4 prerequisites for IT leaders to navigate today’s era of disruption

For its Generative AI Readiness Report, IT services company Avanade surveyed over 3,000 business and IT executives in 10 countries from companies with at least $500 million in annual revenue. Unsurprisingly, more than 90% of respondents said their organization needs to shift to an AI-first operating model by the end of this year to stay competitive — and time to do so is running out.

Navigating this level of change will require a new type of IT leadership skill and business acumen that hasn’t been part of the traditional job description. Ensuring that digital systems work smoothly while becoming full business partners with peers from the executive team is a shift that underscores the expected function of IT leaders today. Here are key attributes of those who embody this new standard in order to succeed in the current multifaceted business environment.

Courage and the ability to manage risk

In the past, implementing bold technological ideas required substantial financial investment. Today, advancements like gen AI are more accessible, costing a fraction of what things did previously. Despite the reduced costs, though, the necessity for comprehensive change programs remains paramount. Gen AI isn’t a simple plug-and-play solution. Effective IT leadership now demands not only the courage to innovate but also a profound understanding of change management principles. IT leaders must provide wise counsel on strategic deployment, ensuring that these technologies are integrated thoughtfully and effectively. Plus, forming close partnerships with legal teams is essential to understand the new levels of risk and compliance issues that gen AI brings.

Deep understanding of how to monetize data assets

IT leaders aren’t just tech wizards, but savvy data merchants. Imagine yourself as a store owner, but instead of shelves stocked with physical goods, your inventory consists of valuable data, insights, and AI/ML products. To succeed, they need to make their data products appealing by understanding customer needs, ensuring products are current, of a high-quality, and organized. Offering value-added services on top of data, like analysis and consulting, can further enhance the appeal. By adopting this mindset and applying business principles, IT leaders can unlock new revenue streams.

Focus on data governance and ethics

With AI becoming more pervasive, the ethical and responsible use of it is paramount. Leaders must ensure that data governance policies are in place to mitigate risks of bias or discrimination, especially when AI models are trained on biased datasets. Transparency is key in AI, as it builds trust and empowers stakeholders to understand and challenge AI-generated insights. By building a program on the existing foundation of culture, structure, and governance, IT leaders can navigate the complexities of AI while upholding ethical standards and fostering innovation.

Ability to embrace both smarts and heart

IT leaders need to maintain a balance of intellectual (IQ) and emotional (EQ) intelligence to manage an AI-infused workplace. On the IQ side, leaders need to have a vision for the AI-first world in their organizations and know where it can be used to free up employees so they can spend more time on other complex tasks and enhance productivity. But more importantly, EQ and people-centric skills are critical to evangelize positive impacts, keep people engaged, address anxiety around the changing workforce, and help people reskill to focus on new ways of working and thinking. In fact, with advanced analytics producing vast amounts of data beyond comprehension, softer management skills will be more important than deep subject expertise or raw intelligence.