Drive Innovation With an Exponential IT Mindset

Are you ready to drive the adoption of autonomous business capabilities?

Analyst Perspective

IT must develop new capabilities to drive emerging tech adoption

Traditionally, CIOs have struggled to gain the trust of the executive leadership team and be recognized as business leaders rather than just technical leaders. In fact, based on a 2023 study by Info-Tech Research Group, only 36% of CIOs report directly to the CEO with most of the remainder reporting through either the CFO or COO.

Exponential IT requires that CIOs gain a seat at the table and build the capabilities necessary to not only lead the transformation of their business but also drive the innovation that will lead to enterprise adoption of emerging technologies. CIOs will be required to gain a detailed understanding of their business and in-depth knowledge of emerging technologies so that they can match business opportunities with technology capabilities, while managing risk and change.

This research will help CIOs identify the capabilities they need to transform the business, and better understand where they must mature their capabilities to drive Exponential IT.

Kim Osborne Rodriguez
Research Director, CIO Advisory
Info-Tech Research Group

Executive Summary

[1] Info-Tech CXO-CIO diagnostic benchmark data, 2022, n=76

Info-Tech Insight

IT must lead the innovation capabilities that will drive the adoption of emerging technology across the enterprise. In an exponential world, IT needs to adopt business value targets and become a value creator rather than limit itself to IT service targets and remain a cost center in the organization.

Drive innovation with an Exponential IT mindset

Your ability to capture enterprise value from autonomization relies on your innovation capabilities and potential. Is your IT team ready to drive the adoption of AI-driven business processes? Assess your innovation readiness in five key areas supporting Exponential IT.

IT must rapidly mature

If IT leaders cannot lead the transformation, then the business will move forward without them.

Only 3% of CXOs report that their IT department can transform the business. Most IT organizations (81%) still struggle to adequately support the business.

Common obstacles

Leverage Exponential IT to drive value from the adoption of emerging tech

The most common obstacles to innovation are cultural, including politics, lack of alignment on goals, misaligned culture, and an inability to act on indicators of change.[1]

CIOs struggle to get a seat at the table and influence change. Info-Tech research shows that only 36% of CIOs report directly to the CEO, with over a third reporting to another C-suite leader such as a COO or CFO.[2]

[1] Harvard Business Review, 2018
[2] Info-Tech Research Group CIO Time Study, 2023

Info-Tech Insight

To drive change, CIOs need to gain the trust of their senior leadership team. Getting a seat at the table should be the first step for any CIO looking to transform their business.

Many CIOs struggle to be seen as business leaders

Executive Brief: Case Study

• INDUSTRY: Financial Services
• SOURCE: Borealis AI

Borealis AI drives AI-powered transformation at Royal Bank of Canada

Borealis AI is a research center backed by RBC Royal Bank, tasked with researching, designing, and building AI products and tools which transform the financial services industry. It gathers researchers with backgrounds in artificial intelligence (AI), computer vision, natural language processing (NLP), computer science, computational finance, mathematics, and machine learning (ML) to create solutions in areas including asynchronous temporal models, non-cooperative learning in competing markets, and causal machine learning from observational data.

Results

Borealis AI has created many innovative products for RBC, including:

• NOMI Forecast: an award-winning personal financial management tool
• Turing by Borealis AI: a text-to-SQL database interface using NLP
• Aiden: an AI-powered electronic trading tool using reinforcement learning

In 2023, Borealis AI won the Best Use of AI for Customer Experience award from The Digital Banker, for the NOMI Forecast app, which has been downloaded by nearly a million RBC clients since launching in 2021.

"NOMI Forecast is a cutting-edge AI solution that uses deep learning to offer timely and accurate predictions of our clients' cashflow. Powered by our unique datasets, these AI models have been trained to deliver personalized experiences for RBC clients,"
— Foteini Agrafioti, Chief Science Officer at RBC and Head of Borealis AI

IT needs to connect emerging technology with business opportunities

Emerging tech is driving business change

Innovation is critical for business success, but succeeding is more difficult than ever

Emerging tech brings new challenges for organizations looking to create a competitive advantage. Access to sophisticated tools with minimal upfront costs have lowered the barriers to entry and democratized innovation, particularly among smaller players. The explosion of data processing & collaboration tools has allowed more focused and data-driven innovation efforts through analysis and insights, increasing the competitive advantage for those who get it right.

This has led to an accelerated pace of change as autonomous business processes start driving their own market shifts. The rise of autonomous business processes creates exponential reward, but also exponential risk for early adopters.

Innovation is increasingly critical for competitive growth

IT innovation leadership explains 75% of the variation in satisfaction with IT (Source: Info-Tech Research Group survey, n=305) and is the fourth-highest priority for IT end users.

A 7-year review by McKinsey (2020) showed that the most innovative companies[1] outperformed the market by upwards of 30%.

A 25-year study by Business Development Canada & Statistics Canada showed that innovation was more important to business success than management, human resources, marketing, or finance.

[1]Top innovators are defined as companies which were listed on Fast Company World's 50 Most Innovative Companies for 2+ years.

Adapt your approach to innovation

Both traditional and exponential (AI-driven) innovation is important for business success

Measure the value of this blueprint

Transformation efforts fail over 75% of the time[1] resulting in millions of dollars of lost revenue[2]

Our research indicates that most organizations would take months to prepare this type of assessment without our resources. That's nearly 70 work hours spent researching and gathering data to support due diligence, for a total cost of thousands of dollars. Improve your success rate by understanding what's needed to successfully drive innovation.

[1] Lombard, 2022
[2] FutureCIO, 2022

Establish a baseline

Gauge the effectiveness of this research by completing the following table before and after using this blueprint:

How to use this research

Five tips to get the most out of your readiness assessment

1. Each category consists of five competencies, with a maximum of five points each. The maximum score on this assessment is 100 points.
2. Effectiveness levels range from basic (Level 1) to advanced (Level 5). Level 1 is generally considered the baseline for most effectively operating organizations. If your organization is struggling with Level 1 competencies, focus on those before pursuing higher maturity areas.
3. This assessment is qualitative. Complete the assessment to the best of your ability, based on the scoring rubric provided. If you fall between levels, use the lower one in your assessment.
4. The scoring rubric may not perfectly fit the processes and practices within every organization. Consider the spirit of the description and score accordingly.
5. Other industry- and region-specific competencies may be required to succeed at exponential innovation. The competencies in this assessment are a starting point, and internal validation and assessments should be conducted to uncover additional competencies and skills.

Assess your innovation readiness:

1. Organizational Excellence

• Innovation mandate
• Transformational leadership
• Culture of innovation
• Vision & strategy

Organizational excellence sets the stage for innovation.

"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower." – Steve Jobs, Apple Founder

Without strong leadership, innovation efforts are almost certain to fail. Innovation requires buy-in and support, a leader who walks the talk, culture which supports risk taking and allows failure, and a clear and compelling vision. Without these elements in place, transformation efforts are a fifteen times more likely to fail [1] – and waste time and money along the way.

[1] Lombard, 2022.

Focus on innovation to deliver business value

Satisfaction drives IT value, and innovation leadership drives satisfaction with IT

Strong leadership is critical to the success of innovation. A global survey of 600 business leaders pointed to leadership as the best predictor of innovation success[1] and showed a strong correlation between leadership ability and innovation capabilities.

Innovation leadership starts with a mandate from the senior leadership team and requires a clearly articulated vision and strategy to deliver the intended benefits to the organization. A survey of 270 business leaders showed that over a third of them struggled with articulating the right strategy or vision, hindering their efforts to innovate.[2]

45% of business leaders report that cultural issues stifle their innovation efforts, and 55% report unhealthy politics which cause infighting that negatively affects their organization.[2]

[1] McKinsey, 2008
[2] Harvard Business Review, 2018

The importance of leadership

75% of high IT satisfaction scores are associated with a strong ability to lead innovation.
Source: Info-Tech Research Group survey, n=305

Struggling to get a seat at the table?

It can be challenging to drive innovation efforts without trust and buy-in from senior leadership. Start with small initiatives and build your reputation by consistently delivering on your commitments.

Leadership starts with a mandate

Build your innovation leadership with the following capabilities:

Innovation mandate: There is strong support and trust from the senior leadership team, which gives IT leaders the opportunity to lead innovation despite any temporary failure. IT leaders are well-informed about and have input into business decisions.

Transformational leadership: IT leaders are influential change agents, not only within their organization but across their industry or community. They inspire others and actively collaborate with external partners, driving change beyond their organization.

Culture of innovation: Innovative cultures generally demonstrate ten behaviors that are most closely correlated with innovation success: growth mindset, learning-focused, psychological safety, curiosity, trust, willingness to fail, collaboration, diverse perspectives, autonomy, and appropriate risk-taking. These behaviors are embedded in the organization and strongly demonstrated in daily work.

Vision & strategy: The innovation vision and strategy are continuously refined and adapted to changing market and emerging technology trends. Emerging technology innovation is second nature in the organization, and it becomes a leader in driving change across the industry.

Additional resources for Organizational Excellence

Assess your innovation readiness:

2. Insights & Intelligence

• Business context
• Strategic foresight
• Emerging tech expertise
• Strategic alignment

The foundation of innovation is data.

"Without data you're just another person with an opinion." – Edwards Deming, Statistician

Having comprehensive and accurate data about the problems you hope to solve is critical to realizing the benefits of innovation. Build your understanding of the business and ability to predict how trends will impact your industry, then stay on top of emerging tech and align solutions with strategic business capabilities.

Act on strategic indicators

Build the ability to go from data to intelligence to insights

Info-Tech data shows that businesses are 93% more likely to be satisfied with IT when their IT teams have a better understanding of the business. Teams need to understand who your organization serves, how it delivers value, and what its goals are.

When seeking to capitalize on emerging technology opportunities, businesses face an execution challenge. 82% of business leaders report being able to identify leading indicators of change, but less than two thirds of them are confident in their ability to act on those indicators.[1]

A report by Leadership IQ noted that only 29% of the 21,008 employees surveyed considered their leader's vision consistently well aligned with the organizational vision.[2] Strategic alignment is not just important from a results perspective. It impacts employee motivation: employees with strong leadership alignment are 24% more likely to give their best at work.[2]

[1] Harvard Business Review, 2018
[2] Leadership IQ, 2020

Strategic Foresight Challenges

82% of business leaders say they can correctly identify leading indicators of change…

…however, only 58% feel confident in their abilities to act on these indicators.

Source: Harvard Business Review, 2018

You must understand the business

Develop key insights and intelligence with the following capabilities:

Business context: IT actively participates in the business as a value creator and innovator, proactively disrupting the business and driving the adoption of emerging tech that drives exponential value.

Strategic foresight: IT not only embraces emerging technologies, but actively drives innovation and disruption through their adoption. IT is adept at using trends to drive exploration and can quickly execute on initiatives.

Emerging tech expertise: There is an expert-level understanding of emerging technologies including their capabilities, limitations, risks, trends, and potential use cases. IT proactively drives the adoption of emerging technology.

Strategic alignment: IT proactively uses the business strategy to drive adoption of emerging technology and identify new opportunities. Each initiative has clear metrics and targets which directly impact business targets.

Additional resources for Intelligence & Insights

Assess your innovation readiness:

3. Agile Ideation

• Data-driven decision making
• Ability to identify opportunities
• Business engagement
• Risk management

IT must use data to drive the ideation process, engaging the business to identify opportunities – all while managing risk.

"Innovation is key. Only those who have the agility to change with the market and innovate quickly will survive."- Robert Kiyosaki, Entrepreneur & Author

Many Agile concepts are used in the process of innovation, regardless of whether the formal Agile methodology is used. Fast iterations ("fail fast"), lessons learned, and risk management are equally important for ideation as they are for execution. This category evaluates IT's ability to drive the ideation process at the enterprise level.

Use data to drive agility

Effectively using data has a threefold impact in the quality of decisions

Agility is critical for innovation, particularly when adopting emerging technology. AI and other emerging technologies are accelerating the pace of change and driving a necessary increase in how quickly organizations must adapt.

Data is also critical when building a case for change. A survey of over 1,000 senior business leaders showed that organizations that effectively use data to drive decision making are three times more likely to report significant improvements in the quality of their decisions.[1]

[1] Harvard Business School Online, 2019

Start with the business

The business must be involved in ideation. Develop the skills needed to engage the business and identify challenges and opportunities.

Engage the business to deliver value

Build your proficiency in the following ideation capabilities:

Data-driven decision making: Data is proactively collected from multiple internal and external sources to inform innovation strategies. Continuous monitoring of innovation provides a strong rationale for outcomes and benefits. Data governance, quality, and privacy measures are in place to ensure data quality.

Ability to identify opportunities: IT actively shapes the future of the organization and the industry by proactively identifying business opportunities for emerging technology and leading the way in their adoption. Experiments and pilots are often industry firsts.

Business engagement: IT enables the business by engaging at all levels to identify and refine emerging technology opportunities. They effectively communicate benefits and risks in business terms, while understanding business needs and challenges. IT collaborates with the business to establish innovation centers or communities of practice.

Risk management: There is a proactive and holistic approach to risk management, considering both opportunities and threats associated with emerging technology adoption. IT and the business continually anticipate and monitor emerging risks, evaluate the effectiveness of risk management practices, and adapt them to evolving technology landscapes.

Additional resources for Agile Ideation

Assess your innovation readiness:

4. Team Capabilities

• Resourcing & investment
• Talent & skills
• Change management
• Partnerships & ecosystem

Ensure you have the right resources and skills needed to drive innovation.

"The best way to predict the future is to invent it." – Alan Kay, Computer Scientist

Resourcing and skills are critical building blocks for driving innovation, and without a strong understanding of emerging technology and the processes needed to adopt it, organizations will falter at driving change.

Develop the right resourcing, skills, change management, and partnerships to drive Exponential IT.

Develop key skills

Scaled Agile (SAFe): Scaled Agile is a framework for implementing Agile and lean methodologies at the enterprise level or outside of a single team.

Development operations (DevOps): A methodology for software development which includes practices and tools that support the development lifecycle.

Data operations (DataOps): A set of tools and processes that support data management within an organization. Typically used when training AI on a specialized data set.

Analytics: The systematic analysis of information used to discover, interpret, and communicate insights gleaned from patterns in data. Analytics typically generate insights that support data-driven decision making.

Machine learning operations (MLOps): Tools and processes that support the development of machine learning (ML) models, including AI and large language models (LLM). Can include expertise in computer science, natural language processing (NLP), computer vision, computational algorithms, mathematics, and ML expertise.

Artificial intelligence operations (AIOps): Leveraging AI to develop autonomous business processes at the enterprise level.

Mature your emerging technology capabilities

Agile: Build the methodologies to drive execution
DevOps: Drive the software development lifecycle
DataOps: Effectively manage data
Analytics: Develop insights from data
MLOps: Develop machine learning tools
AIOps: Build autonomous business processes

Manage the building blocks of innovation

Resourcing & investment: IT manages a well-defined and substantial budget dedicated to innovation, which is integrated into the overall strategic planning and decision-making processes. Investments are made in a holistic and forward-looking manner, considering the long-term implications and potential disruption caused by emerging technologies.

Talent & skills: Teams exhibit thought leadership and innovate within emerging technologies, including advanced machine learning engineering, MLOps, DataOps, and analytics. Employees actively contribute to the advancement of these technologies, engage in research and development, and explore new applications and use cases.

Change management: This is a core competency led by change champions and change management professionals. There is a strategic approach to driving and sustaining change, focusing on long-term adoption and continuous improvement. Change management is embedded in the organizational culture, and there is a proactive effort to foster change agility and build change capability at all levels.

Partnerships & ecosystems: IT builds an orchestrated innovation ecosystem for the adoption of emerging technology. They take a proactive role in orchestrating collaboration among ecosystem partners. The organization acts as a catalyst for innovation, bringing together diverse partners to address complex challenges and drive transformative solutions.

Additional resources for Team Capabilities

Assess your innovation readiness:

5. Innovation Execution

• Governance
• Embedded security
• Infrastructure
• Ability to execute

Can you deliver results? Develop the capability to execute on innovative ideas.

"What good is an idea if it remains an idea? Try. Experiment. Fail. Try again. Change the world." – Simon Sinek, Author, Motivational Speaker

The foundational elements of innovation significantly overlap with the activities you must do to excel at core IT operations. Build your ability to execute quickly on innovative ideas and build the trust of the enterprise.

Rapidly execute on innovative ideas

IT must be able to successfully manage the foundational capabilities of innovation

The foundational capabilities of innovation are central to many core IT processes: governance, security, supporting infrastructure, and the ability to execute on ideas are all critical to running an effective IT shop.

IT governance is a critical and embedded practice ensuring information and technology investments, risks, and resources are aligned in the organization's best interests while producing business value. Effective governance ensures that the right technology investments are made at the right time to support and enable your organization's mission, vision, and goals.

Build foundational capabilities

The ability to rapidly execute on ideas is fundamental not only to innovation but also running an effective IT organization.

Develop foundational IT capabilities

The ability to execute is based on key foundational capabilities, including:

Governance: Adaptable and automated governance guides effective innovation and supports the adoption of emerging technology. Decision making is flexible and can move quickly to enable the implementation of new technologies. Responsibility and authority are aligned across all levels of the organization.

Embedded security: Security and privacy controls are embedded in the applications and technologies deployed across the enterprise. Security is built into the organizational culture, with a strong focus on promoting security awareness and fostering a security-first mindset.

Infrastructure: IT infrastructure is modern, adaptive, and future-proof. Infrastructure should support a range of emerging technology applications, including the flexibility to adapt to future use cases. There is a focus on agility, scalability, flexibility, and interoperability.

Ability to execute: The IT team drives rapid innovation across the organization and can reliably execute and collaborate with internal and external partners. They are pivotal in driving innovation initiatives that align with the organization's strategic objectives. Agile methodologies and practices are embedded in the culture of the team.

Additional resources for Innovation Execution

Activity 1: Assess your readiness for exponential innovation

Input: Core competencies; Knowledge of internal processes and capabilities
Output: Readiness assessment
Materials: Exponential Innovation Assessment Tool; Whiteboard/Flip charts
Participants: Executive leadership team, including CIO; Other internal stakeholders of vendor partnerships

1-3 hours

1. Gather key stakeholders from across your organization to participate in the readiness assessment exercise.
2. As a group, review the core competencies from the following five sections and determine where your organization's effectiveness lies for each competency. Record your responses in the Exponential Innovation Assessment Tool.

Download the Exponential Innovation Assessment Tool

Interpret your results

Understand your readiness and determine the next steps to operationalize exponential innovation.

Once you have completed the readiness assessment, use Info-Tech's maturity ladder to identify next steps and recommendations.

It is usually very challenging to lead innovation with a total score less than 50. Lower maturity organizations should focus on maturing the foundational aspects of innovation, such as those in the Innovation Execution and Team Capabilities categories, and core IT processes.

For higher maturity organizations (those with total scores 50 or higher), first focus on getting all capabilities to a minimum of Level 3, then work on progressing maturity starting with foundational categories and working upwards:

Determine your readiness

Activity 2: Create an action plan

Input: Readiness assessment
Output: Action plan to improve maturity of capabilities
Materials: Exponential Innovation Assessment Tool; Whiteboard/Flip charts
Participants: Executive leadership team, including CIO; Other internal stakeholders of vendor partnerships

1 hour

1. Gather the stakeholders who participated in the readiness assessment exercise.
2. As a group, review the results of the readiness assessment. Were there any surprises? Do the results reflect your understanding of the organization's maturity?
3. Determine which areas are likely to limit the organization's innovation capability, based on lowest scoring areas and relative importance to the organization.
4. Break out into groups and have each group identify three actions the organization could take to mature the lowest scoring areas.
5. Bring the group back together and prioritize the actions. Note who will be accountable for each next step.
6. Identify additional Info-Tech research that can assist with improving your maturity (see additional resources in this blueprint).

Author

Kim Osborne Rodriguez
Research Director, CIO Advisory
Info-Tech Research Group

Kim is a professional engineer and Registered Communications Distribution Designer (RCDD) with over a decade of experience in management and engineering consulting spanning healthcare, higher education, and commercial sectors. She has worked on some of the largest hospital construction projects in Canada, from early visioning and IT strategy through to design, specifications, and construction administration. She brings a practical and evidence-based approach, with a track record of supporting successful projects.

Kim holds a Bachelor's degree in Honours Mechatronics Engineering and an option in Management Sciences from University of Waterloo.

Research Contributors and Experts

Jack Hakimian
Senior Vice President
Info-Tech Research Group

Jack has more than 25 years of Technology and Management Consulting experience. He has served multi-billion-dollar organizations in multiple industries including Financial Services and Telecommunications. Jack also served many large public sector institutions.

He is a frequent speaker and panelist at technology and innovation conferences and events and holds a Master's degree in Computer Engineering and an MBA from the ESCP-EAP European School of Management.

Mark Tauschek
Vice President, Infrastructure & Operations Research
Info-Tech Research Group

Mark has hands-on network design and deployment experience across verticals including healthcare, education, manufacturing, retail, and entertainment. He has extensive knowledge in the areas of technology research, process development, vendor selection, and project management. He holds specific expertise in wireless networking and mobile technologies.

Mark holds an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario and many professional wireless technology certifications.

Michael Tweedie
Practice Lead, CIO Strategy
Info-Tech Research Group

Mike Tweedie brings over 25 years as a technology executive. He's led several large transformation projects across core infrastructure, application and IT services as the head of Technology at ADP Canada. He was also the Head of Engineering and Service Offerings for a large French IT services firm, focused on cloud adoption and complex ERP deployment and management.

Mike holds a Bachelor's degree in Architecture from Ryerson University.

Donna Bales
Principal Research Director
Info-Tech Research Group

Donna Bales is a Principal Research Director in the CIO Practice at Info-Tech Research Group specializing in research and advisory services in IT risk, governance, and compliance. She brings over 25 years of experience in strategic consulting and product development and has a history of success in leading complex, multi-stakeholder industry initiatives.

Donna has a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Western Ontario.

Isabelle Hertanto
Principal Research Director, Security & Privacy
Info-Tech Research Group

Isabelle Hertanto has over 15 years of experience delivering specialized IT services to the security and intelligence community. As a former federal officer for Public Safety Canada, Isabelle trained and led teams on data exploitation and digital surveillance operations in support of Canadian national security investigations. Since transitioning into the private sector, Isabelle has held senior management and consulting roles across a variety of industry sectors, including retail, construction, energy, healthcare, and the broader Canadian public sector.

Aaron Shum
Vice President, Security, Privacy, Risk & Compliance
Info-Tech Research Group

Aaron Shum is a Vice President in the Security & Privacy Research and Advisory Practice at Info-Tech Research Group. With 25+ years of experience across IT, InfoSec, and Data Privacy, he currently specializes in helping organizations implement comprehensive information security and cybersecurity programs and comply with data privacy regulations such as the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation and the California Privacy Rights Act.

Reiaz Somji
Managing Director, Consulting
Info-Tech Research Group

As a client-focused strategist with strong organizational acumen, Reiaz leverages his 20+ years of management consulting experience to help C-suite executives and managers navigate the integration of changing technology with business goals. He is currently a managing director in Info-Tech's consulting division and leads its Infrastructure practice.

Hans Eckman
Principal Research Director, Applications
Info-Tech Research Group

Hans Eckman is a business transformation leader helping organizations connect business strategy and innovation to operational excellence. He supports Info-Tech members in SDLC optimization, Agile and DevOps implementation, CoE/CoP creation, innovation program development, application delivery, and leadership development. Hans is based out of Atlanta, Georgia.

Irina Sedenko
Research Director, Data & Analytics
Info-Tech Research Group

Irina brings more than 20 years of information management experience and demonstrated expertise in big data, advanced analytics, machine learning, and AI. Her experience includes designing and implementing enterprise content management systems, defining data and analytics strategy to support business goals and objectives, creating data governance to enable data initiatives, and providing guidance to the client teams. She led teams through data lake implementation to enable advanced analytics capabilities and has hands-on data science and machine learning experience.

Research Contributors

Bill Macgowan
Director, Smart Building Digitization
Cisco

Barry Wiech
Chief Digital and Information Officer
Sime Darby Industrial

Tim Dunn
Chief Information Officer
Department of Energy & Public Works (Queensland)

Sudip Ghosh
Group Manager, Office of the CIO
Star Entertainment Group

Samantha Rose
Contract Manager
Department of Energy & Public Works (Queensland)

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