A new report from the IBM Institute for Business Value makes the case that chief information officers need to understand that the technology landscape has changed fundamentally in recent years – and that a new era of artificial intelligence requires honing new skills and core competencies.

"IT as a standalone function is dead," IBM researchers write. "Technology is the business."

In the new age of generative AI – a fast-evolving landscape of ubiquitous digital tools – technology leaders in healthcare need to stay agile, adaptable, assertive and proactively communicative with their CEOs and CFOs in order to help drive competitive advantage for their organizations.

The report – which polled more than 2,500 CIOs, CTOs and CDOs across industries worldwide – pointed to a half-dozen potential "blind spots" that need addressing for modern day IT leaders in the AI era.

For instance, IBM research has shown that CEOs prize "product and service innovation" as their top priority in the next few years. But just 43% of the IT leaders surveyed said their organizations are effective at delivering differentiated products and services, and 53% said their own execs see technology "as no more than moderately important to product and service innovation," according to the report. "This disconnect between technology and the business suggests a massive change is needed."

Among some other stats:

• While almost 75% of CEOs are gung-ho about emerging tech and its ability to drive innovation, 43% of CIOs and IT execs report that their own concerns about their technology infrastructure have increased over the past six months because of gen AI."

• Nearly 67% CFOs, meanwhile, say their leadership has the data necessary to capitalize on new technologies. But IT pros have a different view. "Only 29% of tech leaders strongly agree their enterprise data meets the quality, accessibility, and security standards that support the efficient scaling of generative AI."

• More than half (58%) of IT leaders say they're struggling to find the right talent to fill key roles.

• Fewer than 50% of those same execs say they're adequately delivering on responsible AI practices such as explainability, transparency, and fairness

"Despite the evolution and emergence of enterprise technology roles, 'technology' has not consistently been a part of strategic decision-making for the business," said IBM researchers in the report.

"The absence or ineffective participation of tech leaders has resulted in organizational blind spots that are making it difficult for organizations to seize today’s opportunities in artificial intelligence in all its guises – traditional AI, gen AI, machine learning, and automation," said IBM researchers.

THE LARGER TREND
Healthcare IT News has long charted the evolution of the CIO job over the past decade-plus.

Way back in 2014, we were noting that the one-time "IT guy" was now a "skilled strategist at the executive table, with more demands on the role than ever."

And that was before cloud-based AI and automation had infiltrated and transformed every corner of the health system.

Since then, other profiles have shown how the healthcare CIO's mission and mandate are "shifting quickly toward innovation, transformation and revenue generation."

We've also tracked the emergence of new C-suite roles, such as the entity information officer and – starting with a new feature series that kicked off just this week – the chief AI officer.

ON THE RECORD
"Tech CxOs must courageously expose the six blind spots that are preventing their organizations from achieving AI advantage," said IBM researchers. "To overcome the barriers, tech executives need to command the honest, must-have discussions about the readiness of their organization to deliver breakthrough innovation and business outcomes.

Mike Miliard is executive editor of Healthcare IT News
Email the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS publication.

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