CIO Strategy: Page

AI agents know what to do -- but should they have authority to do it?

AI agents are gaining access to enterprise systems, but moving from reading data to making changes requires new rules about authority, permissions and human oversight.

By Liz Hughes • Sept. 24, 2026

CIOs must rethink third-party risk as AI creeps into tools

AI creep is making point-in-time vendor checks less reliable. IT leaders need continuous oversight of the added AI capabilities vendors are putting in place.

By Tim Murphy • Sept. 24, 2026

When AI has permission to act, who gives it authority to decide?

Giving AI permission to take an action is different from letting it decide when that action should occur. CIOs need explicit boundaries for when AI can act autonomously.

By Pam Baker • Sept. 24, 2026

Capability risks rise with layoffs: What CIOs should know

Layoffs can lead to significant capability risk -- the loss of expertise and tacit knowledge. These hidden costs affect productivity, innovation and long-term efficiency.

By Andy Patrizio • Sept. 24, 2026

Gartner sees CIOs becoming AI ‘evidence custodians’

A conventional log may not be enough. CIOs could need end-to-end evidence showing what AI did, why it was allowed and what changed as a result.

By Liz Hughes • Sept. 23, 2026

Persistent AI memory adds another layer to enterprise data

Persistent AI memory is spreading across enterprise platforms, adding a data layer that must be mapped and validated against authoritative systems.

By James Alan Miller • Sept. 23, 2026

ERP access control debt can turn old roles into current risk

ERP access control can drift far from the business roles and responsibilities it was designed to reflect. CIOs need to treat authorization as an ongoing governance discipline.

By Pam Baker • Sept. 23, 2026

More Salesforce ICE protests at Dreamforce; buyers remain unmoved

At Dreamforce, Silicon Valley reality distortion is hard to miss as Salesforce celebrates nonprofits and NGOs inside while protesters outside demand it cut ICE ties.

By Don Fluckinger • Sept. 22, 2026

Is AI really paying off for companies? CIOs weigh in

AI is delivering measurable value for some companies, but most are struggling to turn productivity gains into meaningful business returns.

By Tim Murphy • Sept. 22, 2026

AI slowdown: Do we really need it?

Don't stop AI development, but slow deployment. The risks lie in lax regulations and human misuse, showing the need for appropriate security controls, testing and human oversight.

By Nihad Hassan • Sept. 22, 2026

Why CIOs should invest in agent harnesses

As AI agents access data and take autonomous actions, agent harnesses provide essential security and governance controls, enabling CIOs to scale AI safely across the enterprise.

By Rosa Heaton • Sept. 22, 2026

The quiet rise of AI technical debt

AI technical debt can hide in prompts, data, models and workflows. David Linthicum explains why CIOs need production discipline before pilots scale.

By David Linthicum • Sept. 21, 2026

AI agent autonomy puts CIO controls to the test

As AI leaders warn capabilities are advancing faster than safeguards, CIOs face a more immediate question: how much authority to give enterprise agents.

By Liz Hughes • Sept. 18, 2026

SMBs face AI governance reckoning

Alliant's Arun Sahu discusses why "AI psychosis" affects SMBs more than large enterprises because they lack the governance and human oversight buffers to deal with AI mistakes.

By Jim O'Donnell • Sept. 18, 2026

Gartner warns traditional IT controls won’t keep up with AI

Autonomous AI agents have outpaced traditional IT controls. CIOs must strengthen access and accountability and build controls to stop agents before they cause damage.

By Tim Murphy • Sept. 17, 2026

CLARITY Act stalls in Senate: What crypto uncertainty means for CIOs

A failed Senate cloture vote stalled the CLARITY Act, leaving CIOs to make digital-asset vendor, custody and contract decisions without a broader market-structure framework.

By Sean Kerner • Sept. 17, 2026

HubSpot adds AI CRM intelligence layer, marketing AI

With AI automatically entering data into the systems of record, there remains a need for humans in the loop.

By Don Fluckinger • Sept. 16, 2026

AI control is becoming an architecture problem for CIOs

CIOs face multiple AI control layers across orchestration, models, data, identity and governance. The challenge is understanding how those layers work together.

By James Alan Miller • Sept. 15, 2026

Why enterprise AI fails at the org chart, not the model layer

AI models are easy to access. Organizational authority is not. David Linthicum explains why the org chart -- not the model layer -- keeps enterprise AI from delivering.

By David Linthicum • Sept. 15, 2026

Private AI: Not a fix for enterprise AI issues

Private AI infrastructure secures data but doesn't solve enterprise issues. CIOs must build an orchestration layer that handles state, authorization and execution logic separately.

By Eugina Jordan • Sept. 15, 2026

Salesforce Enterprise AI Harness latest salvo aimed at ServiceNow

Salesforce battling ServiceNow, AWS and a cast of thousands for the soul of agentic AI management.

By Don Fluckinger • Sept. 11, 2026

Why hope is a CIO leadership skill

CIOs need to inspire teams as well as manage technology. Futurist Nikolas Badminton explains how hope can help leaders build vision, empower teams and drive action.

By Tim Murphy • Sept. 10, 2026

How to build an experience-level agreement

Properly built experience-level agreements prioritize UX over traditional metrics, focusing on business outcomes and employee productivity to enhance performance.

By Damon Garn • Sept. 8, 2026

14 need-to-know tips for digital transformation success

What separates a successful digital transformation implementation from a recipe for disaster? These 14 tips will help ensure your DX efforts result in business improvement.

By Paul Kirvan , Grant Hatchimonji • Sept. 8, 2026

Slopsquatting explained: When AI code turns malicious

AI coding assistants are accelerating development --but they're also creating a dangerous new attack vector that security teams aren't prepared to detect.

By Sean Kerner • Sept. 4, 2026