ORLANDO, Fla. — Communication and empathy have become more important to the CIO role as enterprises focus on generative AI. Board members now expect CIOs to get them up to speed and provide answers to questions that they may not know they have.
“Most of them are not digital natives,” Tina Nunno, distinguished VP analyst at Gartner, said during the firm’s IT Symposium/Xpo Monday. “The more you can connect the dots, the more effective you will find your communications.”
Board interest in AI has grown in the past two years, but there are signs that boardroom enthusiasm for the technology has wavered this year. Technology leaders operated in a loud AI ecosystem that promised quick gains and benefits, but CIOs have grappled with adoption roadblocks and unclear ROI.
Board members are ultimately working toward their main goal: protecting shareholder interests. Businesses plan to pour even more resources into AI in the year ahead, and boards want to understand the risks and where the business stands rather than get caught off guard down the line.
It’s up to CIOs to capture a clear picture of AI plans, roadblocks and risks.
“There’s an acronym I’ve been using for a while to talk about how to have great board conversations and great board presentations: brief, open, accurate, relevant and diplomatic,” Nunno said.
There are 10 questions CIOs should answer related to AI initiatives in board presentations and documents:
- How well has the enterprise historically innovated and adopted emerging technologies in the past?
- How, when and by how much will adopting AI/generative technologies impact the company’s income statement, cash flow and balance sheet?
- Does the board have the right structure to provide AI oversight?
- What is the most appropriate way for the enterprise to deploy AI?
- How aggressive is the AI strategy you’re proposing?
- How does the enterprise’s AI strategy and current standing compare to competitors?
- What are the AI use cases, how were they identified and why are they being prioritized?
- What obstacles will the enterprise need to overcome to execute the AI strategy and what sort of work or investment will that take?
- Does the enterprise need to hire AI skills, and what’s the impact on the existing workforce?
- What kinds of controls will the enterprise deploy to mitigate AI’s risks?
As technology leaders polish their presenting skills, an emphasis on brevity is required, Nunno said. Board members only want to read an average of 40 pages prior to a meeting, according to Gartner surveys. After asking technology executives in the audience at Gartner’s IT Symposium/Xpo about the length of the documents they hand to the board, quite a few raised their hands for more than 100 pages, with some saying even more than 200 pages.
“Being brief is a very important priority, and to the degree that you figure out exactly what it is they need to know or want to know, that’s time well invested,” said Nunno. “Having the right questions and right answers is tremendously helpful to boards.”
