Logicalis Australia Excels at Gartner Symposium 2024: AI, Sustainability, and C-Level Collaboration Lead the Conversation

By Anthony Woodward, CEO, Logicalis Australia?

I recently attended Gartner Symposium 2024 on the Gold Coast, with Logicalis Australia there in force over the three days to build our brand and have plenty of engaging conversations with customers and prospects. The event was a great success with over 800 trees planted with Carbon Positive Australia, upholding our sustainability promise to plant a tree for every badge that is scanned. ?

Not surprisingly, the conference focused very much on Artificial Intelligence (AI). According to Gartner, nearly three quarters of CEOs surveyed felt that AI would have a significant impact on their industry. There are certainly many challenges for organisations wanting to take advantage of AI including information governance, data availability, quality, security and accessibility to AI, and most importantly use cases. ?

Gartner divides the AI opportunity into two categories: Productivity-related AI, which is currently dominated by Generative AI like ChatGPT and productivity improvements offered by generalised AI models such as Microsoft’s Copilot; and Enterprise Value AI, which focuses on significant process improvements and competitive advantages within specific industries. However, unlocking the true value of AI in the production enterprise is challenged by issues related to data quality, security, and location—concerns that prospects and customers highlighted at the conference.

However, there are still uncertainties about the cost of deployment into production environments, as enterprise scale does not translate to linear costs observed through experimentation. These challenges are a key opportunity for Logicalis as our customers seek to move from proof of concept to production, leveraging their key data assets and building IP that differentiates them in their industry.

End users must ensure they deploy sufficient computing power close to the data their AI models use to achieve productive and cost-effective results. Our expertise in designing, building, and maintaining the infrastructure that supports AI capabilities will be invaluable to our customers.

Another topic discussed at Gartner was the importance of C-level involvement in digital initiatives. Greater collaboration and shared ownership can significantly boost the success of these projects. CIOs not only need to become more business-focused to drive digital outcomes but also help improve the digital literacy of the broader C-level team. I see this as a growing role for CIOs, who must move beyond IT and into business strategy by building trust and providing strong guidance on digital platform decisions across the organisation.

The Future of Computing stream at Gartner covered opportunities and constraints in a thought-provoking way that illustrates what we might expect from different time horizons from now:

• 2 to 5 years from now, the aim will be to thrive despite the constraints being surfaced, such as access to significant data centre power and resources, and traditional silicon-based computing and storage architectures as AI booms
• 5 to 10 years out, where multiple fundamental computing models, including classical (silicon based), quantum, and photonic computing transition from the lab to production, yielding orders of magnitude in computing power and electrical efficiency
• 10+ years away, where architected and mineral-based computing is augmented by biocomputing and the future of self-architecting capabilities that adapt to the world they find themselves in, to generate whatever is next. ?

As a computer scientist, I'm intrigued by the potential of vast computing power to enhance human abilities through technologies like Augmented Reality and Generative AI, which are just early examples. However, the growing challenge of sustainability as we seek far more computing power is both emerging and critical. Logicalis’ focus on sustainability, both as a responsible business and a promoter of environmental solutions, gives us a strong advantage when these issues arise in customer discussions.

Attending the Gartner Symposium helps us understand what’s on our customers' minds, as Gartner’s research highlights key issues and makes sense of them for those of us turning ideas and trends into real improvements in personal and business life. It's also interesting to see how Gartner’s research aligns with our own Logicalis CIO Report. I'm excited to present these findings at the upcoming CIO Summits on October 22 and 24, where our global CEO, Bob Bailkoski, will also be present.

Logicalis Australia Excels at Gartner Symposium 2024: AI, Sustainability, and C-Level Collaboration Lead the Conversation | Logicalis