“When we just look at immediate financial returns, oftentimes we miss the full picture of the value that gets created.” - Rita Sallam, Gartner Distinguished VP Analyst, Data and Analytics

By 2025, nearly a third of GenAI projects will be abandoned due largely to unclear business value. To prove GenAI’s transformative value to executives and CFOs, this episode’s guest offers an insider’s perspective. Rita Sallam is a Distinguished VP Analyst for data and analytics and a former CFO. Her experience and expertise provide critical insights for:

• Projecting the total cost of GenAI via use cases (3:50)
• Managing costs as the pilot phase moves to implementation (8:24)
• Calculating your GenAI budget (12:00)
• Measuring GenAI ROI (Spoiler: It’s not cost reduction) (14:43)
• Convincing CFOs that GenAI’s value may not appear on the balance sheet (21:25)

“The moral of the story is: The closer CIOs stick to the CEO, the easier it’s going to be to help guide the rest of the C-suite through technology uncertainty.” (6:26)

This year, the vast majority of CEOs are shifting strategies. At the core of these changes lie digitalization and technology, which introduce unprecedented responsibilities — and opportunities — in the CIO-CEO relationship. Listen now as Gartner Senior Principal Analyst Jennifer Carter shares exclusive best practices and insights on:

• Addressing profit needs via productivity and technology experimentation (3:21)
• Generative AI and creating digital cohesion (5:53)
• How introverted CIOs can build strong connections with extroverted CEOs (8:33)
• Getting critical one-on-one time with busy CEOs (11:59)
• A top mistake CIOs should avoid with CEOs (21:20)

Jennifer Carter is a senior principal analyst in the Executive Leadership of Digital Business (ELDB) practice. She advises executives on how to navigate C-suite dynamics — in particular building effective engagement with CEOs, creating high-performing, collaborative teams, and influencing stakeholders. Jennifer also covers changing culture through the art of culture hacking and taking a people-first approach to enterprise change communications. Furthermore, Jennifer discusses key topics regarding the future of work, such as leadership in remote and hybrid environments and implementing a human-centric work design. Prior to Gartner, Jennifer studied power dynamics within Chinese imperial courts at the University of Florida and spent years in Gartner’s Executive Programs organization. She has a passion for evaluating complex organizational and leadership challenges and uses her diverse background to inspire executives to think outside of the box.

CIOs are largely determining the organization’s future. Their technology investments can drive — or derail — critical business outcomes. However, organizations must first address a range of challenges to ensure ROI:

• Which AI experimentation risks are worth taking?
• What use cases should be prioritized?
• How does the organization create lasting business value?

This podcast addresses each of these challenges, as well as the three key actions CIOs need to take when introducing new technology into their organization.

Podcast highlights:

• Three major technology trends in 2024 (1:43)
• Four pillars for onboarding new technologies, like AI (6:31)
• How CIOs can mitigate risks from technology investments (10:38)
• The challenges of scaling AI and how to balance workforce implications (16:43)
• Take Three: Three actions CIOs should take when introducing new technologies into the organization (20:48)