Top IT Investment Priorities Cybersecurity Cloud and AI Insights from Experis President Kye Mitchell

Hey guys, thanks from the throw, we're here with Kai Mitchell, who's president of Experienced Us, and we're talking about a survey of CIOs They did because, well, we live in highly uncertain times and everybody wants to know what is on the mind of the CIO. Kai, welcome to the show. Thank you so much.

I'm thrilled to be here. Being the CIO has never been an easy job, but I think it might be a little harder these days than any time in recent memory. When you looked at the survey, what kind of leapt out at you?

You know, I think for me it was really, um, cybersecurity still. Number one, AI adoption is obviously on everybody's mind, but the key takeaway to me was really that no long CIOs are no longer choosing, um, between security innovation. They have to do both.

And the winning strategy is often, you know, integrated, resilient and aligned to real business outcomes. So not a lot of surprises for me, but cyber and AI is certainly top of mind for most. I think when I talk to them.

I mean, cybersecurity's always been top of mind, but to your point, they are trying to have their cake and eat it too. But the issue is maybe they don't have all the skills and resources they need to accomplish that mission because, well, there's just not a whole lot of AI expertise, for example. So how are they kind of approaching what they invest in for staffing versus what do they partner with and what do they look for from the vendors?

Yeah, so I think ai, like you said, a lot of people don't know it. It's new to a lot of folks, but I think the ones who are, the people who are gonna stay relevant are really leaning into it, learning it, um, and they're bringing it through everything they're doing. So for us, for example, experius Does is a global technology, um, talent and services provider.

And we're really trying to take AI and implement it across the board. So bringing it into automating code, bringing it into, um, automate testing and, and not just be a standalone issue, but how can we integrate it into everything we do? And in doing so, we are able to help them do more with less, more quickly and those types of things.

So for us, what we're trying to do is we've got a few real experts. Um, hir Ahan for example, leads my, um, ai, COE, and those experts are training our people on the job. We put an expert on with them, they train on, they ramp 'em, and they help pull it through everything that we're doing for our customers projects.

I think a lot of customers too, were talking about and looking at how are we changing, um, what our folks are focused on. So for example, training people in prompt engineering, training them in various tools they can use. And so training and upskilling is an important part of it as well.

Mm-hmm. I think there's also some nuance in all of this in the sense that there are things that need to be done, but they only need to be done maybe once or twice. And then there are things that the IT team needs to do every day.

And I think distinguishing between those things is important. 'cause that helps you decide, well, what am I gonna give to a partner to do maybe for us once versus skill that I gotta have in-house? Yes, I think that's very true.

Um, so a lot of times they'll come to us and talk to us about doing a specific project or for example, coming in and helping them get their data optimized so that their data is structured properly, it's clean, and then they're able to apply AI to it. And so they might come to somebody like an experius to do that, um, because it is that one time thing, and then they'll have their folks go ahead and operationalize it and continue keeping it going. Um, but I think also too, a lot of companies don't have, um, those skill sets right now.

And so they're also coming to us for thought leadership and what are we seeing in the marketplace and, um, how are other companies doing it? Um, for us, when it comes to ai, I've really found it's a show not tell type scenario, which is very different from other phases I've been in in my long career in technology. And customers are really looking, even for us to show 'em how we're applying it internally to how we do business to help give that credibility that yes, we can help 'em in that partnership.

Um, and, and then also talking to them about how we have taken our best and brightest and upscale them. But 76% of tech employers feel it's a real struggle still to find skilled talent. Mm-hmm.

Do you think that there's a newfound respect for data management because of ai? I mean, we've always kinda, uh, dealt with data management, but it, it was uneven at best. And certainly, you know, more I'm focused on structured than unstructured data.

And when I go talk to people, they're like, you know, wow, we got all excited about AI and then we spent the next nine months working on data management issues. I said, is that, you know, kind of where we are? Yes, for sure.

I think it's really opening people's eyes. I think, I think for a long time we've been looking at the value of a lot of companies is in their data, but between AI and also cloud, you know what we're seeing a lot in the shift to cloud engineering. Um, people have moved to the cloud, but the cost of the cloud is so expensive if your data is not properly aggregated, if it's not, if, if you aren't continually looking to optimize how much it takes up in the cloud, you know, so folks are coming to us and talking to us not just about data in the AI space, but how did they get the most out of their data?

How can they optimize it so they aren't having to spend as much on cloud storage and those types of things. So it's really going across multiple avenues. You know, the other thing that I'm seeing is that CIOs are getting involved at a specific point in time, and historically, if I look at some of these AI projects, they were led by a Special Tiger team was created and somebody was managing the infrastructure for that one team.

But as we try to do this stuff at scale and we have multiple projects, it feels like more CIOs are getting involved because they have to manage infrastructure that's gonna be shared across multiple projects and they have that expertise. So have we reached some sort of, uh, seminal point here where that's what's getting it folks more involved? Yes, I think a hundred percent.

Um, it's interesting, when we did our survey, only 13% of the CIOs we interviewed considered it a top CIO responsibility right now. So I do think they are still having some of those Tiger teams, but where CIOs are really focused is the ethical implications, the transparency, the realistic ROI from AI tools. So I think CIOs, you know it, in a lot of places, it's gone beyond proof of concept and now it's about proof of value.

And those CIOs are really focused on, again, you know, are we getting the ROI do, we ha are we considering all the ethical imp uh, implications? And, um, 36% still say though it's unclear, um, what the answers to those types of questions are going to be. Mm-hmm.

I seem to remember going back in time a couple of decades that it was a while There were CIOs were, you know, they wanted to be on the board, they wanted to help drive the business strategy, and maybe they got a little bit away from the core technologies. And now it seems to me you really need both. You gotta have some business acumen and you gotta understand the tech deeply or you're just not gonna win the game.

Yeah, I, I totally agree. I think technology is not just a support function anymore, it's really a business driver. And so they have to continue to really, um, drill in.

And in that CIO organization, a lot of times even you're looking at CTOs and CISOs and how, and having it even segmented further. Um, chief digital officers, I think, I haven't run into customers yet that have chief AI officers, but I think you're gonna start to see, we have chief data officers, we have all those things that are now folding under that umbrella. Um, but I really do think it that technology is such an important part of accelerating business that CIOs, you know, need a, a seat at the table.

Are there too many C-level tiles running around these days? 'cause sometimes when I go talk to these people, it's like, well, there's nine committees and nothing gets done because all it takes is for one of them to say no. I do think it, I do, I do see a lot of that.

I do see a lot of that from time to time. But I think companies, um, are really starting to get more lean and really get after, um, how do we move more quickly? I do think folks know that if they don't adopt quickly, their strategies are going to be at risk.

And so they're really trying to get tech deployments out more quickly. And they're, and I think another piece of it that's really come to light is, is user adoption. You know, how do we think about getting our users to use this?

And it's not just the CIO pushing something out, but how do we get the business on board and get them aligned to adopt it? Mm-hmm. Um, we talked about cybersecurity early on and historically, you know, cybersecurity's always been an afterthought.

We kind of go build something, run it out there, and then we all go, oh my God, it's not secure. Are we getting any better at that with ai or is it gonna be that same cycle again where we're gonna roll out a bunch of AI stuff and then marvel at the fact that it's not secure? I think that's why the CIO role, the CISO role is so important in IT today.

I mean, we have to look at how do you still keep it secure? And so I think that's why they are bringing in CIOs to look at it more, more closely. You have to make sure, you know, and that's where we're seeing a shift too.

You know, it's not just app dev anymore, it's DevSecOps and how do you bring security into everything you're doing? And that'll continue as you're bringing AI in to do more automation and things. You have to think about what is that secure environment and how do companies protect themselves?

So I think se si, I think security cyber is still front and center of most boards minds, and it's, it has to go hand in hand with how we're thinking about AI as well. So as you look at the survey and your own personal experiences, what is it that one thing that you wish CIOs would think a little bit more about before they go running off and funding various projects? Uh, that's a really good question.

I think, um, I think also continuing to think about human first when it comes to these things. Technology alone won't solve it. We need to be human first as we're thinking about ai.

We need to be human first as we're thinking about cyber. And I think really, you know, how do we adopt AI thoughtfully with, you know, good ethics, good governance frameworks. Um, and it's interesting too, 'cause with ai we're also having to partner more with HR because there's a lot of different rules and things coming out about how you can use AI in your hiring, um, process.

And so I think we're gonna continue to see redesign of IT roles for ai, for cross-functional flexibility. I think you're going to continue to really see, um, soft skills and empathy alongside where technology is going. Mm-hmm.

And to your point, I, I think CIOs are trying to navigate a, a difficult issue where the business side of the house thinks that AI is here and all the magic should happen tomorrow. And, you know, they read all this great stuff and then they go back to their IT people who say, well, yes, but, and then it requires time and effort and money. And then there's conversations about ROI.

Um, what is your best advice to CIOs to help them kind of navigate that pressure? Because otherwise, you know, on the one hand, they want to be viewed as being enthusiastic, but they're also the realist who has to kind of make all this stuff happen. Yeah, I mean, it's a, it's a tough position that I think CIOs find themselves in today.

But again, I think, you know, they have to really tackle that internal resistance with clear communication, realistic rollouts. I think it's also, um, looking at what makes most sense and, and, and very much measuring, here's, here's where we have ease of doing business. Here's where maybe we can improve productivity, but here's where it is continual things that we can automate, that we can make easier and, and more flexible in our business.

But it takes partnership from the business, from your different C-level roles, you know, C-H-R-O-C-F-O, all of 'em to look at it to help prioritize the areas to attack first and to help make sure it's being adopted and, um, and doing what they intended to do. All right. Hey, folks, back in the day, CIO, they used to joke, it stood for career is over.

I'm like right now that CIO stands for career and Overdrive because it turns out CIOs are now at the center of this conversation, especially around ai. So buckle up. It's gonna be an interesting couple of years.

Kai, thanks for being on the show. Thank you so much. I appreciate you inviting me.

All right. And back to you guys in the studio.