“When we just look at immediate financial returns, oftentimes we miss the full picture of the value that gets created.” - Rita Sallam, Gartner Distinguished VP Analyst, Data and Analytics

By 2025, nearly a third of GenAI projects will be abandoned due largely to unclear business value. To prove GenAI’s transformative value to executives and CFOs, this episode’s guest offers an insider’s perspective. Rita Sallam is a Distinguished VP Analyst for data and analytics and a former CFO. Her experience and expertise provide critical insights for:

• Projecting the total cost of GenAI via use cases (3:50)
• Managing costs as the pilot phase moves to implementation (8:24)
• Calculating your GenAI budget (12:00)
• Measuring GenAI ROI (Spoiler: It’s not cost reduction) (14:43)
• Convincing CFOs that GenAI’s value may not appear on the balance sheet (21:25)

“The moral of the story is: The closer CIOs stick to the CEO, the easier it’s going to be to help guide the rest of the C-suite through technology uncertainty.” (6:26)

This year, the vast majority of CEOs are shifting strategies. At the core of these changes lie digitalization and technology, which introduce unprecedented responsibilities — and opportunities — in the CIO-CEO relationship. Listen now as Gartner Senior Principal Analyst Jennifer Carter shares exclusive best practices and insights on:

• Addressing profit needs via productivity and technology experimentation (3:21)
• Generative AI and creating digital cohesion (5:53)
• How introverted CIOs can build strong connections with extroverted CEOs (8:33)
• Getting critical one-on-one time with busy CEOs (11:59)
• A top mistake CIOs should avoid with CEOs (21:20)

Jennifer Carter is a senior principal analyst in the Executive Leadership of Digital Business (ELDB) practice. She advises executives on how to navigate C-suite dynamics — in particular building effective engagement with CEOs, creating high-performing, collaborative teams, and influencing stakeholders. Jennifer also covers changing culture through the art of culture hacking and taking a people-first approach to enterprise change communications. Furthermore, Jennifer discusses key topics regarding the future of work, such as leadership in remote and hybrid environments and implementing a human-centric work design. Prior to Gartner, Jennifer studied power dynamics within Chinese imperial courts at the University of Florida and spent years in Gartner’s Executive Programs organization. She has a passion for evaluating complex organizational and leadership challenges and uses her diverse background to inspire executives to think outside of the box.

CIOs are largely determining the organization’s future. Their technology investments can drive — or derail — critical business outcomes. However, organizations must first address a range of challenges to ensure ROI:

• Which AI experimentation risks are worth taking?
• What use cases should be prioritized?
• How does the organization create lasting business value?

This podcast addresses each of these challenges, as well as the three key actions CIOs need to take when introducing new technology into their organization.

Podcast highlights:

• Three major technology trends in 2024 (1:43)
• Four pillars for onboarding new technologies, like AI (6:31)
• How CIOs can mitigate risks from technology investments (10:38)
• The challenges of scaling AI and how to balance workforce implications (16:43)
• Take Three: Three actions CIOs should take when introducing new technologies into the organization (20:48)

Episode highlights:

• Critical differences between AI and generative AI (05:11 - 06:24)
• Four AI topics CIOs must prioritize when educating teams (06:36 - 08:07)
• Why AI literacy is starkly different from typical tech-training (08:25 - 11:08)
• How to tailor AI education for non-technical employees and executives (11:52 - 15:05)
• How to solve common challenges when rolling out an AI literacy program (16:01 - 20:00)
• Three steps to launch your AI literacy program (20:30 - 23:17)

AI experimentation is rapidly scaling to implementation across the enterprise. For CIOs, developing a comprehensive AI literacy initiative throughout the organization is now a tactical and strategic imperative.

Erick Brethenoux is Gartner’s Artificial Intelligence Chief of Research. He specializes in AI techniques, decision intelligence and applied cognitive computing. Erick guides organizations on the strategic, organizational and technology aspects of using AI as a driving force for growth. In particular, his research focuses on the operationalization of AI techniques and practices, AI engineering, and next-generation decision intelligence systems.

This episode explores:

• What is franchised digital delivery? (01:45)
• What challenges does this model pose for CIOs and other CxOs? (07:25)
• How do you sell a franchise digital delivery model to someone who is not willing to buy it? (10:15)
• What are the three fundamental aspects of franchised digital delivery? (14:25)
• What steps should you take to start? (18:45)

In this podcast episode, we delve into the evolving landscape of technology leadership and its impact on business dynamics as seen through the lens of franchised digital delivery, which is about technology management as well as business innovation and strategy. We explore the changing expectations that CEOs and other CxOs have for their CIOs, as well as the CIOs’ vision for their own leadership and the direction of their IT teams. Join us as we unravel these complex changes and provide insights into the future of technology leadership.

This episode explores: 

• How far off is the day that we wake up and go to work for a machine — and is that what we want? (01:19)
• What are some dangerous or unexamined assumptions leaders are making about AI? (05:37)
• How do we prepare for and think about the consequences of our human-machine relationships? (08:15)
• The need for an equal and opposite focus on human expertise and skills, not just machine expertise and skills (12:05)
• There is a growing shift from designing machines to attract attention to building intimate human-machine relationships (16:15)
• How do we design for better and healthier human-machine relationships? (20:50)

Mary Mesaglio is a Distinguished Vice President Analyst in Gartner’s Executive Leadership of Digital Business team. Mary’s work focuses on digital-era culture transformation, emphasizing executive teams’ roles in driving change, innovation and digital transformation. With a keen interest in the intersection of psychology, neuroscience and behavioral economics, Mary’s research aims to apply these disciplines in corporate settings. A frequent and engaging keynote speaker, Mary effectively communicates complex concepts to a broad audience, aiding organizations in harnessing behavioral science for effective leadership and change.

The rapidly developing world of AI is shifting the way we live, work and interact — with one another and with machines. Gartner analyst Mary Mesaglio explores this shift and what it means for leadership’s approach to both human and machine talent. Mary also discusses vital factors for healthy and beneficial human-machine relationships, provides key questions to consider as we approach unexplored territory, and focuses on how leadership can boost machine capability and the human experience.

This episode explores:

• What is “play” in the context of work? (01:32)
• What are the pitfalls to avoid when designing “play” at work? (05:35)
• What steps can CIOs take to intentionally design “play” that drives engagement? (09:09)
• Can you share a success story or a case study of integrating “play at work”? What were the key takeaways? (13:12)
• What are the first three steps CIOs can do after this podcast to start the art of play? (16:42)

CIOs continue to face serious employee well-being issues, with burnout, stress, fatigue and isolation all still on the rise in the workplace. A focus purely on finding purpose in work for most employees isn’t enough. Instead, as this session shows, CIOs can identify ways employees derive meaning from a sense of play at work.

In this episode of the CIO Mind podcast, we delve into the transformative journey of allyship, exploring how and why leaders should actively advocate for marginalized groups within workplaces and broader communities. The conversation aims to enlighten those unfamiliar with allyship and to motivate those already on this path, addressing the impactful roles individuals can play in fostering inclusivity and support. Listeners will gain insights into evolving their perspectives, embracing learning opportunities after mistakes and constructing an inclusive environment, empowering them to be advocates for change within their spheres of influence.

This episode explores: 

• Understanding allyship, beginning with the foundational language used to describe identity (01:20)
• Overcoming fear in order to become an ally — and the benefits of doing so (08:00)
• The awkward but necessary mistakes we make on our allyship journey (11:10)
• How Clark County’s CIO used an allyship journey map to encourage allyship (13:43)
• Three take-aways to be a better ally today (21:20)

Tori Paulman is a Research Analyst on Gartner’s Digital Workplace team. Tori focuses on ensuring that employees have a validating, supportive and engaging experience with work.