AI Driven IT Optimism
Authored by Tamara McCleary, CEO of Thulium.
The following post was sponsored by Cisco. The opinions, thoughts and observations, however, are completely my own.
Last month I wrote on the challenges placing pressure on the CIO and IT leaders to move from an operations-focus to an opportunity-focus. According to ZK Research, 78 percent of today’s IT budget is spent on “running the business,” leaving very little to invest in innovation. With the mounting pressure to innovate and drive business growth, is it doom and gloom for IT leaders trying to keep pace with moving targets and c-suite expectations? Digging into the data, there is reason for optimism as actionable insights point to how companies can infuse opportunity into their organization.
According to the Cisco IT Operations Readiness Index, 51 percent of respondents currently use Artificial Intelligence, (AI), for automation to some degree, with another 38 percent planning to do so in the next 12 months. With AI being used in operations, a significant opportunity has opened the door to innovation for organizations. For example, the automation of certain IT tasks will allow CIO’s to redeploy data scientists and engineers to other areas of the IT organization, including innovation-focused roles versus operations-only.
Beyond implementation of AI, the growth of leadership itself in IT can make a profound difference for an organization looking to progress successfully with their digital transformation strategies. Interesting to note that Cisco’s research found organizations with a CDO (Chief Digital Officer) say they have allocated a greater percentage of IT budget to operational initiatives. The addition of a CDO working with the CIO also seems to fare well for applying resources to better understand and use data generated by the organization. For example, organizations with a CDO employed, on average, 55 data scientists; dropping to 36 in those with no plans to hire a CDO.
With the application of additional resources to processing data, from data scientists to AI, more complete decisions can be made using the wealth of data every organization creates on a second by second basis. Being able to make quicker, more adaptable decisions generated from data is also an opportunity to innovate. Through cognitive systems and neural networks making more autonomous decisions, innovation becomes a part of the daily experience in the IT organization.
So how can CIOs effectively discover where they rank on operations readiness? Cisco offers a simple online tool as a companion to the results of the IT Operational Readiness Index called the IT Operations Readiness Assessment. The assessment acts to benchmark IT operations against a peer baseline and then offers recommendations for execution. Ready to see where you and your organization rank? Access the assessment here.
