CIOs can't afford to wait for AI transformation

Invest in tech and talent now

The AI wave isn’t on the horizon. It’s already here – and most CIOs are not well prepared.

Both IT leaders and their organisations are underprepared to protect their companies from the threats, but also to exploit the opportunities, the AI era will bring.

Most corporates have been happy to sit back and react to the challenges that AI throws their way, and CIOs are in wait and watch mode, drawing up long-term strategies that will be slowly rolled out over the coming years as AI regulation catches up and trust in the tech builds.

Unfortunately, the starting gun of this race was fired long ago, and if you're preparing today for impacts in the future, you are already too late.

So, what can CIOs do to remedy the situation and best support their chief executives today?

They need to roll out robust AI strategies right now – and at the very centre of these should be two things: talent and tech.

Talent

In terms of people, the dominant narrative has been that companies will need fewer of them. We're told that AI will lead to greater streamlining, and jobs will be lost with no profession safe from AI's impact - be it accountants, creatives or lawyers.

Unfortunately, far too many CIOs are preparing only for a reduction in the workforce. Of course, some jobs will inevitably be lost, but AI will also create and enhance many roles – think of the need for new positions such as prompt engineers, data annotators and machine managers.

CIOs need to be on the hunt for the best in these areas, and take point in the recruitment process. Afterwards, they need to make sure they can keep hold of these in-demand specialists. Leading CIOs should be able to intrinsically motivate this talent – if they are given the freedom, CIOs can pioneer AI's deployment in novel business operations, which will attract, motivate and stimulate the best engineers, programmers and designers.

Combined with a culture of innovation and collaboration, as well as clear recognition and career development paths, CIOs can build an industry-leading team to give their corporations the edge in the AI arms race.

Tech

The emergence of AI has made certain technologies and resources absolute necessities. The first of these is data. While data has always been important in tech's targeted advertising and recommendation algorithms, the AI boom has transformed it into gold dust.

CIOs need to be leading the charge on collecting, storing and processing this amount of data – which requires significant technological infrastructure. CIOs cannot overstate the importance of this tech to management teams, and should be petitioning for investment at all opportunities.

Data lakes and warehouses, as well as big data platforms, should all be at the top of IT leaders' shopping lists. Cloud computing is also vital, and if the upfront costs of developing this in-house are too large then CIOs must build relationships with providers like Microsoft Azure and AWS as soon as possible.

Some CIOs have been building this infrastructure for years, as well as putting in place the right strategies to attract and retain the best talent. For those behind in the AI race, they can start supporting their CEOs by focusing on tech and talent. These must form the core of any comprehensive AI strategy. Without them, their companies will undoubtedly be left floundering.