The CIO Playbook for 2025

It’s that time of year again for our annual CIO Playbook! As we delve into 2025, the role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) continues to evolve at a rapid pace. The digital landscape is more complex and dynamic than ever, with new technologies, security threats, and regulatory challenges emerging constantly.

Many of the items from last year’s CIO Playbook still apply. In case you missed the post, you can read it here: https://avoa.com/2024/01/05/the-cio-playbook-for-2024/

This year’s playbook explores the key trends and strategies that CIOs need to navigate successfully in 2025. It delves into topics such as transformation, cloud computing, cybersecurity, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and talent management. The objective is to help CIOs lead their organizations effectively.

Whether you’re a seasoned CIO or a rising IT leader, this playbook will equip you with the knowledge and tools you need to succeed in 2025. So, let’s dive in and explore the exciting opportunities and challenges that lie ahead!

The Big Three Focal Points

Taking a page from 2024’s playbook, the focus for executive teams remains with CX, EX and business operations.

• Customer Experience (CX): At the end of the day, it is all about the customer. Companies are more focused than ever on the experience and value they provide to customers to bolster the relationship with customers. Even in fiercely competitive industries, customers are looking for different and positive experiences. CIOs, CMOs, CROs and support organizations need to more closely collaborate on solutions from the customer perspective. Taking an outside-in approach provides a shift in mindset that ultimately benefits the customer.
• Employee Experience (EX): Employees are rising in importance within the enterprise and technology sits at the center of this transformation. Employees are humans and their needs are as unique as snowflakes…and this is what makes our organizations so powerful. Employees are the ones that interface with our customers and ensuring their success directly impacts an organization’s success. Companies need to rethink how to best address the changing employee needs that gives them clear direction, purpose and an opportunity for growth through new and innovation tools. CIOs need to partner closely with their CHRO counterparts to develop the best path forward.
• Business Operations/ Supply Chain: Beyond the customer and employee, the business operations are the engine and processes that makes the organization operate. Increasingly, companies rely on technology to gain access to better insights in turn to make faster and more accurate business decisions. CIOs need an intimate understanding of their business and a strong partnership with their COO, CFO and CEO.

There are many core executive relationships that are key to a CIOs success. One of the most important is that with the CEO. The CIO needs to have a clear understanding of the CEOs perspective to best serve the organization.

The Business of IT

The CIO role, and more broadly IT, plays a increasingly strategic role within the operations of the business. As such, IT needs to shift into a more business-centric mindset. To that end, the business of IT will need renewed attention moving forward.

This mindset shift also breaks down and moves away from references such as: IT and ‘the business’. IT is, and always has been, part and parcel a core part of the business, not separate from it. CIOs and IT leaders need to stop using the IT and ‘the business’ language as it creates a culture of divisiveness between the IT organization and the rest of the company.

• IT Strategy: IT’s role in business is increasingly critical to an organization’s success. IT strategy is often misunderstood. Over the past decade or two, there has been a decline in the value placed on IT strategy. Now, more than ever, strategy needs to play a central role in guiding IT organizations. Unlink past strategies that might include a 5+ year guidance framework, today’s strategy needs to be well thought out, align with the overall business strategy and nimble to shift to changes in business demand.
• Financial Management (FinOps/ TBM): At the end of the day, IT needs to provide value to customers, employees and business operations. The only way to understand value is to measure cost vs impact or worth. Many IT organizations still operate in a cost center mode which over-emphasizes cost versus value. Tools including TBM and more recently FinOps help provide frameworks and tools to effectively manage IT value. TBM and FinOps are different and should be noted accordingly. CIOs can leverage these frameworks to provide financial guidance and understand the value their organization provides.
• Simplification: Simplification was mentioned in last year’s CIO Playbook and needs to maintain prominence as part of the core DNA within an IT culture. Technology has been, and continues to be, incredibly complicated. Successful CIOs navigate this complexity and the multitude of moving parts to create a living, breathing, well-oiled machine that works with technology. Part of that challenge is the increase in velocity at which complexity is coming. Hence, the importance to maintain a culture of simplification where possible. Simplification also leads to less fragility and risk within organizations, processes and technology architectures.
• Suite vs Best of Breed: It seems that the debate between suites versus best of breed products swings back and forth every decade or so. In the vein of simplification, value, financial management and risk, there is currently a shift back toward suite-based products. The simplicity of a suite is (broadly) outweighing the complexity and risks associated with weaving together multiple products. Suites tend to provide greater data fidelity which leads to greater business insights.
• Geopolitical Risks: Geopolitical risks are not new, but CIOs are getting a masterclass in how they impact their business and the underlying technology. From their company’s supply chain to the technology supply chain, geopolitical risks are increasing. CIOs must understand, navigate and mitigate the risks as best as possible. Technology provides more flexibility and insights today to help navigate these issues. Within the technology supply chain, CIOs must consider the stability from hardware to data. The systems that IT organizations purchase is a culmination of chip manufacturing, packaging, sub-assemblies, final assemblies and distribution. Each of those processes are often done in completely different countries by any number of subcontractors. The complexity is great. Geopolitical risks can impact supply chains in many ways. Understanding the risks and having a gameplan to respond is key.
• Regulatory and Compliance: Regulation and compliance requirements are growing. With each US administration, there may be more or less interest in regulation. However, the global regulations are increasing specifically around customers, privacy and data. There is already a pile of legislation ratified and, in the works, covering AI alone. Expect that more will come. As CIO, ensure that you have a solid relationship with your head of audit, general counsel and potentially your board’s audit committee. 
• Risk: Boards and executive teams speak in terms of opportunities and risks. Those usually go hand-in-hand. Cybersecurity, technical debt and governance each play a role in the risk conversation. CIOs will play an increasingly engaged role in each of these. More on cybersecurity in a minute. CIOs need to shift their thinking in terms of overall risk and weigh that against opportunities and decisions in technology.
• Return to Office: It is becoming clear that remote work is largely coming to an end. This isn’t meant as a debate for or against remote work, just where companies are headed. There are pros and cons to remote, hybrid and in-office work. Now, it seems every few days another company is forcing employees back into the office. As CIO, this presents a shift in thinking with hiring and retention in addition to tech strategy. CIOs need to partner closely with their CHRO counterparts as part of broad EX efforts, but also as part of the IT organization’s shift. From a technology perspective, space, tools and technology shifts are needed to accommodate the return to office changes.

Technology Shifts

The underlying technology that supports the big three focal points and the business of technology is also changing. In 2025, CIOs are focusing on several initiatives.

• Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI is front and center for many organizations. In 2025, CIOs need to raise the bar on experiments and focus on high value opportunities from AI. Leading organizations are moving into spaces that specifically increase the value to CX and EX through the use of agents and agentic methods. I wrote more about the agentic age and the rise in humanistic interactions last year. The key is to focus on high value opportunities while managing risk. One prerequisite for advanced organizations is a solid data strategy. More on data strategy in a minute. Beyond the technology, understanding the underlying data that feeds AI is critical to building trust in the technology. Another way to build trust is by establishing a supportive culture around AI. New tooling in productivity apps such as Microsoft’s CoPilot and Google’s Gemini will build a culture that more accustomed to using AI in everyday work. That, in turn, builds the foundation for trust in more sensitive and complicated areas. One thing to be cautious of is fatigue and burnout. Unfortunately, organizations are already starting to see this pop up. Many are already starting to grow tired of talking about and considering AI due to poor results and AI washing. On the other hand, there is also FOMO about missing a grand opportunity. Maintaining the balance with a supportive culture is key.
• Cloud: There has been a dust-up over the past few years suggesting that enterprises are repatriating their workloads from cloud back on-prem. Some even go so far to suggest cloud has failed. This storyline is misleading and dangerous to follow. The reality is that there is a place for cloud and a place for on-prem. Organizations may have over-rotated too many or inappropriate workloads and applications to cloud. Some of those applications were not ready while others were not appropriate for cloud. The bottom line is that CIOs need to fully understand the value and opportunity that cloud provides. Cloud is a powerful solution and the best solution for many things, but not everything. IT organizations need to take a hard look at their IT estate and determine what is best suited for cloud and how best to leverage the technology in the way it was intended. There is absolutely new and innovate opportunities in cloud offerings today. There are also interesting and innovative options for on-premises solutions too.
• Cybersecurity: Cybersecurity, as a function of risk, is having a resurgence. As new, more significant threats appear, enterprises are rethinking how they approach cybersecurity. Like how IT is going through a transformation, the cybersecurity organization needs to do the same. Enterprises along with CIOs and CISOs need to wholly rethink their approach to cybersecurity. With the advent of new data strategies, new innovations from AI and a resurgence in attention, cybersecurity is getting a fresh look. The innovation alone from AI presents new opportunities never before available. It should also be noted that threat actors and nation states are also upping their game and looking at ways to capitalize on these new innovations. Hence, the cybersecurity arms race starts again. CIOs need to get ahead of this and not fall behind.
• Data Strategy: As CIOs rethink their overall strategy and align it with the overall business objectives, data inevitably comes into the mix. A new data strategy is needed to accommodate the changing technology landscape. While data warehouses, data lakes, data lakehouses may have sufficed, they all fell short of supporting the dynamic aspects of the business at the pace it was changing. A new approach is needed that accommodates a nimbler organization with ever-changing data requirements. New technology solutions have come to market that help with these needs.
• Energy and Sustainability: Externally, cloud data providers are looking for more effective ways to support new technology and the significantly increasing energy requirements. At the same time, sustainability comes into play to ensure that there is a degree of efficiency maintained. Leading CIOs are already looking at ways to reduce their carbon footprint, both internally and with third party providers, while still bringing new high-performance technology into the fold. Expect to see more requirements on sustainability reporting. This plus improved price/ performance of specialized silicon will start to drive more interest from CIOs.

In Summary

It is essential for CIOs to stay abreast of technological advancements and strategically align them with their organization’s goals. By effectively leveraging technology, CIOs can drive innovation, enhance operational efficiency, and foster a competitive edge in the market. As custodians of technology transformation, CIOs should continuously seek opportunities for improvement and adaptation to navigate the ever-evolving landscape of information technology.