TOMAS NIELSEN, CHAIRMAN GARTNER
IT SYMPOSIUM/XPO
‘CIOs must lead in a way that prepares their organizations for the future’
Shaping Today, Defining Tomorrow
At the time of going to press for this special edition, Gartner IT Symposium/ITXpo 2024 was almost completely sold out. Once again, in November, several thousand IT leaders from both the public and private sectors will gather to exchange ideas with Gartner analysts—and with each other—on the impact of technology on business and society.
This year, as in the past, AI will be a key focus of presentations and discussions, as we learned from our traditional round of consultations with analysts for this edition. Artificial Intelligence, however, will not be the only theme, but it remains the technology that still tops the hype cycle, though clearly moving towards the Trough of Disillusionment.
While last year’s edition was dominated by questions and wonderment, this year’s attention will primarily be on the practical implications and actual use cases. AI is not going anywhere, as evidenced by the billions being invested on all fronts. However, most of the current applications fall under the category that Gartner last year dubbed “everyday AI.” Gamechanging AI is in development, but it will take longer.
The CIO plays a central role in this. What that role is will be discussed across a wide range of program components under the theme “Leading Today, Shaping Tomorrow”. As always, the IT Symposium agenda will be complemented by popular local events, including this year’s Holland House, the Belux House, the analyst session, and the public sector lunch.
In this special edition of Dutch IT Leaders/Dutch IT Channel, both Gartner analysts and representatives from the technology sector will share insights into the topics that will take center stage this fall. We wish you much inspiration, and look forward to seeing you in Barcelona!
Marco van der Hoeven
Governments face major challenges due to rapidly evolving technology
Florian Tack has been working at Gartner Consulting for almost eight years, which operates in conjunction with Gartner Research as an accelerator of results on critical strategic initiatives. Gartner Consulting provides independent fact-based advice and supports clients by conducting benchmarks, determining strategies, and ensuring quality during implementation.
Florian is responsible for consulting advice to the public sector in Belgium, focusing on the Flemish government, the Brussels government, and public transport organizations in Belgium.
Governments operate in a complex geopolitical landscape with various economic challenges. This enhances the focus on controlling technology costs and makes it necessary to be sufficiently adaptive and resilient. “A rapidly changing technology market and challenges such as the War for IT Talent and modernizing legacy systems, particularly in the public sector, create a significant need for independent strategic guidance,” says Florian Tack.
At our public sector clients, two topics are top-of-mind: 1) How to leverage the capabilities of Data & AI to improve both internal operations and the service delivery to citizens and businesses? 2) How can we flexibly source these technologies and establish suitable partnerships with suppliers?
AI and the importance of the right foundations
Many organizations are questioning what the ever-accelerating evolution of digital technology trends means for them. Moreover, the expectation and hype around AI are enormous. “At many clients, including in the public sector, there is an awareness that AI has enormous potential but also
contains risks. What I expected was that government organizations would quickly spring into action on this. But in reality, they are proceeding cautiously, focusing on experimenting and thinking about which use cases have the most added value in their situation and are feasible to implement.”
Governments are investing in digital platforms and assistants to offer more targeted and inclusive services to citizens and businesses. “Precisely there, we see many applications where AI can make a difference. But apart from the various use cases, you see that many
bilities, and how governance should be set up. Specifically, within the government, I notice a lower maturity level.”
Gartner Consulting plays a unique role in this. “We never implement solutions nor roll them out. We support and advise organizations on these strategic issues and strengthen their own teams. It’s not that we give advice and then leave. We co-create with our clients and base our advice on best practices and benchmarking insights. We then ensure that it is well implemented in the organization so they can work with it and realize it. Often, we stay on board during the implemen -
‘Many organizations are questioning what the ever-accelerating evolution of digital technology trends means for them.’
organizations struggle with the basics. You can experiment with AI and roll out some use cases here and there, but if you don’t have your foundations and data management in order, you will never realize the benefits of AI on a large scale.”
On that last point, the foundations, he notices that there are many questions from clients. “These questions are about architecture, data platforms, but also how they should organize themselves, which roles are needed within the organization around data management, how to assign the right responsi -
tation period as a quality assurance partner to ensure they continue taking the right actions.”
“To give a concrete example, we are currently helping several organizations develop a target Data & AI operating model. Here, we think about what profiles you need, what activities they should carry out, with whom they should interact, etc. We also think about governance boards that need to be set up within the organization and which business and IT stakeholders should participate.”
Moreover, responsible handling of
Data & AI is crucial for creating digital trust with citizens and businesses, especially for governments. “Many governments are very conscious of this; they are rather risk averse. That’s why they might be a bit slower. They prefer to think carefully first and ensure that what they do is correct, permissible, and ethically responsible before rolling out solutions. We see the establishment of a Data & AI Ethics Board in several government organizations.”
Technology sourcing and the balance between flexibility & compliance
In addition to the challenges and opportunities around Data & AI, we also see a second major challenge that is top-of-mind: how to flexibly source
these technologies and establish suitable partnerships?
Several considerations come into play when sourcing. “The need for reliability and stability of suppliers is crucial for governments. They want to work with partners who can perform consistently not only now but also in the future. Additionally, the scalability and flexibility of solutions play an important role. Governments are looking for suppliers who can grow with them and adapt to changing needs and circumstances.” Another important aspect is the degree of innovation. “Suppliers must be able to offer advanced technologies that contribute to the digital transformation of government services. Costs are, of course, a consideration, but increasingly we see that total value and
long-term benefits outweigh the initial price.”
Finally, compliance with regulations, such as NIS2, is an important factor. “Governments want to ensure that their suppliers comply with all legal requirements and ethical standards, especially regarding data protection and privacy.”
“We see in Belgium that many governments have outsourced different parts of their IT operations and infrastructure to one party in the past. In recent years, we’ve seen a trend towards a best-of-breed approach, where the number of external partners that need to collaborate has increased significantly. To ensure end-to-end service delivery between these different partners, it is necessary to have a clear strategy around Service Integration and Management (SIAM). Moreover, we notice that many organizations that have outsourced in the past are beginning to develop more skills in-house. They are considering which functions they should certainly continue to perform themselves, especially those that are strategic for a government in the areas of IT, digital, and data.”
“In this dynamic market, we help governments by advising them on developing a clear sourcing strategy, defining clear criteria and benchmarks for supplier selection, and setting up a strategy for supplier management and SIAM. This way, they can make well-informed decisions and establish sustainable collaborations.”
Florian Tack
Beyond the Hype
More than ever, it is important for the CIO to bridge the gap between technology and business. Technology, and not just the ubiquitous AI, has a profound impact on organizations and business models. Distinguished VP Analyst Debra Logan from Gartner deals with this daily and will also discuss it with C-level executives during the IT Symposium.
“
Since the last symposium, I believe we have moved from the peak of the hype to the other side of the curve,” says Debra Logan about AI. “This always happens in the hype cycle. What stood out the most was that there was a lot of talk about AI last year, but many clients were waiting. It seems that this year things have shifted. There is serious interest in every industry. At the same time, we saw the first failures and the first successes. Executive leadership teams and boards now see AI in their future.”
“Many of them want to learn, and at the executive and board level, many people have experimented with it themselves. I’ve never seen anything like this before. No one on directorship ever said ‘I experimented with Blockchain.’ At the same time, we saw the escalation of risks and the growing perception of risks after high-profile incidents.”
Data
She emphasizes that Gartner is trying to make it clear to people that there are many more types of AI beyond generative AI. “It’s just another analytical technique that relies on data. You need to have the right data.” And the successful case studies are there.
‘The main challenge emerging for C-level executives is of a political nature’
A telling case study reveals that a company has generated $500 million over the years using AI. Another Gartner client, an insurance company, went from the perception that they earned $7 million with it to discovering that they actually generated $24 million. The main challenge for C-level executives is of a political nature. “We see a gap between executives like CIOs, CTOs, and Chief Innovation Officers — everyone wants a piece of this. Because AI-ready data is crucial, CDOs certainly play a role. However, it has become highly politicized.”
Talent
Another major challenge is how they should talk about value. Additionally, the talent problem plays a role. “This happens every time; it’s similar to when enterprise architecture was the trend. Everyone was an enterprise architect then. Now people are putting AI on their resumes and trying to gain experience with it. All service providers are suddenly scouring the market for the available talent.”
“But we advise our end users that for some of this work, you don’t need a PhD in data science. You can also train people internally because most of the talent is going to tech companies and service providers. End users are struggling with organizational models and individual roles. In data and analytics, we need compliance people and lawyers, and many organizations lack that flexibility. Expanding AI talent is possible. Someone who already understands data and analytics just learns another technique. The advice I give people is to train themselves and grow their own talent.”
Business Value
More than ever, the role of the CIO is to bridge the gap between technology and business. “The change is more about the individuals doing the work. The CDO is responsible for data governance, which is necessary for AI, and no one will fight over data governance. They must talk about the data, so their role doesn’t change unless they get involved in strategy discussions, which they should also do. CIOs and CTOs are now more often involved in strategic discussions. For the CIO, it’s about AI-ready data and advising end users when to use certain analytical techniques.” But it’s not just AI that’s on the CIO’s agenda. “Business value remains an important topic, as does talent.”
The topic of diversity and inclusivity is also related to data and analytics. “However, HR is very poorly developed in this area. Everyone says that talent is important. This brings it to the forefront: why don’t we provide these people with the right recruitment tools? All of this can be improved by generative AI or plain old data. Have we achieved our diversity, equity, and inclusivity goals? This isn’t just about
looking different; it means many things. How do you track that?”
Challenges
“Overall, the state of diversity and inclusion within data and analytics is mixed. Although there’s a lot of talk and some progress has been made, there are still major challenges. Companies are more aware of the need for diversity and inclusion, but practical implementation often lags. Many organizations have goals and initiatives, but they struggle with measuring results and ensuring sustainable progress.”
“There is more emphasis on using data to track efforts on Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI). However, HR departments often lack advanced analytical capabilities, limiting their ability to make data-driven decisions. AI and generative AI can help improve recruitment tools and track DEI metrics, but adoption
varies. Some companies have made progress, but others are still catching up.”
Transformation
Another trend is that infrastructure and operations are increasingly moving to the cloud.
“Younger people entering these fields are not as interested in on-premises infrastructure operations; it’s all with technology companies now. There’s quite a bit of consolidation in the field of data and analytics. She thinks we are still in the long-term transformation to use data more effectively. “The pendulum is still swinging towards more data usage and more data democratization. There’s a way to do that because you’re facing the hardest aspect: getting people to change. It comes down to: What does it mean to be data-driven?”
Debra Logan
‘ Leading today, shaping tomorrow’
This year’s theme at Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo is ‘Leading Today, Shaping Tomorrow’. Chairman Tomas Nielsen says: “It means that CIOs today must lead in a way that prepares their organizations for the future.” The role of IT has fundamentally changed as CIO leadership becomes a crucial part of shaping that future. Therefore, they must look beyond IT and possess a broad enterprise vision.
“
If we take a step back, we see that even before 2019, we were already talking about the digitalization of business. There was already a lot of interest in that. But the combined impact of COVID and AI or generative AI has brought it to the forefront for many more companies. The impact of changes is often overestimated in the short term and underestimated in the long term. And what I think we are seeing now is attention to the entire digitalization trajectory that started years ago.”
He sees a similar trend with Gen AI and the transformation of enterprises into digital businesses. “Not digital in the sense of fully digital without anything physical, but a situation where technology is ubiquitous in every part of every enterprise. Technology is being used to enhance the value of a wide range of businesses. We see that everywhere.”
Business units
All this is causing a shift in the role of IT. “IT used to be in the back office but is now much more a facilitator of digitalization. We use the term ‘distributed dig-
‘IT is increasingly becoming part of strategy. The transformation of IT to enable enterprise-wide digital delivery is a typical task for the CIO, with all the consequences that entails’
ital delivery by design,’ where technology is embedded within the business units. Some of my colleagues have conducted research showing that more and more executives are deploying full-time equivalents in their departments for digital work and IT delivery.”
“This changes the role of IT because it no longer has a monopoly but has to collaborate with these distributed organizations. This also changes the way the IT business model should look because the old model of ‘you ask, we deliver’ no longer works.”
He sees significant changes in business models. “IT is increasingly becoming part of strategy. The transformation of IT to enable enterprise-wide digital delivery is a typical task for the CIO, with all the consequences that entails. Yes, you still need to run a data center and, if necessary, be able to deploy a large-scale ERP system. But at the same time, you also need to do something else on top of that. In many ways, you see that the role of IT is no longer as easy to describe as it used to be.”
Profile
What does this mean for the profile of the CIO? “It’s not just the CIO but also the executive two or three layers below. As IT becomes more distributed, you have to work with additional resources more often. I started in IT in the early 1990s. My first job was COBOL programming on a mainframe. We were placed in a room, and the project took six to nine months before we had anything done. Now, most of what we did back then could probably be obtained as a service from the internet.”
So, IT people need to know the technical aspects, but they also need to be skilled in orchestration. “At the symposium, some of the sessions we have are actually about the future of business applications and how they should be built in the future. In the past, we talked about ‘buy versus build.’ Maybe now we should talk about buying versus blending versus building. It’s not just about buying or building; orchestration becomes important. When you think about the implications for everyone in IT, the binary choice of buying or building may no longer exist. It should be more about gradual changes. The landscape is much more varied.”
AI
All of this is addressed at the IT Symposium, which he will chair. “AI is not just last year’s hype; it’s still high on the agenda. Not only as a standalone topic but also in terms of integration. Last year, we talked about AI in the CIO agenda and part of the research in the symposium’s keynote. This year, we’ve done more research into how to describe a company’s AI ambition. What do you want to achieve? This is where we will see more growth in different industries and applications. What are the implications of AI, and where does it actually play a role?”
“I don’t want to say it’s already mature, but it’s starting to come. We’re seeing more questions arise. For example, how do you make the business case for Gen AI? How do you prepare your data for AI? It’s about diving deeper into AI, not just saying it sounds great, but also understanding what it means. We’re conducting workshops with CEOs on the failures, risks, and threats of AI. We’ve gained additional experience this year that encourages us to take further steps. You need to know what it does, what the implications are. What does the future of humanity look like with AI?”
He does want to emphasize that there are other themes besides AI. “In Europe, we’re still dealing with the ongoing war in Ukraine, which means that cybersecurity remains a crucial topic. In Scandinavia, for example, we’ve seen cyberattacks and GPS disruptions, so cybersecurity remains crucial. Sustainability is also an important theme.”
Success
Tomas Nielsen
enough for the CIOs. Managers’ time is precious, so it’s a great success for me to hold a conference where CIOs say, ‘Yes, I’m busy, but it’s worth spending four days in Barcelona.’”
“The second success criterion is when I see people walking around, learning, and interacting with each other. While I don’t want to say I get sad when I see people working on their phones, I feel most successful when I see participants fully engaged in the presentations, paying attention to the speakers, and not just answering emails.”
And when is the IT Symposium successful for him? “I consider it a success when I see people coming and taking the time to listen. The first milestone is when the conference is sold out, which we’ve seen in recent years. And not from a commercial point of view but from a validation perspective. When the conference is sold out, it indicates that the program is interesting
“The third success criterion is when we return, and clients contact us and say, ‘So-and-so saw your presentation. Can you come and do the same for our team?’ This indicates that CIOs found the content valuable enough to want to bring it back to their broader leadership team. So, my success indicators for the event are: people who want to be present, who want to be fully engaged while they’re there, and who want to bring the knowledge to their teams.”
Tomas Nielsen
The future of computing: Two worldviews collide
During Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo, a wide range of current topics will be covered. Some sessions go beyond that, such as those from the Gartner Futures Lab. On the main stage, Frank Buytendijk will shed light on the trends that may or are likely to play a role in the future of computing.
Ahot topic, of course, is AI.
“AI is advancing through all stages at an astonishing speed, as evidenced by most customer conversations,” says Frank Buytendijk, Chief of Research at the Gartner Futures Lab. “Last year was a year of experimenting and trying out; now it is a year of looking very concretely at how we can achieve results from it. One of the areas where this is most practically explored is: how can you increase people’s productivity?”
Especially the step from everyday AI to game-changing AI, as Gartner calls the two variants of AI, is a challenge. “You really have to let go of your assumptions. When you use AI to generate code for an application now and want to move to game-changing AI, you might ask: why are you still generating code at all? Why not just have a conversation with an AI, and at the end of the conversation, something happens?”
“This could also work with a chatbot at a municipality to obtain a permit or subsidy. Or at the KLM service desk to arrange a flight or get your money back. Then you’re really using AI to replace the concept of an ‘application’.”
This touches on the next step, which he sees coming: agents—small pieces of software acting independently of each other, achieving something based on learning principles.
Future of Computing
Such trends touch upon the research Buytendijk is currently working on, which he will present as a Signature Session during IT Symposium in Barcelona. This research stems from the activities at the Gartner Futures Lab,
which has the mission of challenging conventional wisdom. “We are looking a little deeper and more fundamentally at the future. One of those themes is the Future of Computing.”
What’s striking about this theme, according to him, is that the business world is not leading the way. “Companies are much more reactive. Much of the innovation in this area is not coming from behind a desk but is focused on people’s daily lives. It goes beyond what we’ve seen over the past twenty
in the same style, Hyper Machinity. I’m not sure if the word ‘machinity’ exists in this context, but here it is appropriate. Hyper Machinity means that with computing, we remove the human as much as possible from the system. We automate as much as possible to make the world more efficient and productive.”
Hyper Humanity seems to be the opposite. “In this view, we put the human being at the center—moreover, the human becomes the next computing platform. More chips and
‘Last year was a year of experimenting and trying out; now it is a year of looking very concretely at how we can achieve results from AI’
years, namely consumer technology where everyone has their own mobile phone.”
Two Directions
“The next step is that in the coming twenty years, computing will not be consumer-driven, nor business-driven, but driven by evolution. The evolution of humanity and self-evolving machines. Self-learning machines, in other words. And at its core, the Future of Computing is not a technological issue but revolves around worldviews.”
Gartner has developed two possible worldviews that, according to researchers, could be guiding in the Future of Computing. “We call one Hyper Humanity and the other, to keep
more technology will come into our bodies. Increasingly, we will have chips in our bodies or our heads. Elon Musk is already far along with Neuralink, but there are many other initiatives as well.”
Exciting
At first glance, these two worldviews seem to be opposites, but according to Buytendijk, Hyper Machinity and Hyper Humanity are actually complementary. “They both start from the same premise, namely rationality and the assumption that a rational world is a better world. The only question is whether that is desirable.”
“Because rationality and data form only one perspective. You might also want to make decisions relationally or
morally. Not everything can be captured in data. So these two worldviews are behind what is to come in the Future of Computing in terms of new technologies and new cases. So that’s extremely exciting.”
In terms of timing, this could actually start playing out in about fifteen years.
“But what we don’t want in this study is to make very hard predictions—we don’t present a linear timeline. We present waves, but you have to see them as directional—they point in a certain direction. Whether that takes twelve years, fifteen years, or twenty-two years is less interesting to me.”
Limitations
Closer than Hyper Humanity and Hyper Machinity—referred to as Horizon 3 in the research—are Horizon 1 and Horizon 2. “Horizon 1 is the trend that we continue to evolve but increasingly encounter various limitations. Limitations in terms of available electricity, bandwidth, geopolitical constraints. There are limitations on all sides, which at some point could cause the ongoing evolution to stall or at least grow more slowly.”
“So, there is already a huge need for energy-efficient computing and various forms that use less electricity. We believe this will remain a problem in the first horizon over the next three to five years. The first solutions will likely be seen in post-quantum cryptography.”
Quantum then plays an important role in Horizon 2. “When you ask people what the future of computing is, quantum computers are often mentioned. But while quantum certainly has a
place, it is not the only thing. It will be an era where all forms of computing will coexist simultaneously.”
Complexity
“Today, we have computing in the cloud alongside mobile, alongside PCs, and so on. But these are all forms of generic computing that allow you to program all sorts of tasks. In the second horizon, about five to ten years ahead, we will see multiple computing paradigms: classical computing, neuromorphic computing, quantum computing, possibly photonics and
biocomputing, as fundamentally incomparable and incompatible forms of computing.”
“For this, you need a form of orchestration to determine what should happen where. Complexity will increase, costs will increase, but it remains to be seen what the possibilities are. Are they valuable enough that we accept the complexity and extra costs? In any case, we are heading toward a situation in the foreseeable future where various forms of computing will coexist, and that is something companies can already take into account.”
Frank Buytendijk
Digital transformation is an executive responsibility
For years, there has been a discussion about the desired position of the CIO as a member of the executive committee. But never has this question been as relevant as it is now. This is one of the themes Marianne De Muynck, Executive Partner at Gartner, deals with.
“
The types of CIOs exist on a spectrum with two extremes: the CIO with technical responsibilities and the CIO with broader business responsibilities,” says Marianne De Muynck. As the maturity of the company evolves, CIOs gain a ‘seat at the table’; in other words: they become part of the executive committee. In less mature companies, we see that CIOs report to members of the executive committee.”
“The maturity of the IT team goes hand in hand with the maturity of the company. It is the task of the CIO to make the company aware of the value of technology and thus play a bigger role in creating value for the company. Where the CIO has a ‘seat at the table’ the impact on the leadership team is more evident. But how do you get and keep a ‘seat at the table’? The
‘I think it’s good for the mental health of CIOs to take a break, even if it’s just for two days’
answer to this question is very important because everything related to digital and AI should be led from the executive level. In my portfolio, I deal with the entire spectrum of CIOs and the associated problems.”
Leadership
“For more junior CIO’s, we provide not only technical advice but also insights on their leadership and coaching on how they can become stronger leaders in the future. We have fundamental research and tools to guide them in their evolution.”
Strategy
“Initially, we determine the current maturity of the IT organization together with the CIO. Depending
on that maturity, the Executive Partner can better guide the CIO in creating an organization that delivers value for the company. In this story, IT/ business strategy is an important topic: What is the company’s goal, and what skills (people and tools) are needed for that? Where are the gaps, and how can the IT department help fill those gaps by delivering technical solutions? How do you work with the company to develop an IT strategy that is integrated with the business strategy? How will you measure the impact of the strategy? How will you implement the strategy? How do you communicate a strategy to the board, the executive committee, and all layers below? A good strategy helps the IT team evolve from a cost center to a department that delivers value for the company.”
Cost Optimization
Every CIO deals with annual budget discussions. In less mature companies, IT is often seen as a cost center. As an IT organization becomes more mature, the services delivered evolve from a technically defined service to a value-creating service.
“We work with CIOs and their financial controllers to gain better insight into their cost structure and to compare their costs with similar companies or institutions. We also work with our clients to put together a cost optimization program. Cost management is a continuous process of contract and price management, standardization, and optimization of IT and business processes. By tackling cost management as well, CI’s create transparency and thus more trust within the rest of the company.”
Recognition
The CIOs who do have a ‘seat at the table’ must continuously work for that recognition and try to gain partial responsibility for business results. “So, the result of a digital program, for example with artificial intelligence, must be measurable so that
Marianne de Muynck
you get credit for the new revenue and the things that happen because of the work you do.”
“That’s not so easy. You deliver a solution with AI that has an impact, but it’s then within the business. It is therefore crucial that the CIO can measure the added value of his work so he can retain his ‘seat at the table’ and possibly take on a broader role later.”
AI
One of the technologies that will undoubtedly come up again at the IT Symposium this year is AI. “All my clients are really involved with it. But it’s very difficult to get senior executives to take a clear stance on what their actual ambition is regarding artificial intelligence. Even though everyone is working with AI and GenAI, we do not yet see major changes in our daily work. We didn’t expect that either; it takes some time before companies can scale up the opportunities and have a visible impact on business results. However, I do think people realize that the technical evolution is happening very quickly and that they cannot afford to do nothing.”
Data Quality
“In the whole AI and GenAI story, an important point that often comes up is the question of how good your data quality needs to be to run good artificial intelligence. We do not believe that data needs to be perfect, but it does need to be good enough to obtain reliable results.”
Symposium
“At the IT Symposium, we really try to take CIOs out of their daily routine for a while. They can look at what they need to do to strengthen their position and role and to advance the company they work for. The technological side, of course, is also discussed in various sessions during the symposium. Digital maturity and its relationship to a company’s profitability will be highlighted. “We have conducted new research showing that there is a correlation between companies with a mature data and analytics team and higher profitability. That is a very convincing argument to work on your maturity within the analytics team and throughout IT.”
“I was also a CIO and I actually never had time to go to the symposium. But once I was there, I realized how much good information there was and how many good speakers. Not always technological, but speakers who take a step back and think about the problems in the world. And it’s great for networking. I think it’s good for the mental health of CIOs to take a break, even if it’s just for two days. It offers the opportunity to learn new things and meet other people.”
‘ The industry is in the midst of digital transformation’
Rapid technological developments have significant impacts across all sectors. The traditionally conservative industrial sector is no exception. Trends like IoT and AI are making digital transformation a crucial agenda point for CIOs in this sector. At Gartner, analyst Ivar Berntz specializes in automation within this sector.
In the manufacturing sector, digital transformation remains a top priority,” says Ivar Berntz, Research Analyst and Team Manager in the Advanced Manufacturing and Transportation Group at Gartner. “Unlike organizations in the financial sector, such as banks, manufacturers are still working on this transformation.”
Cost optimization and the implementation of technologies like AI are top of the agenda in this sector. One of the trends is the ongoing integration of IT with OT (operational technology, i.e., factory automation). “That is an important topic, and several factors contribute to its relevance. One of them is the Internet of Things (IoT), which has made access to equipment much easier.”
New Opportunities
“In the past, equipment on railways, highways, airports, ports and construction sites was not easily accessible. IoT now enables remote diagnostics, support, and upgrades, opening up new opportunities for IT.”
“Think of modern airplanes; constant monitoring of engines makes scenarios like the disappearance of MH 370 less likely. Similarly, cars today can alert drivers to maintenance needs or fuel levels and even recommend nearby gas stations. This connectivity and real-time data access have revolutionized how we interact with and maintain
equipment, significantly contributing to the integration of IT and OT.”
Machine Clients
He provides an example: “A car I rented, for instance, notified me of nearby gas stations when I was running low on fuel. The first two stations were not appealing, but the third suggestion was convincing enough to make me stop. Later, I met a marketing representative from the gas brand, and he confirmed that the recommendation
increasing integration of OT into our lives, requiring us to interact with more machines and automated processes.”
CIO
This growing digitalization of OT has a significant impact on the role of the CIO. “The responsibilities of the CIO now extend beyond traditional IT and include managing and integrating these new technologies and automated systems. They must ensure seamless operation and security in both IT
‘Cost optimization and the implementation of technologies like AI are top of the agenda in this sector’
system worked thanks to an agreement between the car brand and the gas company.”
“This incident highlights the concept of machine clients, where devices like cars or mobile phones make decisions for us. For instance, KPN has a business line around smoke detectors that send SMS alerts for battery replacement. These automated interactions create new business models that we often engage with without realizing it. Using Alexa to order batteries, for example, shows how voice assistants can limit our choices to certain brands and subtly influence our purchase decisions. This demonstrates the
and OT environments, adapt to new business models, and deal with the complexity of machine-client interactions. The role has evolved into a more strategic one, with an emphasis on leveraging technology to drive business outcomes and create value.”
“We conducted a survey on this shift, which yielded unexpected results. We know you can talk about systems and machines at different levels. For example, you can discuss data analysis and ERP at a high level, while manufacturing execution systems deal with producing specific parts. At an even more detailed level, production control systems manage machines,
and sensors track the individual pieces produced.”
“These levels are often categorized from zero to four. Normally, levels three and four are related to data analysis and ERP systems, which are handled by IT. We asked three different groups — IT staff, OT staff, and factory managers — who they thought was responsible or heavily involved at levels zero to three, which deal with direct control and monitoring of machines. Surprisingly, 75% said IT is responsible or at least heavily involved at all four levels.”
Remarkable
This is remarkable because IT tra -
ditionally was not involved in the choice of machines on the shop floor. “However, these machines now need to communicate using IT languages. Therefore, IT’s role has expanded to setting up and approving machines on the shop floor. Imagine someone buying a new bus and asking whether the engine or transmission communicates in a language that IT systems can understand. This scenario has now extended to new fleets, airplanes, boats, and machines on the shop floor.”
This shift brings new challenges. “For example, when a laptop or mobile phone breaks, you can call the IT department, and they have a service level agreement to ensure a replace -
ment. Applying this level of support to machines on the shop floor is much more complex.”
This expectation stems from how we view consumer electronics: configurable, easily adjustable, and quickly replaceable. “For example, banks offer a standard package of services: transfers, deposits, credit cards. This has led to a desire in other sectors to also have a catalog of products and services that are easy to configure. IT must work with OT to meet these expectations and learn that, unlike laptops, which don’t deteriorate significantly with use (apart from parts like keyboards), machines wear out differently.”
Welding
Cyber-physical systems that combine cyber components with physical actions (moving, welding, assembling) are increasingly programmable with software. “In the past, machines required manual adjustments. Over time, they became numerically controlled, and now small program changes can be made remotely.”
“Robots are evolving in the same way. Robot control systems, analogous to Windows, Linux, or Mac OS, are becoming the norm. This means that machines on the shop floor will increasingly be controlled by software. Factories will transform into more software-driven environments, which will represent a significant shift in industrial operations.”
Automation
Ivar Berntz
There is still some fear on the shop floor of being replaced by automation. “However, the future of work is about adapting to new roles and responsibilities instead of clinging to outdated roles. While jobs will change, they will not disappear. Instead, they will evolve, requiring new skills and creating opportunities for different types of work. It is crucial to address these cultural attitudes and prepare the workforce for the changing landscape, emphasizing the value of new skills and the potential for more meaningful work.”
What is the real problem?
AI is high on the agenda everywhere. But the right questions aren’t always being asked. What is its real added value and which problems does it actually solve? These are the themes Haritha Khandabattu, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner, deals with. “Whatever you do, involve your staff in it.”
At Gartner, Haritha Khandabattu focuses on AI, Generative AI, and software engineering. She speaks daily with C-suite executives and helps them with strategy questions. “The most common question I get is: ‘How can Gen AI solve problems?’ Without really delving into what the problems are exactly, Gen AI is not a miracle solution that can solve all problems. I try to reframe the question: What is the bigger picture? What is the problem you’re trying to solve? Have you thought about an AI strategy and mapped it out within your company’s vision?”
“There are many elements involved in that strategy. You need to think about governance and how you can align this with other departments. I help clients understand that AI is not just about Gen AI. We’ve also published research titled ‘When Should I Not Use Generative AI.’ It was a great success.”
Not new
“In that research, we explain to readers that AI is not new; it has existed in the business market for 25 years. We have facial recognition and speed detection on highways—it’s not a new concept. At Gartner, we’ve divided all AI use cases into twelve different parts, of which generative AI is just one. I help people understand all those different use cases. When I explain these use cases, people often recognize what they need, which is not necessarily generative AI-specific. This aligns with our research. The use of Gen AI in combination with traditional AI techniques can add a lot of value, but Gen AI alone will not solve your problems.”
‘Most AI strategies are based on a technology strategy. They fall short in addressing real human behaviors’
Therefore, a lot of explanation is needed. “Last year, when GPT exploded in popularity, there wasn’t much reliable information available. Many stories were speculative and not based on real data. At Gartner, we collect data and base our insights on that. We don’t just talk about AI, but we also experiment and then evaluate our findings. We recently published a case study. We spoke with them, understood their pain points, what they were doing, how their strategy worked, and published this.”
Human Behaviors
The company in this case study is Vizient. “From all the CIO interviews we’ve conducted before, it turned out that most AI strategies that currently exist are based on a technology strategy or a business strategy. However, they generally fall short in addressing real human behaviors, which can hinder both the acceptance and adoption of technology. This discrepancy can significantly impact a company’s strategic success.”
“What Vizient did was empathize well with the employees, not only on a professional level but also on a personal level. They showed empathy for different roles to understand how generative AI affects employees’ jobs and work-life balance. They involved all employees in discussions about the implications of Gen AI for human-machine relationships and their roles. This approach helped them better understand how employees and their jobs are affected by Gen AI.”
Jobs
“Last year, there were many articles about the fear that Gen AI would take away jobs and that managers would not discuss its implications with employees. Vizient addressed this by involving employees from the start, which improved productivity. Employees knew that the technology was being used to make them more efficient, not to replace them. I always tell my clients that generative AI is useful, but it is not
smarter than people. To use generative AI effectively, you need to know what good looks like. Otherwise, you’ll just accept a whole bunch of code or responses generated by AI.”
Her main message to CIOs is that whatever AI strategy they create for their company, it is crucial to involve their staff. “They need to create communication channels to let people know that they don’t need to be afraid of the technology but should embrace it positively. This will make their lives more efficient and better. Generally, people don’t accept change.”
“Things are not black and white, so people then end up in a negative spiral. This is normal for any revolution. However, after a few years, people learn to live with the technology. The younger generation may learn differently and rely more on technology for creativity than on their own skills. We don’t yet know how this will affect cognitive and creative skills. There is certainly a risk, but I am convinced that people will not invent something that will eventually destroy them.”
Excited
“Our successors will do the same work differently, and that’s okay. That’s how they will learn to do it. It’s not our way, but it’s their way. This often leads to interesting conversations. Our clientele is not afraid; they are excited and eager to see how they can improve the current situation with AI. They understand that it’s not all about AI. There are many outdated systems and non-AI aspects that still need to be well-organized and structured.”
“These conversations become interesting because although AI is part of the solution, there are also other problems that need to be solved. Once you structure things properly, you get clarity on how AI can specifically impact parts of that structure.”
As for the IT Symposium and AI, last year was mainly about the hype. “People were curious about what AI is and how it can affect their work. Now it’s more about practical implementation. People are asking: ‘What can AI actually do? Where can I start? How can I implement it?’ AI remains an important part of the symposium, but other topics like leadership and stakeholder management are also being discussed. The focus has shifted to practical questions about implementation and principles.”
Haritha Khandabattu
‘ Pressure on CIOs is extraordinarily high’
The CIO’s agenda has always been packed, but the challenges facing technology leaders now are extraordinarily high due to a combination of factors such as growth and cost reduction. This year, IT Symposium will once again offer inspiration for C-level executives to leverage technology to achieve the sometimes seemingly contradictory and ambitious business goals.
We’ve had a fantastic year at Gartner,” says Emmanuel Binard, Regional Vice President Belgium & Luxembourg at Gartner. “We have had this year higher than the average growth in the technology sector, which is impressive. We continue to strive to improve our customer journeys by offering our new role-based product focused on the CIO and technology leaders.”
This role-based approach has led to several successful initiatives. “We are developing a similar proposition as we currently have for the CIO, for the CDAO, CISO, Software engineering leaders, etc. For example, we hosted more than 200 leaders in the field of ‘data and analytics’ at our Data Analytics Summit in London. In September, for our security and risk event, we have hosted 30% more clients, and as many invitational attendees as Symposium 4 years ago!”
“We build these communities by bringing customers together at events like ITSymposium but also locally. For example, we organized a CIO roundtable in Brussels and brought together CDO’s in June. With these communities, we can truly support our customers. Although our customers enjoy reading our research, using our tools, and benefiting from our expert sessions, they also want to learn from their peers about the results they have achieved and the pitfalls they encounter. We can provide an impartial and independent safe and structured platform for this.”
Barcelona
The biggest event right now is, of course, IT Symposium/Xpo in Barcelona. This year, the event covers a wide range of topics based on the challenges on the CIO’s agenda. “Earlier this year, we organized an event attended by forty CIOs to discuss their priorities. Additionally, we conducted targeted research to gather data for this event.”
“We see that the questions CIO’s face can vary depending on global conditions such as inflation or geopolitical issues. This year, the focus is both on growth and cost optimization. This dual focus significantly increases the
emerging in this: franchise providers (Co-Lead Digital), middle category (IT and business collaborate), and operators (‘Business avoids IT’). Many customers fall into the category of operators and simply carry out IT department orders. This approach needs to evolve for CIOs to achieve the expected results.”
Fusion Teams
“To achieve the desired results, CIOs need to integrate their activities with business units and form so-called fusion teams. This method provides the speed and effectiveness needed
‘This year, the focus is on both growth and cost optimization. This dual focus significantly increases the pressure on CIOs’
pressure on CIOs. In terms of growth, the primary goal for CEOs is customer experience, followed by compliance and margin.”
Customer Experience
“Interestingly, only 45% of CIOs indicate they meet expectations in terms of customer experience compared to 65% in terms of compliance and risk. Many customer experience projects fail, and we know why - CIOs need to better align their leadership and operating models towards their business stakeholders’ needs.”
“We see three categories of CIOs
to realize digital benefits. It’s not just about the evolution of technology but also about how CIOs collaborate with business stakeholders. For example, in Belgium, the percentage of franchise providers (Co-Lead Digital Delivery) is too low compared to the Netherlands or Scandinavia. We need to take a step further in this area to achieve better results.”
“In the franchise model (Co-Lead), where leaders jointly lead, they managed to achieve 71% of the key results. When they act as order-takers, only a limited percentage of the objectives was achieved. We have best practices to help them become more involved,
Emmanuel Binard
but this requires a different leadership style that they haven’t always been able to develop due to cost pressure.”
Transformation
“If CIOs fail to succeed, they will continue to be considered as a cost center,
and not an accelerator of business growth. In 45% of cases, cost optimization is between 15% and 25%, but in 7% of cases, it is more than 25%. I know a CIO in the manufacturing sector who was asked by a new CEO to reduce costs by 40%. Can you imagine cutting
the budget by 40% while delivering the same performance? It was shocking to see. At a time when everyone agrees that technology should transform companies, we still see CIOs whose budgets are being reduced by 40%.”
The theme “Leading Today Shaping Tomorrow” this year reflects the necessity for current leaders to focus on both immediate actions and future strategies. “For the leaders of the Benelux, this means prioritizing initiatives that drive current success while also preparing for long-term growth and transformation. This dual focus is crucial in a rapidly changing technological and business landscape.”
“There will be sessions on emerging technologies, leadership strategies, and case studies from various sectors illustrating successful implementations.”
Change
In summary, the IT Symposium aims to equip leaders from Belgium and Luxembourg with the knowledge and tools to effectively navigate the present and shape a successful future for their organizations. “This double pressure on CIOs (gowth + Cost) requires them to move to the next level on the way they work with the business and support the change of their teams.”
In this IT symposium we aim to equip leaders with the knowledge and tools to make 2025 a pivot towards 2030. They will work with our experts and their peers to challenge the status quo in their organization.”
Significant Disruption by AI
Where last
year AI was still
relatively new to many people, we now see a serious quest to understand what the practical effects will be. This theme is at the top of Gartner Research’s agenda and will be extensively discussed in Barcelona. Dutch IT Leaders discussed this topic with Daryl Plummer, Distinguished VP & Gartner Fellow, Chief of Research.
We introduced the concept of ‘combinatorial disruption’ this year”, says Daryl Plummer.
“Combinatorial disruption involves investigating how two or more disruptions interact to create a unique third effect. This approach helps us move beyond simply stating that AI disrupts everything, whatever that may be, toward a more nuanced view. For example, think of autonomous vehicles and ride-sharing models. Ride-sharing disrupts the business models of the transportation sector, while autonomous vehicles transform driving.”
“By combining these trends, we envision a future where personal car ownership becomes unnecessary. This would mean that there is no need for garages at homes, parking decks at workplaces, or car insurance. The ripple effects could be enormous, impacting insurance companies and potentially driving up prices for those who still need car insurance.”
Catalyst
“The idea is that each disruption acts as a catalyst for further changes. Imagine a large boulder falling into a calm lake and creating a big wave that everyone notices. The wave disappears quickly, but the ripples radiate out and can have long-lasting effects, such as altering the shoreline or sinking boats if they are large enough. We focus on the long-term consequences of multiple disruptions intersecting, like two boulders falling into the lake simultaneously. This is the thematic vision we are currently working with.”
At the time of this interview, he was working on writing the keynote, which will naturally devote significant attention to AI. In addition, he will be interviewing Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, in Barcelona. How has the rapid progress in AI, and especially generative AI, disrupted the cloud business?
“The cloud remains a crucial part of everything, but the introduction of AI, especially generative AI, has raised interesting questions about the dynamics of cloud leadership. Currently, AWS is the leader, followed by Microsoft and Google. Oracle and Alibaba are also significant players, but the top three or four hyperscalers dominate.”
Revenue
“Traditionally, it seemed unlikely that Google or Microsoft would surpass AWS in terms of revenue and market
in AI revenue but also in overall cloud usage.”
“Normally, cloud providers measure their success by the revenue generated from Infrastructure as a Service; essentially, how many people use their cloud. However, AI is forcing customers to think beyond this metric and focus on the outcomes they achieve. This shift means that cloud providers will need to increase their revenue based on the results their customers achieve through the use of AI, rather than just counting cloud users. This evolution could have a significant impact on the competitive landscape of the cloudsector.”
Strategic Integration
“And those who discover this first, like with Microsoft’s Copilot, are making significant strides. They are not
‘A frequently asked question is How to decide which models to use and whether to train your own models’
share in infrastructure as a service. However, AI, particularly generative AI, has the potential to change the way customers approach hyperscale cloud computing. Google, for example, has more AI models than anyone else. If Google leverages its AI platform, Gemini models, and Pixel devices to create an attractive ecosystem, it could attract more users to its AI capabilities. These capabilities could potentially position Google as a leader, not only
only thinking about renewing Office products, Windows, or email. They are considering how to transform contact call centers, sales activities, and more, with AI at the core. This strategic integration could increase revenue and potentially shift the hierarchy of cloud leaders. This disruption of leadership could extend beyond just revenue but also the overall market impact.”
“One of the key questions we receive about AI and the cloud is whether they
should implement AI on-premises or in the cloud. Initially, there is always fear: concerns about security and privacy. Companies worry that their data will be used to train public models, leading them to prefer using AI internally. However, this approach overlooks something. Running AI on-premises while using public models does not alleviate their concerns. Conversely, running AI in the cloud does not necessarily lead to these problems.”
Challenge
“A major challenge is the cost of GPUs and more specialized application-specific integrated circuits. These are essential for AI, but they are expensive and energy intensive. Training AI models and performing on-site inferences (usage) is costly.”
“This raises the question of whether to buy GPUs from providers like Microsoft, AWS, Oracle, or Google. The answer is generally affirmative: they should consider using cloud providers for these resources due to the high costs and complexity associated with maintaining the necessary infrastructure internally.”
“The reason for using cloud providers is that even if you manage the AI infrastructure yourself, you will struggle to keep up with rapid changes. Nvidia collaborates with all hyperscalers and is likely to continue doing so for a long time. Companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon are developing more energy-efficient AI compilers and faster, application-specific functions. If you had to keep up with this yourself, you would be constantly reinvesting.”
Models
A frequently asked question is how to decide which models to use and whether to train your own models.
“There is concern about the public use of their data and whether they can trust companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, or Meta to keep their data private. This lack of trust leads to the question of whether they should train their own models to achieve a differentiated value proposition. However, the answers generated by AI models depend on how questions are formulated and the context provided. This makes prompt engineering crucial because the structure and intent of a question significantly influence the answers.”
Some disruptions are closer to reality than commonly assumed. “One of the key disruptions we are observing is the rise of AI agents. This year, AI agents have become a major focus, unlike in previous years. This development could confirm their value or, like earlier agent technologies, fade into obscurity. Historically, we have seen agents in various forms. Now AI agents are back. The question is whether this resurgence will be lasting.”
Ambition
“A crucial factor is ambition. For AI agents to succeed, their integration with existing systems, such as workflow and BPM, is crucial. Companies will need to connect AI agents to their current rules and policy engines to avoid the creation of new rule sets. Another challenge is managing long-running processes that operate autonomously in the background. Organizations will need to prepare for this autonomous functionality.”
“Another fascinating area is the concept of digital human personas and human augmentation. The interaction between humans and machines is evolving rapidly. A few years ago, we could extract mental signals to generate a rudimentary image of someone’s thoughts. Today, technologies like Neuralink are integrating processors into the human brain, enabling control of computers through thoughts. This progression from experimental stages to mainstream applications represents a significant leap forward in human augmentation and digital personas.”
Daryl Plummer