Strong business services and products are not enough. Visionary leadership is not a solution. Robust digital cores only create a foundation. However, when each dynamic is in sync with one another, business outcomes grossly outperform individual unit contributions. You move from pockets of brilliance to an enterprise of excellence. How do you create this intimate alignment in environments of complexity and unite tech with business? Here are three common critical success factors I discovered amongst three different best in class organizations… Vision, Governance & Alignment.

IT & Digital leaders face a multitude of challenges in the current landscape, including a possible recession, mass tech layoffs and budget restraints, mixed with siloed decision-making and the ongoing need for accelerated transformation and growth. With the pace of innovation and transformation getting faster and faster, it is not the time leaders can stand still through these challenges. It will likely be a year of continued evolution, development, and shifts in expectations; both from employees as well as customers.

Critical IT skills, especially in cybersecurity, AI, and machine learning, have long been in short supply, and the current labor shortage is intensifying the need for such professionals. Building resiliency with technology will enable a CIO to think beyond their own team and help them address this challenge for the company as a whole. Having the right technology can create a ripple effect, empowering employees, which enables satisfaction and a superior experience.

However, successful digital transformation comes not only from adopting technology, but adjusting the people, processes, and culture to support it. Join this panel to hear how leaders are prioritizing and strategizing their digital transformation journeys at an organizational level.

Questions to consider include:

• How does one actually DEFINE digital transformation? How do you figure out where to START in a digital transformation journey?
• How are budgets affecting your digital transformation strategy?
• What can CIOs do to attract and retain the tech talent needed to drive continued growth?
• In the midst of economic instability & fiscal responsibility, how do leaders foster an innovation-rich mindset and culture?
• What leadership skills are required to build resiliency and empower employees?
• Successful digital & business modernization comes not only from adopting technology, but adjusting the people, processes, data, and culture to support it. Do you agree? What are the key challenges here?
• How do you see the role of the CIO evolving across the next 5 years?

IT leaders know that the key to success in this digital age is data. It fuels the new economy of AI by providing the building block on which AI algorithms work. Data is part of every business decision around digital transformation, and is now widely recognized as arguably the most important strategic asset of an organization. According to McKinsey, companies that treat their data as a corporate asset grow revenue 5x faster than companies that do not.

To shift the perception of D&A from a mere support function to a strategic growth asset, organizations must innovate in alignment with the rapid pace of digital transformation. How do IT leaders quantify and prove the ROI of data initiatives in the context of business value? How can we drive change while bridging the gap between business and technology?

Furthermore, new tools like Generative AI have the power to change the way the workforce accomplishes goals, but it is imperative that leaders practice care when implementing these technologies. What are the major opportunities and challenges within this space?

Scaling and operationalizing AI and ML are critical to driving value and impacting how decisions within the business are made. It is vital to establish the technology trends, organizational requirements, skill development and talent required for successful deployment. How can we set ourselves up for success and develop a transformative vision for AI and data & analytics?

During this roundtable session we will discuss:

• How do you create frictionless collaboration within your data ecosystem - people, tools and data?
• We hear that data is the new oil. What do organizations need to do to become/cultivate a data driven culture?
• What are the key challenges in implementing data-driven strategies & AI to drive business outcomes and improve workforce efficiency?
• What emerging trends and technologies are expected to have a profound impact on workforce efficiency and business outcomes in the near future?
• What are the potential risks and ethical considerations associated with utilizing AI and analytics for workforce optimization?
• How can organizations ensure data security and privacy while harnessing the power of D&A and AI to drive workforce efficiency?
• How can CIOs collaborate with other departments to leverage the power of data, analytics, and AI?
• Implementing new tech like AI often requires new ways of operating, how can organizations rethink their operations from both a business and IT perspective?
• How can organizations ensure their teams and staff are equipped with the right skills?
• Strong AI outcomes require trust, data-fluency, and agility. Why is leveraging change management to create the right culture so important?

Modernizing the digital core is essential for business transformation, and IT must be an enabler of this process, delivering an environment that is proactive, agile and uninterrupted. Digital transformation is expected to remain the top strategic business priority of enterprises in almost all industries over the next few years. Gartner research recently found that 94% of CEOs want to “maintain or accelerate pandemic-driven digital transformation” in 2023. With 60% of CIOs and CTOs indicating that their IT modernization program is not yet ready for the future, we see many fast-tracking their digital technology initiatives this year.

Digitization is also essential for achieving sustainability goals across business operations. The key to success for the IT leader is arguably maintaining a close partnership and alignment with all business functions, as well as placing customers and employees at the heart of every digital transformation effort.

A desire for greater flexibility, efficiency, and reducing expenses is driving organizations to rethink their approach to technology delivery. However, as companies begin to adopt increasingly innovative technologies, like data analytics, hybrid cloud, and AI & automation, they are still faced with the challenge of siloed teams and processes, without the sustained support needed to be effective. Successful digital transformation comes not only from adopting technology, but adjusting the people, processes, and culture to support it.

The challenge for today’s CIO is to enable business transformation and to successfully do so, modernizing your digital core is vital.

Questions to answer in this roundtable include:

• How is the over-arching theme of digital transformation currently shaping your organization?
• Successful digital modernization comes not only from adopting technology, but adjusting the people, processes, and culture to support it. Do you agree? What are the key challenges here?
• How can we utilize digitization to meet sustainability goals across the business?
• In order to transform at scale, how can technical and non- technical teams work together?
• How has your cloud adoption strategy intertwined with your digital transformation efforts?
• How do you accelerate delivery and deliver new capabilities to the market in a way that compliments or surrounds your technical debt, vs trying to eradicate it all?
• What are the key challenges that companies face on the path to modernizing the digital core? How do we enable speed and agility?
• How can IT leaders channel innovation and extract the value from modern technology, whilst also prioritizing cost savings? And how can IT become a business enabler, rather than a cost center?
• How do you prioritize your needs with those of other business lines or teams, as there are often digital transformation initiatives happening in multiple areas of the organization?

IT leaders play a key role in enabling their organizations to deliver innovation and digital transformation. The cloud, and mobile, are central enabling technologies in delivering world-class digital solutions. Companies that optimize cloud solutions will bring new capabilities to market more quickly, innovate more easily, scale more efficiently, reduce technology risk and stay ahead of competitors.

So what are the best practices used by world-class digital teams who have created world-class digital solutions? What talent will you need and what approaches work best to enable the IT leader to reliably deliver innovation and digital transformation quarter after quarter?

During this roundtable session we will discuss:

• How do you identify Points of Innovation that will deliver real business impact?
• What's the best approach for breaking large digital transformation initiatives into manageable pieces that can deliver results in 6 months or less?
• What's the optimal length of time between cloud releases?
• What are the most successful approaches for incorporating mobile into your digital solutions?
• What is the optimal balance of employee and outsourced staffing for world-class digital teams?
• What are the challenges you've encountered in the above topics?

Irrespective of whether employees are working remotely, in the office, or hybrid, global leaders need to continue to create a culture of collaboration and innovation. Generative AI platforms such as Chat GPT have the potential to revolutionize the world of programming by automating repetitive tasks, improving code quality, and increasing productivity. However, technology also presents challenges, including data privacy, model bias, lack of creativity, and technical difficulties. How can organizations embrace such tools whilst navigating potential risks? Are we faced with limitless possibilities here, or limitless risk?:

During this session, two industry leaders will debate the transformative potential and the risks that come with Next-Gen Technology, particularly generative AI, in shaping the future of work.