Sales Cloud, select Industries Cloud, and Service Cloud offerings by an average of 6%, according to the release.

The company wrote that the new product packaging and pricing is to “[put] customers at the forefront of innovation and [make] it easy to give every employee access to the best AI and agentic tools.”

Salesforce wrote that the price increase in these editions is reflective of “ongoing innovation and customer value,” and reported that there are no planned pricing changes for Foundations, Starter, or Pro editions.

Find out why adding AI means bigger bills.—CN