State of the CIO, 2024: Change makers in the business spotlight

Foundry / CIO.com

Even the IT organization as a whole is being recast to be more business driven: Forty-three percent are automating business and IT processes, 32% are implementing AI applications, and 29% are making data more available as part their business-centric charter.

As the CIO role becomes even more digital and innovation focused — called out by 88% of this year’s respondents — IT leaders are being recognized for actively leading digital transformation efforts more so than their peers (87%). Twenty-eight percent of respondents said the CEO’s No. 1 objective for them this year was to lead digital business and digital transformation efforts, up from less than a quarter (23%) last year. With technology and digital strategy interwoven into every aspect of modern business, CIOs increasingly have the CEO and board of directors’ ear, cited by 79% of respondents to the 2024 State of the CIO survey.

The Hartford

“My mission is to create differentiation for our business through use of technology and data,” says Deepa Soni, CIO and head of technology, data, analytics, and cyber at The Hartford. In a recent restructuring, The Hartford further expanded Soni’s role, combining technology and operations functions under her stewardship to advance business strategy and drive a growth agenda. “We’re not just doing digitization and AI and machine learning in a piecemeal way,” she adds. “We have to think big and be a lever for bold ideas.”

The push for innovation requires a steady hand, and CIOs are stepping in to provide guidance, including orienting the greater enterprise to the potential — and the pitfalls — of new technologies like AI. Eighty-five percent of respondents to the 2024 State of the CIO survey view the CIO as a critical change maker and a much-needed resource given the pace and scale of change, amplified by the frenzy around AI.

Foundry / CIO.com

“With all the hype of AI and the velocity at which technology is evolving, my focus as a CIO continuously and relentlessly has to be through the lens of strategy, execution, and culture,” says Sanjeev Saturru, CIO at Casey’s, the third-largest convenience store chain in the United States. “Every time someone says I need this or can you solve this for me, it comes back to doing a strategic assessment, … because if you apply technology to a bad process, you get a bad result,” he explains. “It consistently requires a lot of change management, including the right level of engagement and collaboration with business stakeholders.”

Even as their business-centric mandate takes shape, CIOs remain caught in the delicate balancing act of juggling the demands of innovation with the need for operational excellence — a challenge cited by three quarters of respondents and consistent with the 2023 State of the CIO results.