The Top 10 Priorities of CIOs & IT Leaders in 2022

CIOs were once value-delivery engines, they’re now co-creators of new business models. CIOs are transitioning from traditional IT service delivery to a more strategic role.

Navigating the digital landscape is tough. CIOs need to grapple with the fluid and uncertain business environment.?They have to deal with skill shortages, fast-paced changes in technology, and a short shelf-life of products. The pandemic has made their tasks tougher.

Here we identify the top 10 priorities for CIOs and IT leaders in 2022.

1. Invest in hyper-automation

Hyper-automation has come to prominence as a trend for 2021 thanks to the maturity of digitalization and of data management tools. Companies will need to invest a lot of time and energy in order to create long-term adoption of hyper-automation. Turning theory into?action is a big challenge to take on, and preparation is key. That means that the value of hyper-automation will only start to materialize for the pioneers that stay focused. Organizations need to stay on the ball and avoid slipping back into old, stagnant processes driven by?more operational, tactical initiatives.

2. Launch AI vigorously

Of the many technologies with the potential to deliver significant value in the near future, Artificial Intelligence (AI) seems firmly planted?atop the list for CIOs. 2022 will be a year in which AI will mature from experimental to essential. That will challenge most CIOs. Outside of?the technology powerhouses, many enterprise IT organizations are relative newbies when it comes to AI.

3. Reinforce the cloud

Cloud migration is the face of upcoming industries; it will shape the future of industries. It is the most trending way of storing the data and?increasing its access. Its importance will be increasing with time. There are many upcoming services and waves of changes introduced in 2022.?

Technologies like hybrid cloud and cloud adoption by businesses will boost the importance of the cloud. Be smart, move with trends and adopt the?cloud to succeed in today’s competitive world.?

4. Set up seamless hybrid environments

Moving into 2022, ways of working and interacting are continuing to evolve as organizations adapt to the ongoing changes brought about by a wide?range of factors influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. But hybrid work is still a work in progress. There are no clear-cut paradigms or best practices yet.?The workforce has accepted work-from-home policies, but some issues still need resolution.?

5. Drive agility

Agility, or adapting and evolving to external forces and trends, has long been a sought-after business differentiator. The Covid-19 pandemic helped change?the perception of business agility. Due to the pandemic, business agility is now tied to resiliency in the face of drastic external changes.

6. Improve data governance

For organizations everywhere—regardless of industry, size, or area of focus—data governance has reached a critical inflection point. Organizations can gain by effectively relying on operational data modeling, operational metadata management, and operational data stewardship.

7. Revamp cyber security

Cybersecurity is not a separate technology, but rather a priority of the systems spanning technology, people and processes in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.?The ongoing shift from cybersecurity to cyber resilience is an important step towards a more trustworthy and sustainable future. Significant digitalization has?provided a pathway for engagement and connectivity at a time when the world was supposed to stay apart. Its benefits are clear, but so are the threats.

8. Overcome the skill shortage

Much like the previous year, 2021 continued to shape and shift how employers and employees engage with each other in the workplace of the “now” and that of the?near future. For your company to close the skills gap, you also will need to consider a multi-pronged approach for addressing today’s talent scarcity challenge.

9. Delight customers and stakeholders

As we move into 2022, the pressure on businesses to respond quickly to consumer needs still remains. In fact, even a single bad experience can cause people to?walk away from brands they love entirely. Looking to the future, it will be up to businesses to meet their customers, workforce, and partners where they already are.?Or better yet, learn to predict and adapt quickly to their ever-changing needs before they even know they need them.

10. Keep a close eye on emerging technology

In 2022 the covid-19 pandemic will continue to impact our lives in many ways. This means that we will continue to see an accelerated rate of digitization and?virtualization of business and society. However, as we move into a new year, the need for sustainability, ever-increasing data volumes, and increasing compute and?network speeds will begin to regain their status as the most important drivers of digital transformation.

A CIO’s “to-do” list get longer and more complex with every passing day.

Read our blog to know more about these priorities for a CIO in 2022.