The breakneck pace of change in IT has thrown long-term strategic planning into question. As the year heads toward its final stretch, CIOs have been given the tall task of helping organizations respond to the most recent technological advances — without losing sight of the bigger picture.
AI will render plans stretching two or more years into the future outdated, while even one-year plans would be “susceptible to disruption,” according to a CGS Immersive report. In July, McKinsey cited AI chip development as a factor complicating long-term plans. A month later, Grant Thornton said six- to eight-week cycles were replacing multiyear projects.
But IT leaders would be mistaken to cope with this shift by becoming shortsighted, Kristie Grinnell, EVP and CIO at TD Synnex, an IT solutions aggregator and distributor, told CIO Dive.
“We still need a vision that looks out several years so the business understands where technology is headed and how it supports our growth strategy,” Grinnell said. “What has changed is the way we build flexibility into those plans.”
This year, shorter IT planning cycles have become more important, as more companies have made the jump from learning about generative AI to actually adopting it, said Tony Dinola, technology modernization principal at Grant Thornton, reflecting on the firm’s clientele. AI aligns with a deployment strategy based on use cases, so companies can deploy the technology for one scenario, evaluate it and then iterate.
This shift doesn’t mean companies are forgoing enterprise technologies that cannot be fully deployed in the short term. Investments in AI application software, a category that encompasses CRM and ERP, will soar to nearly $270 billion next year, according to Gartner.
Such tools can be implemented in a modularized way that focuses on narrowing the project scope and measuring value in quicker deployments, Dinola said, which lets companies pivot if short-term value targets are not being met.
“If you're not getting end-user adoption, or the technology is not driving the value that is anticipated, [you have] the ability to recognize that faster and shift gears if and when needed,” Dinola told CIO Dive.
TD Synnex uses frameworks that allow space to pivot, instead of roadmaps that don’t, to achieve flexibility, Grinnell said. Long-term vision provides foundation and direction, while shorter and interactive planning horizons layered on top allows the organization to stay agile.
The frameworks are “living documents that can adjust” alongside the market, customers and staff, she said. Another way to create flexibility is to define success in terms of outcomes rather than attach desired results to specific tools. Locking a strategy into a specific tool can hamper the ability to use new capabilities as they emerge.
Any flexibility tactic, however, is dependent on the organization’s talent and culture, Grinnell said.
“When teams are curious,” Grinnell said, “when they’re encouraged to learn, experiment, and adapt, the whole organization becomes more resilient and ready to take advantage of new opportunities.”
A faster future
AI is expected to continue developing at an exponential rate, with UN Trade and Development projecting the global market will increase 25-fold between 2023 and 2033. Planning cycles and deployments are likely to speed up, too – especially, Dinola said, if new technology makes testing, validation, and other steps quicker.
For IT leaders, the key to keeping up is to continue modernizing the department’s role in the organization.
Over the past decade, CIOs have transformed their roles from back-office technician to key business partner. AI, in particular, has elevated some tech chiefs’ responsibilities to the board level, as technological literacy becomes a must-have.
“Frankly, from a CIO's perspective, you really need a seat at the table,” said Dinola, adding that Grant Thornton still sees structures in which CIOs aren't top-tier executives.. “It's going to continue to be critical that they're involved in those discussions and decision making.”
The concept of IT leaders as partners also enables flexibility. Communicating across departments is an essential part of change management.
“Flexibility doesn’t mean a free-for-all,” Grinnell said, as fast-paced planning and deployment still need to align with businesswide principles and priorities, as well as security measures. Having the right people and culture in place is also critical.
“Every IT leader is a business leader,” Grinnell said. “And when this happens, IT planning moves at the pace of business.”
