Dive Brief:
- More than three in four tech leaders said driving measurable enterprise value is the top priority in their role, not just running tech systems, Deloitte’s 2026 Global Tech Leadership Study found. CIOs and other tech executives report their roles have expanded beyond technology expertise, according to the survey of 660 senior tech executives.
- Amid broader enterprise AI adoption, tech-focused C-suite positions are growing, with 71% of organizations reporting that they now have five or more tech leaders.
- Tech executives’ biggest challenge is no longer control, but rather coordination of an organization’s tech strategy, said Anjali Shaikh, managing director and leader of the Global Chief Information Officer Program and U.S. Technology Executive Programs at Deloitte, in an email. “The CIOs who rise to this moment will be the ones who can orchestrate across that system, make trade-offs transparent, and tie every major decision back to enterprise value, not just AI progress.”
Dive Insight:
Enterprise questions about AI implementation, its scope and strategic approach have all landed on the CIO seat. Pressured by the technology's rapid pace, executive boards have added more roles focused on guiding the technology strategy.
Tech leaders are now tasked with shaping strategy, leading organizationwide change, training AI-ready teams and driving enterprise-wide outcomes, Deloitte’s study found.
In the last five years, CIOs and other tech leaders have taken on new responsibilities such as reporting financial ROI to CFOs and CEOs, taking on enterprise-wide AI strategy as a discipline separate from product-focused AI and translating value to the board, Shaikh said.
“Organizations expect their CIOs to pair deep technical depth with enterprise-wide leadership,” Shaikh said. “The ability to mobilize stakeholders, manage trade-offs and translate AI ambition into measurable business value is just as important — and expected — as tech expertise.”
More than four-fifths of tech leaders reported they’re confident that they can scale AI, but there is a gap between confidence and readiness, Shaikh said. Three-quarters of tech executives said it will require fundamental change in their operating model to scale AI, and 42% reported low or no ROI on their AI investments.
The pressure to prove ROI on AI projects is weighing on some enterprise tech leaders. In a recent Writer study, 61% reported that they fear losing their job if they fail to lead their organization through the AI transition.
But enterprises have yet to find clean terms for proving ROI on AI projects, Shaikh said. Many boards are accepting different standards, like a directional view and identified uncertainties that are reviewed quarterly. Proving ROI on AI projects will be the defining test of this generation of tech leaders, she said.
CIOs are in the position to identify and build strategy for the conditions that will create value for their organizations. ROI can and should be based on an organization’s specific conditions, she said, but many tech leaders haven’t built the foundation to match their AI ambitions.
“CIOs are accountable for enterprise value, not just technology performance and the ones who truly internalize that distinction are the ones who will light the way forward,” she said.
