It’s too early in the process for him to talk about specifics, though, but these kinds of projects can be truly transformative. And it’s more of a business transformation than a technological one, requiring a team with multi-dimensional skills sets.
Fandrich says he’s had a business-centric attitude toward technology since he joined the organization seven years ago, with a focus on how to work with the business side differently, and bring in the domain knowledge needed to build successful solutions.
With gen AI, he says, things are moving faster than ever before. “And I think we all know the only thing we can guarantee is that the pace of change is only getting faster,” he says. “What we traditionally called change management is now unbelievably bigger.” And that means IT executives need business and financial skills more than ever.
“The macroeconomic challenges and opportunities of generative AI dramatically change the economics of companies,” he says. And that means the roles of the IT organization and the roles of the business units are starting to blur.
“The power of generative AI is its transformative nature,” he adds. “You can’t do that purely from the technology or the business — you need the marrying of the two.”
The future of the CIO
CIOs who transition IT from being a cost center to being a driver of innovation, transformation, and new revenues, can become the leaders that the new economy needs.
“We used to say that business runs technology,” says David Kadio-Morokro, EY Americas financial services innovation leader. “You tell me what you want, and I’ll code it and support you.” Now it’s switched, he says.
“I really believe technology drives the business, because it’s going to impact business strategy and how the business survives,” he adds, and gen AI will force companies to rethink the value of their organizations to customers.
“Developing and envisioning an AI-driven strategy is absolutely part of the equation,” he says. “And the CIO has this role of enabling these components, and they need to be part of the conversation and be able to drive that vision for the organization.”
The CIO is also in a position to help the CFO evolve, too. CFOs are traditionally risk averse and expect certainty and accuracy from their technology. Not only is gen AI still a new and experimental technology that’s evolving quickly but is, by its very nature, probabilistic and nondeterministic.
“The CFO may have to be a little bit more comfortable with ambiguity and things being experimental,” says John King, partner at Lotis Blue Consulting. “A lot of these tools are still cutting edge, and it may be a little unsettling for the CFO.”
There’s also a lot of wild information out there about what gen AI can do, some of which might be true, but some isn’t, he says.
“As a CIO, you’re helping them understand what the technology can really do,” he adds. “And you want to have some guardrails so you’re not doing things that don’t make sense.”
He recommends that CIOs just entering on this journey should start small.
“Get your feet wet in something that’s well understood,” he says. “It’s a mistake to try to go too far, too fast.”
You don’t want to get out too far ahead of the technology, he adds, but, at the same time, you don’t want to miss opportunities.
“A CFO would just say to wait and see what the risks are,” he says. “But then you’re just playing catch-up. You might wind up losing revenue opportunities when you do that.”
