CIOs recalibrate IT agendas to make room for rising AI spend

Moreover, they’re reporting that the executive drive for all things AI has them recalibrating their IT project agenda, prioritizing AI spending while bumping other items down or even off the to-do list.

“Budgets are finite, and because AI investments are an imperative for CEOs, the boards, and CIOs to support the business functions, AI shrinks the dollars available for other initiatives and so the line on priorities is being drawn differently,” says Dhaval Moogimane, who leads the high-tech and software practice at West Monroe, a business and technology consulting firm. “This is going to force a level of discussions in organizations not only about how they prioritize but how they manage their spend.”

What IT projects are losing out

Recalibration of budgets to accommodate newly prioritized projects — as is the case for AI pilots, proofs of concepts, and full-on implementations — is not an entirely new phenomenon.