“As AI becomes integral to business strategy, CIOs are being forced to reconsider how and where it’s optimal to deploy compute resources. The need for low latency, cost efficiency, and compliance in AI applications is driving a rapid shift toward hybrid and multi-cloud strategies. For IT leaders, this means 2025 will be a pivotal year for a comprehensive realignment of their infrastructure with the realities of the AI era.”
Enterprise IT in 2025 is entering a period of profound reinvention as CIOs push AI beyond isolated functions, wrestle with the immature foundations of agentic AI, and escalate efforts to counter suddenly looming post-quantum threats. Futurum’s Q2 2025 CIO Insights survey reveals 89% of IT leaders driving AI for strategic transformation, 80% elevating quantum-resilient security to board-level priority, and 71% rethinking optimal cloud environments under intensifying AI workload pressures.
Three primary reasons are driving this change.
Dion Hinchcliffe is a distinguished thought leader, IT expert, and enterprise architect, celebrated for his strategic advisory with Fortune 500 and Global 2000 companies. With over 25 years of experience, Dion works with the leadership teams of top enterprises, as well as leading tech companies, in bridging the gap between business and technology, focusing on enterprise AI, IT management, cloud computing, and digital business. He is a sought-after keynote speaker, industry analyst, and author, known for his insightful and in-depth contributions to digital strategy, IT topics, and digital transformation. Dion’s influence is particularly notable in the CIO community, where he engages actively with CIO roundtables and has been ranked numerous times as one of the top global influencers of Chief Information Officers. He also serves as an executive fellow at the SDA Bocconi Center for Digital Strategies.
My take: The next breakout business apps won’t look like apps at all.
No dashboards. No portals. No bloated ERP screens.
Just AI agents + APIs quietly doing the work inside Slack, Teams, email, ...browser, LOB systems, etc.
Sales wants deals pre-qualified before they open the CRM.
Sometimes, it will be the little things that help people and organizations get the most out of AI…
Fascinating: Maryland becomes first state govt to try to ship a textfile to help LLMs navigate government services (llms.txt)
As CIOs look to scale AI, governance and control matter. In his latest analysis for @TheFuturumGroup, @dhinchcliffe shares how Smartsheet is evolving into a strategic execution platform that connects... people, data, and AI. Read the full CIO Take here:
CIO Take: Smartsheet's Intelligent Work Management as a Strategic Execution Platform
CIO-focused analysis of Smartsheet’s Intelligent Work Management: agentic AI, governance, security posture, and competitive implications.
futurumgroup.com
@dhinchcliffe #CIOChat A4 - First you have to build trust. You can't maintain what you don't spend time building. A shared purpose is equally important. People have to trust enough to disagree early ...and understand where you are going so they weigh in on the right things.
#CIOChat Good chat today. Join us at 2pm ET next Thursday. Topic: GPU Economics
It’s been 10 months of our chat topic movie tie-ins. Hope you enjoy them. Submit topic ideas and invite your ...colleagues!
#CIOChat Q4: Endgame: A leadership model where teams move fast, disagreements are surfaced early, and alignment comes from shared purpose + not endless meetings.
What does your post-consensus ...operating model look like, and how do you maintain trust while moving at modern speed?
#CIOChat Q3: CIOs increasingly pivot to decision clarity, role authority, pre-declared principles, and fast escalation paths instead of universal agreement.
What new leadership practices are you ...using to make decisive calls without alienating partners or creating political debt?
@CPetersen_CS “Too much ownership mentality.”
Yes, I’ve seen this + normally it’s a good thing when solving problems, but it’s a big challenge when many stakeholders think it means ...“everything my way.”
The other challenge in consensus management. 😉
#CIOChat
A1 & A2) I am probably the worst at these questions, since I've mostly been in orgs that wouldn't know consensus if it bit them. Neither extreme really works, and too much "ownership" mentality ...creates ugly pathologies too. #ciochat
#CIOChat Q2: We each have examples: Roadmaps stalled waiting for decisions, initiatives blocked by a stakeholder, or steering committees that meet monthly while competitors ship weekly.
What ...real-world bottlenecks have you seen where consensus-based leadership harmed outcomes?
#CIOChat Q1: Consensus management is breaking down as decision velocity becomes a competitive necessity. Markets shift too fast, AI accelerates everything, and alignment cycles can’t keep up.
...Where are you seeing consensus hampering the org most + where is it no longer tenable?
Hoping everyone had a restful New Year. Joining #CIOChat from Portugal, where it’s finally getting a little colder.
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