Welcome to the latest edition of the CIO In The Know newsletter. Insights that move CIOs forward.
First, be sure to subscribe!
It seems that AI is all that many want to talk about. However, that may be changing soon. Very soon.
AI is getting a bit of a reality check.
For some time, CIOs and business leaders have been stuck between the potential of AI and the reality of AI. The potential is massive and paints an incredible opportunity for enterprises. The reality so far has been quite different.
That’s not to say that the value from AI has diminished. It is to say that AI is getting a bit of a reality check on where is applies, the true value it brings and the metrics in which to measure said value. In addition, questions are coming up about rogue AI, governance and security. I talked a bit about this in last week’s CIO In The Know newsletter.
In a similar vein, the board questions repeatedly coming up about AI are asking about its impact on strategy, competitive moat and structural efficiency. If you compare that against the work being done in AI broadly today, we have a long way to go.
In Discussion: What is on the minds of CIOs?
This week discussions crossed a wide spectrum from customer experience to cybersecurity with a dusting of suites and SaaSpocalypse 2.0 sprinkled in for good measure.
Customer Experience: Focus on the right metrics
From the start, executives have questioned the value that AI brings to customer experience (CX). The TL;DR is that it can be significant…if leveraged correctly.
One conversation data point is moving from just focusing on CSAT and NPS to metrics that directly define dollars on the financial statements. Examples include LTV/CLV, CAC, LTV to CAC ratio, churn and operational metrics like CTS, FCR and self-service deflection rates. All of these move the discussion from customer intent to direct financial impact.
The conversation CIOs are having with their CMO and CFO colleagues is centered around how to better leverage solutions to increase value with these metrics in mind. With new approaches leveraging AI, it is also opening the door to evaluating new solutions to replace existing ones.
Patching and Security Remediation
Last week in the CIO In The Know newsletter I mentioned that ‘patch Tuesday’ was becoming ‘patch now’ as an indicator that we are quickly moving toward automated remediation. The post got a fair amount of attention and discussion.
This week, a few of my conversations with CIOs talked about the importance of avoiding the extremes when considering automated patching and remediation. A tiered approach is warranted that considers the right balance between risk of not patching vs risk of impacting operations. In some cases, full automation is warranted. For other situations, a human in the loop and further testing is needed before acting.
Rethinking Security: Beyond patching
A few conversations this week addressed security conversations happening at a board level. Boards are asking hard questions about security posture in the light of Mythos. Do we have the right approach and solutions to truly address detection, recovery along with the right architecture and compensating controls? It’s a tall order and is requiring CIOs and CISOs to wholly rethink their approach to cybersecurity.
Sovereignty
In the vein of cybersecurity and data management, sovereignty keeps popping up then disappearing only to pop up again. This week, the discussion was around what it really is and how it really applies. There is a lot of confusion around what it covers and doesn’t…and the impact from AI. Sovereignty with AI can be very complicated depending on how you approach it and how deep you go.
CIO Brand: Cultivating the network
Beyond technology, CIOs are spending time thinking about their role within the enterprise and their personal brand. I’ve often said it takes a village to be a successful CIO.
CIOs are talking about their personal brands and how to cultivate their network. Part of that is driven by interest in role changes. Part of it is the care and feeding that ultimately benefits the enterprise and customers.
Suite vs Best of Breed: SaaSpacolypse 2.0
Over the past 12+ months, I’ve observed enterprises shifting away from point solutions to broader suites. CIOs are shifting their focus away from feature/ functionality to outcomes and value. This is also driven by a shift from traditional to transformational CIOs. More on that in another post.
Underpinning this shift is the growing importance of data integration. This is more than just creating APIs and integration points. Today’s data needs to be ready for AI. No longer are structure and meta data enough. Insights and context are fundamental requirements.
As the number of best-of-breed solutions in use increased, so did the complexity of the underlying data integration architecture. The fragility has reached a point where leveraging a suite approach largely eliminates the fragility and integration complexities.
This further pushes companies to consider suite-based solutions in core functions like ERP, Supply Chain, CRM and HCM. Interesting that some are re-raising the SaaSpacolypse discussion again suggesting that AI will replace SaaS. You can read my thoughts on the future of SaaS here. TL;DR: AI is no more a direct replacement for SaaS as AI is not a direct replacement for people.
What’s News
This week, the Wall Street Journal’s Deputy Bureau Chief, CIO Journal, Tom Loftus posted a story “The Summer of Rogue AI Sends a Signal to the Enterprise.” Tom included several quotes from me sharing my perspective on Rogue AI, security and governance of AI. It is worth a read.
Now It’s Your Turn!
There are three things you need to do:
- Subscribe!: Subscribe to both the CIO In The Know newsletter and to the CIOitk podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to ensure you don’t miss an update.
- Join the Conversation: Like, share and engage. What’s your perspective?
- Forward the Newsletter: Help grow the community. Forward to a friend or colleague and encourage them to subscribe!
Look for more content coming your way…and be sure to subscribe!
Questions, comments, suggestions for the newsletter? I’d love to hear from you!
Discover more from AVOA
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.