The Era of Autonomization Requires CIOs to Adopt an Exponential IT Mindset, According to New Report From Info-Tech Research Group

According to the firm's latest research, as autonomization ushers in the next transformation of the business landscape, CIOs and IT leaders can gain prominence by adopting an exponential mindset or risk having their services commoditized and driven to obsolescence.

TORONTO, June 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - For more than 40 years, information technology has significantly transformed businesses, from the computerization of operations to the digital transformation of business models. As technological disruption continues to accelerate, global IT research and advisory firm Info-Tech Research Group is flagging that a world of exponential business opportunity is within reach for organizations. The firm's latest research, Adopt an Exponential IT Mindset, highlights the recent shifts and outlines how CIOs and IT leaders can progress their IT practices to the top of the maturity ladder.

"Newly emerging technologies such as generative AI, quantum computing, 5G cellular networks, and next-generation robotics are enabling autonomous business capabilities," says Jack Hakimian, senior vice president of research development at Info-Tech Research Group. "The role of IT has evolved throughout the past couple of generations to enable business transformations. In the autonomization era, it will have to evolve again. IT will have a new mission, an adapted governance structure, innovative capabilities, and an advanced partnership model."

Major technology-driven business transformations have occurred over the past two decades. In the 1980s, this transformation was called "computerization," where the use of computer devices, networks, and applications became widespread, focusing on improving the efficiency of back-office tasks. The "digitalization" transformation occurred in the 2000s. As the world became connected through the internet, new digitally enabled business models emerged in the enterprise. For example, orders were now being received online, and many products and services were partially or fully digitized for online fulfillment.

Newly emerging technologies and business realities are ushering in the next business transformation: autonomization. As digitalization accelerates, a post-pandemic world with a primarily online workforce and digitally transformed enterprise business models now enters an era where more business capabilities become autonomous, with humans at the center of a loop that is gradually becoming larger.

"The adoption of digitalized business models has accelerated during the pandemic. Post-pandemic, it is unlikely for adoption to recede," adds Hakimian. "With more business applications ported to the cloud and more data available online, digital-first organizations have started to envisage a next wave of automation."

Info-Tech's blueprint highlights findings from its 2022 Tech Trends survey, which showed that 63% of IT leaders plan to use AI within their organizations to automate repetitive, low-level tasks by the end of 2023.

"The release of the ChatGPT prototype in November 2022 set a record for the fastest user growth, reaching 100 million active users just two months after it launched," explains Hakimian. "We foresee that AI adoption will accelerate significantly, and its use will extend to more complex tasks."

The firm's research shows how the role of IT must evolve during the autonomization transformation as it did through the previous two generational shifts. In the 2020s, IT professionals will become business advisors and enable the establishment of autonomous yet differentiated business processes and capabilities. This era will bring enormous opportunities for organizations, coupled with enormous risks.

"While some analysts have been quick to announce the demise of the IT department and the transition of the role of IT to the business, the budgets CIOs control have continued to rise steadily over time," Hakimian says. "In a high-risk, high-reward endeavor to make business processes autonomous, the role of IT will continue to be pivotal, because while everyone in the organization will rush to seize the value opportunity, the technology risk will be left for IT to manage."

Info-Tech's newly published blueprint explores "Exponential IT," which represents a necessary change in a CIO's focus to lead through the next paradigm shift. The firm suggests there are three key areas that lead to exponential IT:

• Exponential Risk – Autonomous processes will integrate with human-led processes, creating risks to business continuity, information security, and quality of delivery. Supplier power will exacerbate business risks.
• Exponential Reward – The efficiency gains and new value chains created through artificial intelligence, robotics, and additive manufacturing will be very significant. Most of this value will be realized through the augmentation of human labor.
• Exponential Demand – Autonomous solutions for productivity and back-office applications will eventually become commoditized and provided by a handful of large vendors. There will, however, be a proliferation of in-house algorithms and workflows to autonomize the middle and front office, offered by a busy landscape of industry-centric capability vendors.

The blueprint further explains that exponential IT involves IT leading the cognitive reengineering of the organization with evolved practices for the following applications:

• IT Governance
• Asset Management
• Vendor Management
• Data Management
• Business Continuity Management
• Information Security Management

"Our research has shown that companies that are more digitally mature have higher growth than the industry average. In these companies, the CIO is part of the executive management team," explains Hakimian. "And while the role of the CIO is generally tied to their mandate within the organization, we have seen their role progress from doer to leader as IT climbs the maturity ladder."

As companies strive to succeed in the next phase of technology-driven transformation, CIOs have an opportunity to demonstrate their business leadership. To do so, they will have to provide exceptionally mature services while owning business targets.

The concept of exponential IT is also the primary focus for the firm's upcoming IT conference, Info-Tech LIVE, which is scheduled for September 19-21, 2023, at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Keynote speakers, which include Geoffrey Hinton, "the godfather of AI," and Chris Barton, founder and creator of Shazam, have recently been revealed.

Download the Adopt an Exponential IT Mindset blueprint for full access to the research and insights on how CIOs can enable their organizations to thrive through the next paradigm shift.

For more information about Info-Tech Research Group or to access the latest research, visit infotech.com and connect via LinkedIn and Twitter.

Info-Tech Research Group is one of the world's leading information technology research and advisory firms, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals. The company produces unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. For 25 years, Info-Tech has partnered closely with IT teams to provide them with everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.

Media professionals can register for unrestricted access to research across IT, HR, and software and over 200 IT and industry analysts through the firm's Media Insiders program. To gain access, contact [email protected].

SOURCE Info-Tech Research Group