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How to lead for what’s next  The shift we’re talking about isn’t just philosophical. It’s practical. When people are trusted, they move faster. When they feel supported, they’re more likely to bring ideas forward. When leaders are clear, open and authentic, alignment isn’t forced — it happens naturally.  That’s what authentic leadership looks like. It’s not about being soft. It’s about being real. It’s about showing up as yourself, building real relationships and holding people accountable in a way that motivates, not intimidates.  We stand behind these views wholeheartedly, but they’re also backed by data. For example, the Great Place to Work Institute found that Millennials are 22 times more likely to want to stay at companies with a high-trust culture. When people stay, they contribute, care and get results.  source

AI has shifted from being a workload on the cloud to a workload that reshapes cloud design, Kim says. “Enterprises are prioritizing architectures that bring compute to data, often blending public cloud, private infrastructure, and edge to reduce latency, control costs, and meet compliance requirements,” he explains. “Additionally, as data privacy concerns rise and open source drives deployment costs down, the demand for on-prem and edge AI deployments will increase.” CIOs who treat cloud strategy as AI strategy will lead the next phase of digital transformation, Kim predicts. “The winners will be those who balance speed, sovereignty, and sustainability without losing sight of operational resilience.” 2. Industry-specific cloud platforms further their momentum Vertical cloud platforms aren’t just generic cloud services — they’re tailored ecosystems that combine infrastructure, AI models, and data architectures specifically optimized for sectors such as healthcare, manufacturing, finance, and retail, says Chandrakanth Puligundla, a software engineer and data analyst at grocery store chain Albertsons. source

One extreme defensive move for an enterprise would be to implement full redundancy for anything not hosted on-premises. Redundancy for data protection is relatively straightforward, but having multiple email, supply chain, or e-commerce services is very expensive and disruptive. What are the odds that it would even be needed? Whatever those odds were, they just became much higher. “[This is going to require] new tabletop exercises where you go through these new scenarios,” said Erik Avakian, technical counselor at Info-Tech Research Group and former longtime CISO for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. “It is now prudent to have this type of disaster recovery resilience.” Avakian added that many enterprises are already, to varying degrees, dealing with data redundancy, but duplicating apps and other executables is much more challenging. “Duplication of executables conversations are not [yet] happening,” he noted. source

Java is dead…or so they said  Three years after its first release, a strong declaration about Java shook the tech space. It was August 1998 when Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, stated, “Java is dead” during an interview with SunWorld. This prediction proved spectacularly wrong, but not for obvious reasons.  Not expecting the upcoming market shift, Torvalds buried Java based on its ability to thrive through the so-called “desktop wars.” However, a paradigm shift occurred, paving the way to Java’s success: From desktop to server-client model and, later, to the cloud computing model we know today.  In the years that followed, many have predicted Java’s death. Yet, just like Torvalds, all missed the mark, as reflected on the words of Barry Burd, Java Champion, professor of computer science at Drew University, author of multiple books including “Java For Dummies” and co-lead of Garden State JUG and New York JavaSIG, said: “I’ve seen Java outlive predictions, outlive trends and outlast every obituary written about it.”  source

The service covers large row crops such as wheat, corn, and cotton, but also vegetables and fruits like apples and strawberries. The app is available in many areas, including countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Putting mobile data to work worldwide Depending on what part of the world they’re from, farmers tend to use the app in different ways, Sterling says. In the Asia Pacific region, farmers tend to rely on mobile data for much of their information, she notes. “In the Philippines, Indonesia, and countries like that, you see a lot of small farmers who are really doing all of their decision-making from the mobile-first economy,” she says. “They’re doing all their decision-making on their phones, and they benefit from more advanced farming practices, where they may not know precisely when to apply yet.” source

Decision-makers have access to more information than ever. But digital leaders must set expectations about the right pace, and place, to exploit disparate data sources to achieve winning results. source

Over time, my role shifted. I wasn’t just the “auditor in charge.” I became a connector between cultures, expectations and risk perspectives. We didn’t always agree, but we aligned. And that alignment made our findings sharper, our remediation faster and our relationships stronger.  Cross-border leadership isn’t about being everywhere. It’s about being understood everywhere.  And that starts with making people feel seen, not just assessed. Lessons that stick  Audit’s job is not just to assess trust. It’s to help design it.  When we reduced SOX controls, we weren’t just cutting. We were creating clarity and giving time back to people. That opened the door to smarter audits, stronger partnerships and risk conversations that actually moved the business forward.  Auditing AI wasn’t about catching up. It was about shaping how the organization thinks about risk, before headlines or regulations forced our hand.  Leading across continents taught me that influence doesn’t begin with authority. It begins with curiosity, by asking the right questions and by making others feel seen, not just assessed.  If audit wants a seat at the strategy table, we need to bring more than checklists. We need to bring courage, context and a mindset that accepts change as part of the job, not the enemy of it. This article is published as part of the Foundry Expert Contributor Network.Want to join? source

Nearly 45% of digital projects encounter challenges that can significantly impact their budgets, deadlines or both, putting organizational success and stakeholder confidence at risk. I found that the most common way for the project status is by reporting methods, whether weekly or monthly updates, often lack the immediacy necessary for timely interventions, and by the time concerns are brought to light, they have typically grown far out of control. However, it is the emergent but promising project rescue strategy, real-time executive dashboards, that is evolving to the rescue. These live-data visualization tools are interactive, allowing C-suite executives or project managers to gain immediate insight into project health, identify blockers early and dynamically adjust resources as needed. I am sure that real-time dashboards certainly add value to rescue failing IT projects by enabling early intervention through live data visibility, collaborative alignment and automated risk detection despite challenges such as data overload and integration costs. I wrote this article to examine the role of real-time dashboards as a crucial turnaround mechanism for IT project management, including their benefits, limitations and best practices for implementation, using my first-hand experience. The urgency of real-time visibility in IT projects IT projects are now complex, involving more than one team, changing customer requirements frequently, customer point of contact changes, end user demands and highly intermingled technologies. Nearly half of these projects are late or over budget, and many of these delays are due to resource shortages or proper alignment that were not identified in time, task dependencies or scope creep. Traditional status reports hinder proactive management, which takes days or weeks after data collection to complete. Real-time dashboards, on the other hand, provide an up-to-the-minute, always-current view of mission-critical project metrics, including progress against the budget, timeline expansions and contractions, resource allocation, risk alerts and quality-driven indicators that support data-aligned decisions. source

Sustainability has swiftly transitioned from a peripheral concern to a pivotal, board-level mandate for global enterprises. Today, it is not just about regulatory compliance, but also about fostering innovation, resilience and gaining a competitive edge. Technology leaders, especially CIOs, hold a unique position to shape how digital infrastructure, data and business processes drive environmental, social and governance (ESG) outcomes. SAP S/4HANA and its suite of sustainability solutions offer a robust foundation for organizations to operationalize sustainability at scale, transform business models and future-proof their operations. Integrating sustainability into the digital core is not simply an ethical or compliance-driven requirement. It is now a strategic lever for driving growth, achieving operational excellence and fostering stakeholder trust. The time has come for organizations to move beyond aspiration and embed sustainability into every digital initiative, using technology as a catalyst for measurable, lasting impact. Sustainability as a strategic imperative  Sustainability is now deeply woven into the fabric of business strategy and technology planning. The pressure from regulators, investors, customers and employees has intensified, underscoring the essentiality of embedding sustainability into organizational DNA for long-term success. CIOs and technology leaders play an increasingly crucial role in ensuring that digital transformation and sustainability are closely aligned. Several converging trends underscore sustainability’s importance:  source

Today’s IT execs face a relentless pace of technology and business change. An intentional approach to executive decision-making can help ensure better business outcomes amid constant disruption. source