IT and security leaders are the gatekeepers charged with understanding new technologies at the deepest level and deploying them safely. As such, they stand at the forefront of the transformation being driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and are acutely aware of the profound impact AI could have on every aspect of the business.
Yet CIOs and CISOs are often too consumed with the functional duties of deploying, managing, and securing their IT environments to fully contemplate the technology’s ramifications for their organizations and provide strategic guidance to other executives about deployment.
The best way to address the challenge may be to start by looking inward. Deploying AI technologies across many use cases in their own departments can help IT and security leaders automate and accelerate hundreds of everyday tasks, while simultaneously improving their organization’s defenses against cyberthreats. Hands-on experience with AI in the IT function will add to their practical knowledge for future rollouts across the business. Most importantly, IT leaders will gain more time to focus on the strategic decisions needed to turn AI initiatives into successful business outcomes.
The challenge of keeping up
Like other leaders, IT and security executives are excited about AI. Nearly half believe it will be a game changer, according to a Workday C-Suite Global AI Indicator survey of senior leaders in finance and procurement, IT, and human resources. One-third believe AI will increase productivity, and nearly half say it will improve collaboration between departments. Thirty-one percent say it could increase revenue and profits.
IT and security chiefs are also keenly aware of the implications of the technology’s growing reach. As machine learning (ML) algorithms—the building blocks of AI—ingest company data, they learn more about how the business works. They continually hone their capabilities to make more intelligent predictions and suggestions for improvement. As a result, companies that delay adoption risk falling further and further behind. More than any other executives, IT leaders are motivated to pursue AI deployments because of competitive pressure, according to Workday’s 2023 AI IQ report on AI in the enterprise.
The power of AI-driven automation
Also driving technology and security leaders forward is the overwhelming number of day-to-day chores they must oversee.
Among department heads, IT leaders are the least satisfied with the number of administrative tasks they must perform, the tools available to help them complete their work, and their ability to change or upgrade services, the Workday CXO survey found. They spend much of their day putting out a large amount of small fires.
“Most CIOs are responsible for the computer help desk, which supports all employees with software and hardware. And people ask the IT help desk the same questions over and over again,” says Workday Co-President Sayan Chakraborty.
AI tools can quickly reduce that burden.
“A generative AI assistant that’s helping you troubleshoot will be more productive,” Chakraborty says. “Machines are really good at answering [common] questions. They can even proactively address concerns, or help people self-solve them.”
AI can automate a variety of other IT tasks, including network configuration, provisioning, debugging, and updating. Freed from the heavy lift of everyday administration, IT leaders can devote more time on strategic AI issues working with others in the C-suite. In the CXO study, nearly half of IT leaders agreed that AI will bring new opportunities for IT to collaborate with other departments (49%), will enable IT teams to deliver more strategic value (48%), and will make it easier for IT to support other business lines (46%). AI’s efficiencies could benefit individuals as well: 47% of IT leaders believe AI will make IT jobs more rewarding, and one-third expect it to boost productivity.
Managing threats more efficiently
AI capabilities can also reduce burden on CISOs and their security teams, who have their hands full defending digital environments against increasingly sophisticated and dangerous threats.
“We’re in a security environment that is a thousand times more intense than it was even a handful of years ago,” Chakraborty says. Ransomware attacks have become ubiquitous. Criminals ranging from lone hackers to nation state actors use social engineering tactics to trick employees into revealing proprietary information that can be exploited or exfiltrated. Others take advantage of vulnerabilities across an increasingly complex IT landscape to carry out attacks.
Security leaders have plenty of tools at their disposal to detect suspicious behavior. But constantly monitoring for potential threats creates issues of its own.
“The problem most companies face today is too many alerts,” Chakraborty says. That makes it difficult to prioritize responses for the most urgent threats. “Machine learning doesn’t get bored by alarms,” he says. “Artificial intelligence systems look at all the alerts for patterns and say, ‘You need to pay attention to this one.’”
In addition to warding off immediate threats, AI can analyze large volumes of data quickly to give CISOs insights about trends, helping them modify existing safeguards or create new ones in response to cybercriminals’ constantly changing schemes. More than two-thirds of respondents (68%) in the Workday AI IQ report say AI and ML deployments have improved risk, fraud, and compliance practices.
Compelling results
While it’s still early to judge AI’s effectiveness, early results show promise for IT leaders. In the Workday AI IQ study, 68% say AI and ML applications have improved the employee experience, and 80% say they are helping employees work more efficiently and make better decisions.
These are precisely the capabilities CIOs and CISOs need to successfully launch their companies into the age of AI. With the right AI tools in place, every department can work more efficiently, gaining more time to see the big picture and pave the way for innovations.
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