- AI adoption is up, and CIOs are heading up most of that, Salesforce finds
- CIOs work closely with C-suite colleagues, but not so much with security
- Despite the challenges, CIOs seem to be ok with the fact their roles are changing
With full AI implementation rising steadily, Chief Information Officers are finding themselves being lumped with AI responsibilities more and more, new research has found.
The shift from experimentation to large-scale deployment hasn’t exactly been an ‘on-off’ moment like a light switch, with companies struggling to delivery ROIs and find ideal use cases, so processes have failed to keep up.
For example, many studies have already shown security processes to be lacking compared with the real state of AI deployment – and findings from Salesforce now says job roles have been slow to adapt, too.
CIOs are getting assigned more AI responsibilities
Even though CIOs are being formally assigned with more responsibilities, they’re also experiencing better collaboration with the C-suite – particularly with CEOs and CFOs.
However, Chief Data Officer collaboration came out lower, which some may consider alarming given AI’s heavy reliance on data.
Better still, CIOs don’t seem to be too bothered about their evolving roles. Three in four feel more confident in their role than last year, and 97% say they know more about AI.
Many CIOs also report working more closely with customer service, finance, HR, marketing and sales department, but maybe tighter integration with security teams could help them futureproof.
For example, the number one fear regarding AI relates to data security and privacy, and yet Chief Data Officer and Chief Technology Officer collaboration were among the lowest of all the C-suite.
Furthermore, only 14% of the average IT budget goes towards data security.
This shows that, while CIOs are ok in general with their shifting responsibilities, the support they get to plug security gaps, collaborate with other teams and expand their skills isn’t really up to scratch.
Looking ahead, the CIO role is clearly undergoing some change as appointed individuals are set to cover more AI. Salesforce data shows the need for AI upskilling and tighter collaboration with the relevant teams for the best success.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.
