The CIO’s 2024 AI playbook

The AI hype cycle has peaked: Tens of thousands of companies helped get it there with generative AI in 2023, with two-thirds now reporting they have deployed GAI tools to their workforce. 

For enterprise executives in 2024, that means right-sizing those expectations and getting to work: justifying the right use cases, forming teams, and tracking progress and ROI. 

Here are three strategies designed to help CIOs and others maximize their return not just on AI, but all essential tech. 

1. Leverage AI to put IT efficiency into overdrive

ChatGPT’s release in 2022 kicked off an unprecedented hype cycle for the new technology. After a year of frenzied experimentation and investment, executives will have to identify truly valid use cases (and ROI) for AI in 2024. 

Especially in IT organizations—where budgets came under more scrutiny in 2023—CIOs need to show they’re not using AI for AI’s sake. Just as IT leaders already use machine learning tools to automate workflows and boost efficiency, they need to arm their teams with AI-powered tools in 2024 to drive business results and optimize workflows.

2. AI in name only will get shown the door 

Complicated SaaS add-ons and features that claim to automate but really just have an “AI sticker on top” will be exposed as detracting from productive working hours. Employees and customers are getting smarter when it comes to AI, and a recent Freshworks survey showed that a majority of IT pros (71%) are using AI to support their own workloads. Relentless app scrutiny and rationalization are critical for all tech leaders, especially in the new AI era.

3. CIOs should expand partnerships in the C-suite

Here’s one rule that applies to all next-gen CIOs: Never be a solution looking for a problem. Get to know how HR, sales, and finance operate so they can be trusted advisors and improve IT decision-making for the organization.

Whether it’s streamlining data and analytics to improve sales or working with the CHRO to calculate the costs of a blended workforce, executive-level partnerships will be a defining attribute of CIO leadership. 

Corporate tech stacks are already jam-packed these days, and with budgets under greater scrutiny, CIOs must steer themselves and others away from pursuing the shiny new objects and be ready to advise their teams on this principle. They should work hand-in-hand with CFOs to make sure IT is funded sufficiently but not overspending on unused software. The new rule here: Define the problem before investing in a solution.

A version of this story originally published on The Works.