How AI-Empowered ‘Citizen Developers’ Help Drive Digital Transformation
To compete in the future, companies know they need more IT capabilities, and the
current supply chain has failed to provide the necessary resources. The only way
for companies to fill the void is through greater emphasis on the skill
development of their existing staff — their citizens. Imagine two different
organizations. Both have explicit initiatives underway to digitally transform
their businesses. In one, the IT organization tries to carry the load by itself.
There, the mandate to digitize has only created more demand for new
applications, automations, and data analyses — but no new supply. Department
leaders and digitally oriented professionals initially submitted request after
request, but as the backlog grew, they became discouraged and stopped bothering
to ask when their solutions would be forthcoming. After a couple of years, no
one even mentioned digital transformation anymore. In the other organization,
digital transformation was a broad organizational mandate. IT was certainly a
part of it and had to update a variety of enterprise transaction systems as well
as moving most systems to the cloud. They had their hands full with this aspect
of the transformation. Fortunately, in this hypothetical company, many citizens
were engaged in the transformation process as well.
Things CIOs and CTOs Need To Do Differently in 2025
“Because the nature of the threat that organizations face is increasing all the
time, the tooling that’s capable of mitigating those threats becomes more and
more expensive,” says Logan. “Add to that the constantly changing privacy
security rules around the globe and it becomes a real challenge to navigate
effectively.” Also realize that everyone in the organization is on the same
team, so problems should be solved as a team. IT leadership is in a unique
position to help break down the silos between different stakeholder groups. ...
CIOs and CTOs face several risks as they attempt to manage technology, privacy,
ROI, security, talent and technology integration. According to Joe Batista,
chief creatologist, former Dell Technologies & Hewlett Packard Enterprise
executive, senior IT leaders and their teams should focus on improving the
conditions and skills needed to address such challenges in 2025 so they can
continue to innovate. “Keep collaborating across the enterprise with other
business leaders and peers. Take it a step further by exploring how ecosystems
can impact your business agenda,” says Batista. “Foster an environment that
encourages taking on greater risks. The key is creating a space where innovation
can thrive, and failures are steppingstones to success.”
5 reasons why 2025 will be the year of OpenTelemetry
OTel was initially targeted at cloud-native applications, but with the creation
of a special interest group within OpenTelemetry focused on the continuous
integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) application development pipeline,
OTel becomes a more powerful, end-to-end tool. “CI/CD observability is essential
for ensuring that software is released to production efficiently and reliably,”
according to project lead Dotan Horovits. “By integrating observability into
CI/CD workflows, teams can monitor the health and performance of their pipelines
in real-time, gaining insights into bottlenecks and areas that require
improvement.” He adds that open standards are critical because they “create a
common uniform language which is tool- and vendor-agnostic, enabling cohesive
observability across different tools and allowing teams to maintain a clear and
comprehensive view of their CI/CD pipeline performance.” ... The explosion of
interest in AI, genAI, and large language models (LLM) is creating an explosion
in the volume of data that is generated, processed and transmitted across
enterprise networks. That means a commensurate increase in the volume of
telemetry data that needs to be collected in order to make sure AI systems are
operating efficiently.
The Importance of Empowering CFOs Against Cyber Threats
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Today's CFOs must be collaborative leaders, willing to embrace an expanding role
that includes protecting critical assets and securing the bottom line. To do
this, CFOs must work closely with chief information security officers (CISOs),
due to the sophistication and financial impact of cyberattacks. ... CFOs are
uniquely positioned to understand the potential financial devastation from cyber
incidents. The costs associated with a breach extend beyond immediate financial
losses, encompassing longer-term repercussions, such as reputational damage,
legal liabilities, and regulatory fines. CFOs must measure and consider these
potential financial impacts when participating in incident response planning.
... The regulatory landscape for CFOs has evolved significantly beyond
Sarbanes-Oxley. The Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC's) rules on
cybersecurity risk management, strategy, governance, and incident disclosure
have become a primary concern for CFOs and reflect the growing recognition of
cybersecurity as a critical financial and operational risk. ... Adding to the
complexity, the CFO is now a cross-functional collaborator who must work closely
with IT, legal, and other departments to prioritize cyber initiatives and
investments.
Community Banks Face Perfect Storm of Cybersecurity, Regulatory and Funding Pressures
Cybersecurity risks continue to cast a long shadow over technological
advancement. About 42% of bankers expect cybersecurity risks to pose their most
difficult challenge in implementing new technologies over the next five years.
This concern is driving many institutions to take a cautious approach to
emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. ... Banks express varying
levels of satisfaction with their technology services. Asset liability
management and interest rate risk technologies receive the highest satisfaction
ratings, with 87% and 84% of respondents respectively reporting being
“extremely” or “somewhat” satisfied. However, workflow processing and core
service provider services show room for improvement, with less than 70% of banks
expressing satisfaction with these areas. ... Compliance costs continue to
consume a significant portion of bank resources. Legal and accounting/auditing
expenses related to compliance saw notable increases, with both categories
rising nearly 4 percentage points as a share of total expenses. The
implementation of the current expected credit loss (CECL) accounting standard
has contributed to these rising costs.
Dark Data Explained
Dark data often lies dormant and untapped, its value obscured by poor quality
and disorganization. Yet within these neglected reservoirs of information lies
the potential for significant insights and improved decision-making. To unlock
this potential, data cleaning and optimization become vital. Cleaning dark data
involves identifying and correcting inaccuracies, filling in missing entries,
and eliminating redundancies. This initial step is crucial, as unclean data can
lead to erroneous conclusions and misguided strategies. Optimization furthers
the process by enhancing the usability and accessibility of the data. Techniques
such as data transformation, normalization, and integration play pivotal roles
in refining dark data. By transforming the data into standardized formats and
ensuring it adheres to consistent structures, companies and researchers can more
effectively analyze and interpret the information. Additionally, integration
across different data sets and sources can uncover previously hidden patterns
and relationships, offering a comprehensive view of the phenomenon being
studied. By converting dark data through meticulous cleaning and sophisticated
optimization, organizations can derive actionable insights and add substantial
value.
In potential reversal, European authorities say AI can indeed use personal data — without consent — for training
The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) issued a wide-ranging report on
Wednesday exploring the many complexities and intricacies of modern AI model
development. It said that it was open to potentially allowing personal data,
without owner’s consent, to train models, as long as the finished application
does not reveal any of that private information. This reflects the reality that
training data does not necessarily translate into the information eventually
delivered to end users. ... “Nowhere does the EDPB seem to look at whether
something is actually personal data for the AI model provider. It always
presumes that it is, and only looks at whether anonymization has taken place and
is sufficient,” Craddock wrote. “If insufficient, the SA would be in a position
to consider that the controller has failed to meet its accountability
obligations under Article 5(2) GDPR.” And in a comment on LinkedIn that mostly
supported the standards group’s efforts, Patrick Rankine, the CIO of UK AI
vendor Aiphoria, said that IT leaders should stop complaining and up their AI
game. “For AI developers, this means that claims of anonymity should be
substantiated with evidence, including the implementation of technical and
organizational measures to prevent re-identification,” he wrote, noting that he
agrees 100% with this sentiment.
Software Architecture and the Art of Experimentation
While we can’t avoid being wrong some of the time, we can reduce the cost of
being wrong by running small experiments to test our assumptions and reverse
wrong decisions before their costs compound. But here time is the enemy: there
is never enough time to test every assumption and so knowing which ones to
confront is the art in architecting. Successful architecting means experimenting
to test decisions that affect the architecture of the system, i.e. those
decisions that are "fatal" to the success of the thing you are building if you
are wrong. ... If you don’t run an experiment you are assuming you already know
the answer to some question. So long as that’s the case, or so long as the risk
and cost of being wrong is small, you may not need to experiment. Some big
questions, however, can only be answered by experimenting. Since you probably
can’t run experiments for all the questions you have to answer, implicitly
accepting the associated risk, so you need to make a trade-off between the
number of experiments you can run and the risks you won’t be able to mitigate by
experimenting. The challenge in creating experiments that test both the MVP and
MVA is asking questions that challenge the business and technical assumptions of
both stakeholders and developers.
5 job negotiation tips for CAIOs
As you discuss base, bonus, and equity, be specific and find out exactly what
their pay range actually is for this emerging role and how that compares with
market rates for your location. For example, some recruiters may give you a
higher number early on in discussions, and then once you’re well bought-in to
the company after several interviews, the final offer may throttle things
back. ... Set clear expectations early, and be prepared to withdraw your
candidacy if any downward-revised amount later on is too far below your
household needs. ... As a CAIO, you don’t want to be measured the same as the
lines of business, or penalized if they fall short of quarterly or yearly
sales targets. Ensure your performance metrics are appropriate for the role
and the balance you’ll need to strike between near-term and longer-term
objectives. For certain, AI should enable near-term productivity improvements
and cost savings, but it should also enable longer-term revenue growth via new
products and services, or enhancements to existing offerings. ... Companies
sometimes place a clause in their legal agreement that states they own all
pre-existing IP. Get that clause removed and itemize your pre-existing IP if
needed to ensure it stays under your ownership.
Leadership skills for managing cybersecurity during digital transformation
First, security must be top of mind as all new technologies are planned. As
you innovate, ensure that security is built into deployments, and options
chosen that match your business risk profile and organization’s values. For
example, consider enabling the max security features that come with many IoT,
such as forcing the change of default passwords, patching devices and ensuring
vulnerabilities can be addressed. Likewise, ensure that AI applications are
ethically sound, transparent, and do not introduce unintended biases. Second,
a comprehensive risk assessment should be performed on the current network and
systems environment as well as on the future planned “To Be” architecture. ...
Digital transformation also demands leaders who are not only technically adept
but also visionary in guiding their organizations through change. Leaders must
be able to inspire a digital culture, align teams with new technologies, and
drive strategic initiatives that leverage digital capabilities for competitive
advantage. Finally, leaders must be life-long learners who constantly update
their skills and forge strong relationships across their organzation for this
new digitally-transformed environment.
Quote for the day:
"Don’t watch the clock; do what it
does. Keep going." -- Sam Levenson
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