Topics : Product/Service, Survey
AI is the top priority for CIOs, according to findings from Lenovo’s third annual global CIO report. Inside the Tornado: How AI is Reshaping Corporate IT Today reveals that while CIOs must urgently adopt and develop AI, their ambitions are also threatened by speed, security and other organizational functions lagging behind in readiness AI.
In a stark contrast to previous years, CIOs are taking on non-traditional responsibilities to focus more on core IT functions. Just over half (51%) of CIOs believe that AI/ML is an urgent priority to address, rivaled only by cybersecurity. This urgency is directly linked to the pressure that IT departments are under to achieve commercial impact, rather than maintaining and preserving operations. An 84% share of CIOs revealed that they are more than ever evaluated on the basis of business results.
Today’s CIOs work in a tornado of innovation. “After years of IT expanding into non-traditional responsibilities, we are now seeing how AI is forcing CIOs back to their core mission,” said Ken Wong, president of Lenovo’s Solutions and Services Group. This is due to the clear promise of AI adoption, combined with the pressure IT leaders are under to prove the value of these investments and deliver measurable business results.
CIOs are optimistic about the impact of AI: 80% of them believe that advances and developments in AI will have a significant impact on their business. At the same time, CIOs see speed of adoption and security as the biggest barriers to large-scale deployment of AI. Large swathes of their organizations are not ready for AI, which directly affects IT departments’ ability to rapidly develop AI. They cited: new product lines (78%), company policy/ethical use (76%), supply chain (74%) and technical skills of IT departments (51%) ).
What has not changed from previous years is the ongoing challenge of measuring the impact of IT. Sixty-one percent of CIOs said it was very difficult or extremely difficult for them to demonstrate return on investment (ROI) on technology investments. While 96% of CIOs expect investments to increase over the next 12 months, 42% of respondents admit they don’t expect a positive ROI from AI investments for at least two to three years.
AI, an asset for sustainable development
Sustainability remains a major component of the CIO’s role, but this situation is complicated somewhat by the fact that 38% of respondents admit that sustainability is no longer a priority due to the resources devoted to adopting it. AI. Ultimately, CIOs view AI as a net positive for sustainability: 78% say leveraging AI will make it easier to achieve their organization’s sustainability goals .
Questions relating to human capital and financial resources remain
Although CIOs are optimistic about IT’s AI readiness, continued investment in AI could create new gaps in human and financial resources. 89% of CIOs warn that with the continued expansion of AI technologies, the role of human capital will become even more important. Given the expected budgetary constraints, it could prove difficult to increase staff numbers to meet these AI ambitions.
Similarly, while 96% of CIOs say they expect investments in AI to increase in the coming year, only 20% expect overall IT budgets to increase by more than 10%. CIOs admit that the exploration and adoption of AI is diverting resources and attention from other key areas of IT, including cloud adoption and digital transformation (48%), sustainability (38%) and employee compensation (38%).
“There is a clear opportunity for us to help companies make sense of AI, accelerate its development and provide guidance on how the impact of these investments can be measured effectively,” adds Wong. Our customers are already leveraging AI to advance sustainability, security, and digital transformation efforts. We can help them achieve additional results by developing coherent deployment strategies that address CIOs’ challenges.
Lenovo’s Global CIO Study is available at https://www.lenovo.com/ai-reshaping-it.
About Lenovo
Lenovo is a global technology giant with revenues of USD 62 billion. Ranked 217th on the Fortune Global 500, Lenovo employs 77,000 people worldwide and serves millions of customers in 180 markets every day. Focused on its bold vision to deliver smarter technology to all, Lenovo is building on its success as a global PC leader to expand into new key growth areas that are driving advancements in new IT (client, edge, cloud, network and intelligence) such as servers, storage, mobile, solutions and services. Combined with world-changing innovations, this transformation enables Lenovo to build a more inclusive, trusted and sustainable digital society for everyone, everywhere. Lenovo is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the name Lenovo Group Limited (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY). To learn more, visit https://www.lenovo.com, and check out our latest news on our StoryHub.
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