CIO Executive Council

During this webinar, Alizabeth Calder, Adjunct Research Advisor, IT Executive Programs, IDC, led an interactive discussion on the importance of product mindset to amplify growth. The conversation examined the ways in which a product mindset provides the foundation to compound growth by ensuring digital alignment with business goals. Alizabeth also provided strategies for CIOs to achieve success by positioning the best of future-facing thought leadership to leverage digital investment that will be impactful for business growth and innovation.

This IDC Tech Buyer Survey Spotlight, prepared by Mona Liddell, Research Manager, Quantitative Analysis, CIO Executive Research, examines how organizations are adopting and scaling AI agents, based on data from the Future Enterprise Resilience and Spending Survey, Waves 8 and 9. The findings show a clear divide: Digital-native organizations are already ahead, with many running AI agents in production and at scale, while non-digital natives are less mature but planning rapid expansion over the next two years. By 2026, large-scale AI agent deployments are expected to be common across both groups, signaling a shift from experimentation to operational reality.

This IDC Tech Buyer Presentation, prepared by Daniel Saroff, GVP, End-User Research, Advisory, and Consulting, discusses RFP and vendor selection scoring models. Organizations often approach vendor evaluation and sourcing with ad hoc methods that vary by project, team, or stakeholder. Scoring models are frequently inconsistent, weighting logic is unclear, and there is no easy way to model how changing priorities, such as cost versus innovation, impact final outcomes.

This IDC PeerScape, authored by Stanley B. Gibson, adjunct research advisor for IDC’s IT Executive Programs (IEP), highlights the practices to build a data-first organization in the public sector.

“‘Data first’ encapsulates a strategy that is vital to the success of public sector organizations. Key to overcoming tech debt and bureaucratic inertia, it is likely to prove indispensable for an agency or a department to succeed in its mission of delivering value to the public,” says Gibson.

The IT industry stands on the brink of one of its most transformative eras, triggering major consolidations in many long-standing sectors and the emergence of major new markets. IDC’s latest research shows that the infusion of autonomy, adaptability, and decision-making into products and services with agentic AI is redefining the very foundation of technology design, delivery, and value creation. It goes beyond an evolution in AI adoption. It’s a structural shift that will determine which technology providers lead in the emerging agent economy and which struggle to adapt.

This IDC Perspective explains the reasons behind companies’ thinking about switching away from their longtime ERP, CRM, or other enterprise software vendor and how to make the right decision for your organization and situation. While core enterprise applications are deeply embedded into companies’ processes and workflows, there are many cases where it might be time to discontinue some of those enterprise apps in favor of something that better fits with an organization’s current and future goals.

This IDC Perspective explores the critical role of unified AI governance in higher education, emphasizing its integration with institutional strategy to manage risk, ensure ethical use, and foster innovation. Through case studies and a comprehensive framework, the report highlights best practices for aligning governance with academic values, regulatory requirements, and sustainability goals while addressing challenges such as fragmented structures, rapid technology evolution, and equity.

This IDC Tech Buyer Survey Spotlight examines how organizations use business relationship managers (BRMs) to improve IT and business alignment and why many still struggle to see meaningful impact. While one-third of organizations report strong value from BRMs, a much larger share either see limited results or have not committed to the role at all. The data reveals clear patterns among organizations with underperforming BRMs. For CIOs considering using BRMs or expanding the role, this document outlines the conditions that make the model successful and the issues that consistently limit its effectiveness.

This IDC Connect webinar offered CIOs and digital business leaders an opportunity to discuss critical trends, rising opportunities, and new strategic options essential for making effective decisions over the next five years. The discussion was led by Daniel Saroff, Group Vice President, Consulting and Research, and Mona Liddell, Research Manager, Quantitative Analysis, CIO Executive Research. Together, they encapsulated key elements of the FutureScape report and provided details on what it takes to be a successful ‘Future CIO.’ Daniel and Mona also offered actionable guidance for CIOs as they navigate an increasingly complex landscape, helping them align AI innovation with their broader strategic goals and accelerate technology-driven progress.

This IDC Survey Spotlight, prepared by Mona Liddell, Research Manager, Quantitative Analysis, CIO Executive Research, explores the growing disconnect between organizations’ self-assessed disaster recovery (DR) maturity and their actual ability to recover from ransomware attacks. While a majority of organizations rate their DR efforts as “managed” or “optimized,” the data tells a different story: that many are failing to recover without paying ransoms or are unable to recover data at all. This document uses 2025 data to highlight the critical areas where DR strategies are falling short and provide actionable recommendations for IT leaders looking to close the gap between perception and performance.

In this CIO.com feature, CIO Executive Council member Stephen Dick, VP of Infrastructure Engineering at Paylocity, posits “cutting jobs for AI might boost profits today, but skipping on reskilling people could cost us the future we actually want. We are celebrating the wrong victories.”

This IDC CIO Sentiment Survey presentation, prepared by Mona Liddell, Research Manager, Quantitative Analysis, CIO Executive Research, and Daniel Saroff, Group Vice President Consulting and Research, “examines the evolving role of the CIO and the state of IT organizations worldwide. It offers insights into where leaders are directing resources, how success is being measured, the challenges of scaling emerging technologies, such as generative AI, and the shifting expectations for IT in enabling business outcomes. Key focus areas include investment priorities, future operating models, talent and skills development, and approaches to risk, security, and resilience.”