With the rapid evolution of digital technologies over the past decade, IT is finding its “hero” status, enabling organizations to navigate the many twists and turns. And, like most things in life, when you do things well, you’re asked to do more of it.
This means CIOs are increasingly viewed as responsible not only for traditional IT roles such as managing IT departments and infrastructure but also driving innovation—the kind that fuels business growth (80% of business executives agree, according to a Deloitte survey).
GenAI is one of those innovations.
AI, of course, isn’t new. IT teams have been using it to automate processes and speed delivery for some time, and GenAI will take this to the next level making IT even more integral to business success. So, it’s no surprise that GenAI projects are prioritized for funding across budgets. Could this turn IT from hero to superhero?
People: IT roles are shifting in the age of AI
IT thrives (and in turn, so does the business) when its people spend less time on tactical, repetitive tasks and more time on strategic direction and decision making. GenAI is really just the next wave of automation, building upon the (hopefully) great practices we’ve been working to put into place. And as it evolves to make IT more agile and scalable, new developer roles are emerging to support it. Specialist roles like MLOps, DataOps, and platform engineering are expected to grow as much as 20% through 2027 (IDC). At the same time, traditional roles like ITOps and System Admin are becoming more generalized, allowing IT departments to handle the same work with fewer people. Just like we saw in the days of the cloud, IT saw efficiencies from the technologies, and while some worried about the safety of their jobs, there was more work to be done through the demand for new roles and skills.
The World Economic Forum projects that AI will create around 97 million new jobs, including roles specifically focused on AI development, deployment, and maintenance. This is driving organizations to create upleveling or upskilling initiatives to create new opportunities for existing talent.
All this is expected to streamline operations, drive efficiency, and speed response times, so IT can deliver greater value.
Process: Driving speed through automation, AIOps, and managed services
Developers and end users demand seamless access to resources, free from the shackles of manual configurations and tedious interventions. This necessitates a paradigm shift towards automation and self-service models, empowering teams to innovate at the speed of thought. By championing platforms that require less hands-on intervention, IT can focus on driving business value creation – such as through implementing new tools, digitization, and advanced analytics.
Generative AI will be transformative for every organization, but requires IT to step up and manage new workloads – initially creating more work. IT already has a lot on its plate, which is why teams are leaning on AIOps solutions to provide new insights and help with monitoring and management solutions like predictive maintenance. We at Dell Technologies are giving organizations the insights and orchestration to automate many routine tasks within the data center, continuously keep models up to date, and accelerate the remediation of IT incidents. All of this means while IT is delivering AI to all, they too can benefit from AI.
For areas that can’t be addressed internally, IT is increasingly outsourcing activities, leaning on system integrators and infrastructure providers for managed services. In turn, offloading responsibilities like security and technical support are also opening access to specialized skills and the ability to bridge skill gaps. In order to be the superhero its people need, IT will need to employ a few sidekicks through third parties, so it can focus on the projects that will really help move the needle.
Solutions: Investments equipped with an “easy” button
When it comes to investing in the right solutions, services, and infrastructure, IT must make careful and calculated decisions about how their investments will support their overall goals and operations. The complexity of managing diverse workloads and data across a variety of environments has become daunting as organizations scale their efforts. As IT decision makers consider new hardware, software, and devices today, they’re less concerned with product specs, speeds, and feeds, and more with how these investments will drive ROI and deliver true business outcomes.
IT customers are also shifting focus away from individual assets in favor of broader solutions that are easy to deploy, manage, and scale, thereby freeing up team members to spend less time on lower-value tasks in favor of strategic activities that drive efficiencies. Today, static assets are being retired in favor of dynamic ones that offer ongoing delivery of new features and functions. And Dell is enabling these new tools to manage data and workloads where it makes the most sense for the business, whether in the cloud, on prem, in a colocation facility, or at the edge. No longer the unsung hero, IT can leverage new tools for unparalleled visibility and control across multicloud environments, making it that much easier to drive business growth (OK, grab that cape!).
Looking forward: IT as the steward of AI innovation
As we chart the course for the future of IT, it’s clear that the journey ahead is filled with challenges and opportunities alike – with AI increasingly a critical tool in the IT superhero toolbelt. IDC estimates that by 2027, the market for GenAI will reach $151 billion, representing a 71% CAGR. For IT to support projects that deliver efficiencies from AI, it first needs to unlock its own efficiencies on traditional IT work, enabling the ability to focus on managing the time, budget, and assets that AI projects will require.
IT is poised to help organizations build upon the foundation they’ve laid and take it to the next innovation platform – GenAI. Through overcoming deployment challenges, identifying the right infrastructure to support its incubation, and driving sustainable and innovative growth, IT emerges not just as a hero, but also as the vanguard of innovation in the modern enterprise.
CIOs will continue to seek strategic partnerships to help their organizations grow more agile and scale solutions, particularly to help capture new GenAI and AI efficiencies. This is where Dell Technologies can help, offering AI-ready, easy-to-use solutions focused on driving business outcomes.
Here’s where you can learn more about Dell AI solutions.
