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12 Days Left to Nominate for the CIO100 ASEAN Awards 2025: Shine a Spotlight on Your Technology Innovation Success

This is the moment to tell your story of how your team has tackled complex challenges, driven measurable outcomes, and contributed to your organization’s success. Strong nominations will clearly articulate the business problem, the innovative approach taken, and the quantifiable results achieved. Data, real-world examples, and testimonials can help illustrate the value your team has delivered. Nominations are open until: 12 September 2025 Awards winners will be unveiled at the CIO100 ASEAN Awards 2025 Gala Dinner held in-person on 20 November 2025, in Singapore. source

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AI-powered shopping traffic to U.S. retail up 4,700% year-on-year

Today’s consumers are increasingly turning to generative AI-powered discovery to research products, uncover discounts, and discover gift ideas — making these tools a central part of the online shopping experience. Adobe’s latest data reveals a dramatic surge in AI-driven traffic to U.S. retail sites, with July 2025 seeing a 4,700% year-over-year increase. This growth builds on momentum from the 2024 holiday season, when Cyber Monday alone saw a 1,950% spike in traffic from AI-powered search tools. Adobe’s insights are based on over one trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, making it the most comprehensive dataset of its kind. A companion survey of 5,000 U.S. consumers adds further context, showing that 38% have already used AI discovery tools for shopping, and 52% plan to do so this year. They’re using AI for a range of tasks — from product research and recommendations to deal hunting, shopping list creation, and even virtual try-on. While AI traffic remains smaller than traditional channels like paid search or email, its growth trajectory is undeniable. More importantly, AI-referred shoppers behave differently — and more intentionally. Compared to non-AI traffic sources, these shoppers are more engaged. Adobe’s data shows that AI-referred shoppers: Spend 32% longer on sites View 10% more pages Bounce 27% less These are not casual browsers. They are research-driven consumers who arrive knowing what they want. The survey reinforces this behavior. Of those who have used AI for shopping, 85% say it improved their experience. A striking 73% cite AI as their primary source of product research, and 83% say they are more likely to use AI for larger or more complex purchases. This shift in behavior is already reshaping how retailers think about engagement and conversion. Historically, traffic from AI sources converted less often than other channels. But that gap is narrowing. In July 2025, AI-referred traffic was 23% less likely to convert than non-AI traffic, down from 49% in January and 38% in April. This trend suggests growing consumer comfort with completing purchases directly after an AI-powered interaction. As a result, AI-driven revenue-per-visit has surged, increasing by 84% from January to July 2025. Today, an AI-referred visit is worth just 27% less than a non-AI visit, compared to 97% a year ago. Mobile is playing a growing role in this shift. In July, 26% of AI traffic came via mobile, up from 18% in January. This increase points to more impulse-driven shopping behavior and suggests that AI-powered experiences are becoming more accessible and integrated into everyday consumer habits. Fundamental shifts in discoverability AI isn’t just another channel. The use of the technology is a fundamental shift in how consumers discover and engage with brands. The rise of AI agents marks the beginning of a new era where conversational platforms become the new front door to discovery. For brands, this means rethinking how they optimize content, measure performance, and structure customer journeys. The infrastructure shift is already underway. Categories like consumer electronics are leading in AI visit share because complex purchases benefit most from AI research. But every vertical will follow. The question isn’t if — it’s when. For brands that have built strong visibility in the current digital economy, the metrics may look unfamiliar. It may feel like the early days of digital all over again — equal parts exhilarating and daunting. But the opportunity is clear: Those who adapt their strategies now will be best positioned to lead in the next decade. For more reports from Adobe Digital Insights on the changing digital economy, visit here. Learn more about what Adobe has to offer by visiting these pages: Adobe Brand Concierge and Adobe LLM Optimizer. About the author:Vivek Pandya is director of Adobe Digital Insights (ADI), which publishes research on digital marketing and other topics of interest to senior marketing and e-commerce executives across industries. source

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Your biggest AI risk might be that employees don’t know they’re using it

Feedback surveys following training Focus groups or pilot testing for new tools Informal conversations with team leads about what’s working and what’s not These signals help organizations spot knowledge gaps early and adjust communications accordingly. They also support a more adaptive approach to governance — one where education and oversight evolve in tandem with the increasing use of AI across the business. Turning awareness into operational strength As AI continues to integrate into everyday workflows, organizations must start investing in the awareness, understanding and behavior change needed to support AI governance. That means treating AI literacy as an enterprise competency, not just a compliance checkbox. The risks of inaction are unintentional misuse, inconsistent adoption, growing regulatory exposure and erosion of trust in these new technologies. But the opportunity is just as significant. By enabling employees to recognize, question and engage responsibly with AI, organizations empower their workforce to innovate with clarity and confidence. That’s the real goal of AI enablement: not just protecting the business from what could go wrong but preparing it to move forward successfully in an AI-enabled world. source

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What makes a CIO legendary? Developing the human side of IT

Next comes industry experience. I’ve been in four industries, but while I was at Microsoft, I served several more — healthcare and retail, for example. So that IT expertise gets bundled with a variety of industry experiences, which enables us to really get to understand different ways value can be delivered, because you are leveraging what you’ve learned in one industry as you move to the next. So when I moved from banking to manufacturing to learn the differences in terms of supply chain, inventory, sales, how they go to market, warranties and so forth, I felt a different type of growth. The next layer is a bit of a strategic orientation. So, it’s not just my IT expertise and the industries I’ve been in, but also how that enables original thought and ideas. Sometimes others in the business won’t expect those ideas from the IT executive, but you now know enough to say, ‘Why don’t we consider doing this?’ Maybe you don’t initially get the credit, but you start to recognize, I’ve got more in this brain than just IT stuff. So, it’s developing the strategic orientation. Again, being in the right environment helps enable this, so I am fortunate to be at Unisys, especially with the energy of our new brand. The final piece is business acumen, which is where you start speaking the language of the business. You start talking to them in their terms — and it throws them off at first because they will expect you to talk about technical features and performance, but as you start talking sales, profit margin, and customer retention, you are building a deeper connection. source

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AI is taking over junior IT positions

While finding your way into these junior positions is difficult, overall labor market trends have remained relatively the same, and things have gone well for more experienced workers, according to Stanford’s research data. This leads the study’s authors to conclude that, rather than helping the workforce do things better or more efficiently, AI is taking over those jobs that can be automated with artificial intelligence. Some of the market movements seem to confirm the perceptions of the Stanford researchers. Major tech companies have launched a wave of staff cuts, in which AI appears to play a significant role. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has even indicated that 30% of Microsoft’s code is now written by AI. Use for work support Paradoxically, what usage studies tell us is that, in most cases, what teams are doing is using AI to improve how they work rather than having it do everything for them. This is confirmed by 57% of professionals. “Usage leans more toward augmentation — such as having AI review your work, asking it to teach you things, or repeating work — rather than automation,” Alex Tamkin, a researcher at Anthropic, told the Post. source

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Planning theater: Where great strategies go to die

In boardrooms and project war rooms alike, the spotlight often falls on methodologies and people skills. Agile ceremonies, leadership models and culture change take center stage. These are vital — but they are not enough. In the shadows, the less glamorous but crucial players — constraints and dependencies — quietly determine whether the project succeeds or fails. This isn’t just an agile story. The same physics apply to Waterfall programs, hybrid portfolios, construction, IT infrastructure and marketing transformations. The math — resources, timelines, budgets, sequencing, risk — defines the boundaries within which people and methods operate. Ignore it, and you’re staging a production without a script. Even worse, in today’s volatile political, operational and environmental climate, the script keeps changing as the play unfolds. Without the ability to see and re-solve the math in real time, even the best playbook becomes planning theater — polished decks, confident updates, disappointing outcomes. I’m going to lay out a practical, cross-method view of the structural layer leaders must re-center: What constraints and dependencies really mean, why dynamic (not static) management is now a prerequisite, and how to embed this discipline into an operating model. I’ll ground it with a composite SAP S/4HANA case, then close with a C-suite checklist you can use Monday morning. source

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Smarsh turns to Salesforce AI agent for customer service

Khanna is responsible for all post-sales activities, including technical support, professional services, managed services, and implementation of data engineering, data systems, and data migrations. Plus, he oversees Smarsh University, which trains customers on Smarsh solutions. Existing strengths improved Smarsh captures the electronic communications of all regulated users, mostly in financial services, and stores that captured data according to the regulations that apply. It also surveils captured data for misconduct like insider training or other forms of market manipulation. “When they’re on their WhatsApp, email, SMS, LinkedIn, and Facebook, we capture it all so we know what they’re telling their customers, and what they’re telling each other,” Khanna says. source

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What AI tools actually deliver versus the hype machine

Identifying the right AI tools is only half the battle. While tools and technologies continue to evolve, many companies are discovering their biggest challenge isn’t about software, it’s about people. According to a recent McKinsey report, 92% of companies plan to increase their AI investments over the next three years, but only 1% of leaders consider their companies “mature” in AI deployment. Meanwhile, 48% of employees rank training as the most important factor for AI adoption, yet nearly half feel they’re receiving moderate or less support. The companies that will succeed are those building AI-literate workforces alongside AI tools. This requires investing in AI education across the entire organization, not just engineering teams. Customer-facing teams need to understand AI capabilities to guide implementations. Sales teams must articulate real value beyond buzzwords. Finance and operations teams benefit from using AI tools in their daily work. When AI literacy becomes part of company culture rather than confined to technical teams, real transformation becomes possible. source

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Boston Consulting Group CIO Merim Becirovic on transforming BCG into an AI-powered company

know, one of them is the award we won here, CIO, 100 award we won for Dexter. Dexter in a consulting organization. We generate a lot of slides, millions of slides a year. Dexter is a capability. We created play on word deck and stir, yeah, Dexter. So we, we create, I didn’t think it was the TV show, yeah? So, yeah. Dck Dexter, so we, we created this capability to help our consultants generate slides from our own content and our own knowledge and the way we do slides, to say, help them start to frame it faster. So you can start to think about, I’m framing this faster. That’s, that’s one example. The other one is like anything else of one of the other ones we just launched a couple weeks, a couple of months ago. We call it Ava. And Ava is a very sophisticated it’s not just a help desk customer service agent that you kind of ask a question that gives you an FAQ back. We’ve we’ve really worked on that agent to give it some more powerful orchestration so they can say, hey, Maram is asking about Wi Fi? Yeah. Wi Fi. Mara is from the Chicago office. What else should I do with that data besides just tell me how to connect to Wi Fi as an example. So it’s it’s really starting to get much more complexity. So Avis, something we just launched that’s going to have tremendous impact on how we provide support to all of our people, wherever they are, and even some of the things that are interesting when you when you think about we all take search for granted in the consumer space, but in the enterprise space, search is very, very has to be, you know, specific, because people want specific answers. So if you’re looking for what’s the vacation policy in Canada, you don’t want to get the United States answer, or the United, you know, United Kingdom answer. So, you know, those are all the kinds of things that we’re all solving right now with all of these capabilities. And it’s awesome. I source

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