Business Technology Roundtable

As stewards of your long-term competitiveness, are you boldly harnessing the artificial intelligence (AI) potential as a strategic catalyst for superior digital business growth? In an era of modern commercial disruption, harnessing AI technology is rapidly becoming the defining factor separating bold industry leaders from the fearful global market laggards. AI is a quintessential technology that, like past shifts such as the internet and cloud, will unlock transformational opportunities across every sector. For enterprises, strategically capitalizing on AI has become an imperative for reinvigorating competitiveness. While many companies have initiated AI pilot projects and limited use cases, haphazard and siloed efforts will not suffice. Boards must aspire for more -- catalyzing an enterprise-wide embrace of AI to reinvent their core business and uncover game-changing innovations. Realizing this vision requires AI leadership to extend from corporate strategy to ethical governance. It i

We have reached the tipping point for business technology investment. The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the economy is a transformative force that executives can no longer ignore. The Stanford HAI's " Artificial Intelligence Index Report 2024 " provides invaluable insights into the economic impact of AI, highlighting both opportunities and challenges that demand strategic action from today's business leaders. The AI Investment Race: America Sprints Ahead The United States has emerged as the undisputed leader in AI investment, outpacing China and the European Union by a substantial margin. In 2023, American companies invested a staggering $67.2 billion in AI, nearly 8.7 times more than China, the next highest investor. This investment surge underscores the immense strategic importance placed on AI by U.S. enterprises, positioning them as frontrunners in the race to harness this game-changing technology. Job Market Dynamics: AI's Transformative Im

Some executives have taken the lead, while others sit on the sidelines. The global business landscape is undergoing a seismic shift driven by Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI). New GenAI tools, with their ability to produce human-quality text, code, and multimedia content, present a once-in-a-generation opportunity for you to propel your organization toward unprecedented innovation and value creation. The Gap Between Leaders and Laggards is Widening A recent McKinsey report paints a concerning picture: companies with robust digital and AI capabilities are already accelerating ahead of many traditional competitors. These leaders boast total shareholder returns two to six times higher across sectors. This isn't simply a coincidence. It's a testament to the compounding advantage gained by those who've invested in building a comprehensive AI arsenal. These organizations have transformed themselves into AI powerhouses. From crafting strategic roadmaps to cultivating spe

As founder of the Business Technology Roundtable, I can advise senior executives on rapidly emerging technologies and their potential impact on digital business transformation. One of the most significant and potentially disruptive technologies today is Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI). Powered by advances in machine learning, this technology refers to AI systems that can generate new content, such as text, images, audio, video, and more in response to prompts from humans.   The pace of advancement in Generative AI has been astounding. Since the public release of ChatGPT in November 2022, tool capabilities have continued to grow at breakneck speed. Business interest has followed suit – attracted by the vast potential to drive efficiency, productivity, innovation, and digital business growth. However, along with the enthusiasm, important questions remain regarding effective adoption approaches, risk management, workforce retraining, and ethical implications. To better understa

Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption is accelerating globally, transforming business and government. However, a new study by Cisco Systems reveals that while intentions to adopt AI are rising sharply, actual abilities to effectively leverage these technologies continue to lag. An overwhelming 97 percent of business leaders state that the urgency to deploy AI technologies has increased significantly or somewhat at their organizations in just the past six months. This mounting urgency is coming from the top-down, with over 50 percent saying it is being driven by their CEO and board of directors. Meanwhile, the C-suite is being tasked to prepare for action. As a result of this mounting pressure, 95 percent of organizations now have an AI strategy in place or under development. Looking ahead, 84 percent believe AI will have a major impact on their business operations. New AI Deployments Underway Many organizations have already started an AI deployment, prioritizing IT infrastructure and d

Digital Transformation has become an essential part of modern businesses, and the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the pace of change. With the continued rise of Remote Work and the adoption of a Distributed Workforce model, leaders have aspired to re-evaluate their digital strategies and invest in technologies that allow them to remain competitive. Business Technologists play a crucial role in this ongoing transformation, as they are the ones responsible for identifying and implementing technology solutions that can improve business processes and drive meaningful and substantive innovation. What is a Business Technologist? Business technologists are professionals who have a deep understanding of both commercial operations and business technology. They are responsible for bridging the gap between these two areas, helping savvy leaders leverage technology to achieve their goals. This change management process can include everything from identifying new technology trends to designing an

Business technology can be the great enabler that differentiates an enterprise from their mainstream peer group. Make no mistake, delivering digital business value at scale can be achieved. The essential change management process begins with fearlessly embarking on a bold initiative. Granted, implementation has many steps and takes time. In fact, successful business transformations can take several years to complete. According to Boston Consulting Group ( BCG ) latest research findings, they require drawing on three key enablers: ensuring C-Suite alignment, developing the necessary capabilities, and maintaining always-on execution. Executive leaders that establish these key enablers will scale digital business solutions successfully, and also embed digital transformation approaches and ways of working into their operating models. They will becomes the established market leaders in their sector to benefit from superior value creation. Leveraging Cloud Computing Services for Digital Grow

We’ve apparently reached an inflection point with the development and execution of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) corporate policies. The role of business leadership in sustainability issues around climate change has received increasing attention from companies and their key stakeholders. But over the past year, something changed for CEOs worldwide, and sustainability talk turned into action. Continued disruption -- including upheaval and disruptions from the global COVID-19 pandemic -- has society at large calling for a new approach to economic advancement and business priorities. According to a recent survey by Oxford Economics, when it comes to optimizing opportunities and delivering business value, some CEOs have discovered an additional step. These savvy CEOs report deliberately integrating their Sustainability and Digital Transformation efforts. Digital Transformation and ESG Drive Growth For organizations with a clearly defined sustainability strategy and the right

Multinational enterprise CEOs, and others within the most forward-looking progressive organization C-suite, look to their CIO to inform and guide them on digital transformation best practices. The global COVID-19 pandemic, and the associated economic impact, has provided CIOs the opportunity to increase their influence on strategic planning. According to the latest research by Gartner Inc. , CIOs now have the attention of the executive leadership team in a way that's very compelling. The enterprise path to the future is made possible by IT-enabled innovation, and both boards of directors and CEOs now acknowledge the role that business technology has on Digital Growth. Building on Strategic Digital Business Initiatives These key strategic relationships have given CIOs the platform to address their next big challenge in the coming weeks and months of 2021 -- digital business acceleration. Savvy CIOs are able to convince senior business leaders to modernize their IT and network infras

Across the globe, increased Internet use will fuel new growth in the Global Networked Economy . Mobile Internet users will create new demands and expectations for mobile networking infrastructure. This ongoing growth trend is highlighted by the adoption and use of mobile applications (apps). Meanwhile, enterprise C-suite leadership teams contemplate digital transformation agendas that are enabled by the significant new technology investments by telecom network service providers. That, in turn, will drive accelerated enterprise investment in business technology-based innovations.  Executive Summaries for Digital Transformation Fifth-generation (5G) wireless communications will support more than 10 percent of the world’s mobile connections by 2023, according to the latest Cisco Annual Internet Report. The average 5G speed will be 575 megabits per second or 13 times faster than the average mobile connection. With advanced performance capabilities, 5G will deliver more dynamic mobil

In many organizations today, Information Technology (IT) is more than a utility, it has become an essential platform for their ongoing business development. Therefore, they crave a superior IT experience for their employees and other key stakeholders. For most, cloud computing is a fundamental ingredient of the digital transformation agenda. The common commercial use cases for public cloud services have already been exploited by many organizations. Front-office applications -- such as customer relationship management, online commerce, and numerous consumer-facing apps -- constitute the bulk of the workloads that reside on cloud service provider shared infrastructure. These initial use cases have validated the proven benefits of cloud computing architectures that are appealing to software developers -- including speed of deployment, dynamic resource acquisition, application elasticity, and service reuse across workloads. Leveraging the inherent benefits of cloud service offerings,

Now more than ever, CEOs and their leadership teams must counter the threat of digital disruption. Within the evolving global economy, debate and analysis about business technology adoption must result in purposeful action. Even the trailing organizations are prepared to learn something actionable from their trailblazer peers. The following statistics and insights are excerpts from the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) Global C-suite Study (19th edition). IBM’s latest worldwide study draws on input from 12,854 respondents across 6 C-suite roles, from 112 countries. The C-suite is evenly divided on whether the focus in the future will shift from established markets to new ones. In two areas, however, C-suite executives stand in close agreement: how they will change their value propositions and scale their value chains. Sixty-eight percent of C-suite executives expect organizations to emphasize customer experience over products. Sixty-three percent believe that most organizat

The World Economic Forum annual meeting is a high-profile gathering that brings together leaders of global society. The heads and members of more than 100 governments, top executives of the 1,000 foremost global companies, and numerous others collaborate at the beginning of each year to define priorities and shape agendas. The theme for Davos-Klosters 2019 is "Globalization 4.0: Shaping a New Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution." A key component of the international debate will be about how the transformation is introducing technologies at a speed and scale unparalleled in history. Meanwhile, digital business innovation is enabled by access to essential telecom infrastructure. The internet combines thousands of public and private networks from around the world, which together are the key foundation for the Global Networked Economy . And since its inception in 1984, more than 4.7 zettabytes of internet protocol (IP) data traffic have already flowed

Guided by senior executive goals for digital transformation, more organizations are increasing their use of cloud computing technologies. The typical multi-cloud mix includes a blend of public cloud, private cloud and traditional IT services. Finding the best-fit service mix starts with the business requirements. The latest Global Cloud Index (GCI) 2016-2021 from Cisco focuses on the worldwide market outlook for enterprise data center virtualization and cloud computing services. Today's digital business is enabled by Hybrid IT infrastructure that supports the deployment of cloud-based solutions. Driven by the surging enthusiasm for digital reinvention projects, data center traffic is growing fast. The market study authors forecast global cloud data center traffic will reach 19.5 zettabytes (ZB) per year by 2021 -- that's up from 6.0 ZB per year in 2016. Globally, cloud data center traffic will represent 95 percent of total data center traffic by 2021, compared to 88 perce