Feature
As AI’s corporate reach grows, CEOs are increasingly putting CIOs in their close orbit — and the role of tech advisor reaches outside the IT department to every department in the company.
The rapid growth and transformative power of AI has elevated IT leaders and the IT department to a critical advisory role for CEOs and other business leaders. Fifty-nine percent of IT decision makers said AI has elevated their IT department’s status within the company, according to a report by 1E.
Here, several AI leaders share why AI is being applied in IT.
1. Improving Cybersecurity
In IT space, AI is reshaping cybersecurity, according to a report shared by 1E. The global market for AI-based cybersecurity products is predicted to grow from $15 billion in 2021 to $135 billion by 2030.
AI can detect cyber attacks, quickly identify and flag suspicious emails, simulate social engineering attacks to help security teams spot vulnerabilities and rapidly analyze huge amounts of incident-related data.
Winifred Ndukwe, regional chief security officer of corporate for AXA Group Operations, said AI can offer a proactive defense system.
“Using AI for predictive threat modeling helps address vulnerabilities before they’re exploited,” Ndukwe said.
She said AI is a cost-effective solution that can build resilience into your systems and the organization.
“By employing AI-driven tools for anomaly detection, organizations are ensuring the integrity of their AI systems while strengthening overall security,” Ndukwe said.
“By analyzing patterns and generating predictive models, generative AI helps cybersecurity teams preemptively identify vulnerabilities and potential attack vectors.”
AI does not come without challenges, though.
“It is also a prime target for attackers,” she said. “If not secured, the very tools meant to protect systems could become vulnerabilities themselves. For cybersecurity leaders, this means balancing the excitement of AI adoption with a strong focus on securing these systems from the outset.”
2. Managing Workloads
IT leaders are increasingly turning to AI, because it “addresses three critical needs — scalability, efficiency and innovation,” said Daniel Gorlovetsky, CEO of TLVTech.
AI allows IT teams to automate repetitive tasks, analyze massive data sets for insights “at a scale that was previously impossible” as well as streamline IT workflows to enhance cybersecurity, Gorlovetsky said.
For example, Tipalti, a cloud-based procurement platform, worked with TLVTech to implement an AI-driven solution to automate their procurement process. The system used natural language processing (NLP) to improve the accuracy and efficiency of data processing and provide real-time insights that improve decision-making.
“AI is not just a tool but a strategic enabler,” Gorlovetsky said. “It helps businesses optimize operations, make smarter decisions and innovate faster in highly competitive markets.
“AI delivers measurable value across the board.”
Related Article: 10 Top AI IT Products
3. Increasing Efficiency
“AI is not just a gimmick. It's an enabler,” said Bakul Banthia, co-founder at Tessell. “By integrating AI, companies can stay agile in a competitive marketplace, where customer demands and technological advancements seem to evolve daily.”
AI can increase efficiency across an organization, and IT teams are being tapped to help implement AI tools that can do everything from write copy and write code to make intelligence decisions. It is turning the IT team into heroes.
“I help clients build capabilities and implement large-scale solutions for operating AI at scale,” says Kaz Kazmier, a McKinsey & Company partner in Seattle, in a McKinsey post on getting more value from new technology.
“This involves deploying hundreds, if not thousands, of AI-enabled applications across their business units. For instance, we collaborated with a client to develop a new multi-tenant platform for real-time machine learning models. This platform ran multiple sites with over 10,000 events per second flowing to over 50 applications per site. It provided data validation, anomaly detection, event routing and more, all integrated with robust data governance.”
This level of installation involves more than technology, of course. It requires a deep understanding of the business, non-technical requirements, change management, training and more. But once it is up and running, it unlocks enormous productivity.
“With these functions managed by [the] platform,” says Kazmier, “developers are freed from 80 to 90 percent of the routine work. They essentially gain bionic arms, enabling them to move quickly onto more creative tasks and develop the next set of models.”
4. Enhancing Capabilities
Ben Clayton, CEO of Media Medic, said AI has completely transformed how the company handles IT-related functions, and it “tackles the big challenges we face — speed, accuracy and scalability — head-on.”
If an IT team is drowning in vast stores of data or struggling with complex systems, tapping an AI can not only lighten the load of the human team, but also eliminate errors.
Webinar
Oct
16
Agentic AI Playbook: Real-World Customer Service Use Cases You Can Deploy Now
Boost self-service by 30% and slash call volume by 63% with agentic AI.
Register
Webinar
Oct
22
Beyond Storage: Smarter Content, Bigger Impact with DAM + AI
Discover how the DAM + AI duo makes content smarter, stronger and more accessible.
Register
Webinar
Nov
6
Fix the Content Bottleneck: Build a Better WebOps Strategy
Content stalled? Dev overloaded? You’re not the only one. Learn how streamlined WebOps bridges the publishing gap.
Register
Webinar
On demand
CMS Briefing: A Live Look at What’s Next in AI-Driven Platforms
Learn how leading organizations are using AI‑driven tools to publish faster, personalize smarter and stay secure.
Watch Now
Webinar
On demand
Ready or Not: How Data-First Organizations Are Unlocking Agentforce Potential
Learn how to cut through the noise, activate Agentforce and build a Salesforce AI strategy that actually delivers.
Watch Now
Webinar
On demand
AI in Customer Service: Faster Resolutions, Happier Customers
Don’t let rising demand burn out your team. See how to build a smarter, more resilient support org.
Watch Now
“AI becomes this super-smart assistant that never takes a break,” said Clayton, noting it’s “invaluable” for the company in forensic audio and video analysis.
“It doesn’t just process information faster. It picks up patterns, anomalies and insights that even the sharpest human eye might miss,” Clayton said.
Many people in IT are worried that AI is coming for their job and that kind of fear-based thinking misses the mark, according to Clayton.
“From a strategic standpoint, embracing AI is less about replacing people and more about empowering teams to focus on creative and high-impact work,” Clayton said. “It’s like giving your talent the tools to play at a higher level.
For example, AI can automate time-consuming tasks, like denoising or transcription, allowing experts to “dive straight into the nuanced human judgment calls that machines can’t make,’ Clayton said.
People are prone to errors when the work is repetitive, dull and detailed. AI excels at that sort of work.
“It’s not just about making processes more efficient,” Clayton said. “It’s about unlocking new levels of capability. AI lets businesses handle more, deliver better results and do it all faster.’’
5. Maximizing Limited Data
For preserving endangered languages and addressing digital inequities, using AI is “not just strategic, it is urgent,” said Anna Mae Lamentillo, founder of NightOwlGPT.
“We are losing languages faster than we can document or learn them,” Lamentillo said.
Over 3,000 endangered languages are at risk of disappearing by the end of the century, according to Lamentillo. AI can help address this by supporting “low-resource languages” that lack sufficient digital data sets.
AI is capable of rapidly analyzing linguistic patterns and delivering easy-to-access tools, automating processes that might otherwise take decades, Lamentillo said. Languages can disappear in that time.
Lamentillo said AI can help communities “safeguard their linguistic heritage and bridge critical gaps in digital inclusion” through real-time translation, interactive learning tools and culturally informed insights.
“AI empowers us to preserve linguistic diversity, foster digital equity and build a global platform that uplifts marginalized voices,” Lamentillo said.
Related Article: 5 AI Case Studies in IT
