CIOs need to play evangelist role for automation, AI

Forrester Research has come out with a report highlighting the role in which automation, artificial intelligence and robotics can impact the business, and how CIOs can help their organization meet strategic competencies. These strategic competencies entail using technology like automation to solve business problems, according to J.P. Gownder, vice president and principal analyst for Forrester Research. "CIOs and other digital leaders need to think about automation, AI and robotics in terms of the business model of the company and applying those technologies to a business-model problem, which is a little bit different than the optimization problems that they've been [addressing] in the past," he said. Implementing automation will require CIOs to play the role of an evangelist and convince workers on the benefits of using these emerging technologies, Gownder noted. Meanwhile, automation can impact the cost savings in a business, according to the Forrester report.