Netskope has published new research revealing that only a minority (38%) of infrastructure and operations (I&O) leaders interviewed believe that their existing infrastructure can handle the new demands of AI, and even fewer (18%) are completely confident they have the team and budget to meet the performance, resilience, and security expectations of their leadership in the AI era.
Researchers interviewed global I&O leaders, aiming to discover how well integrated IT activities were with broader business plans. They discovered that senior leadership and their technology teams need to align more effectively in order to overcome potentially significant operational hurdles when upgrading infrastructure for AI demands:
Soaring expectations: four in five I&O leaders (80%) believed that their organization’s IT infrastructure is central to delivering core business goals, and the same proportion (80%)have seen expectations from senior leaders rise in the last 12 months. A further 83% of I&O leaders feel that expectations on them have personally intensified.
The alignment disconnect: nearly two-thirds (63%) of I&O respondents felt far removed from the strategic conversations that shape IT decisions, and 20% admitted they lack a clear understanding of their CEO’s or CIO’s objectives. Meanwhile, 37% describe their role and function as ‘reactive’.
Mutual barriers: 61% reported CEOs expressing feelings of frustration when IT infrastructure isn’t as transparent or easy to understand asthey would like.
Misaligned KPI prioritisation and attainability: I&O leaders believe that senior leadership is most interested in security, visibility, and cost, and less inclined to discuss resilience or performance. The majority believed that C-suite expectations around performance (55%), resilience (58%), and security (59%) were unrealistic given their current systems.
Reactive approaches: 60% of I&O leaders believe that their organization has a defensive ‘if it ain’t broke’ mindset when it comes to investing in IT infrastructure and operations.
While the promise of AI undoubtedly dominates C-suite conversations around digital transformation and growth, AI enablement has not necessarily been the priority for I&O teams. In fact, longer-running challenges topped the priority list for I&O leaders, including improving the security and performance of remote access technologies (43%) and improving visibility into network operations and performance (35%), which both outrank work to support the organization’s adoption of AI (34%).
The research offers five recommendations for I&O leaders to forge stronger connections with the C-suite:
- Translate infrastructure decisions into business outcomes (e.g., talk about agility and risk reduction, not just technology terms).
- Engage earlier and more actively in strategic planning to design infrastructure for the future.
- Advocate for architectural simplicity and consolidation to move away from reactive ‘Band-Aid’ fixes.
- Create ongoing visibility for senior leaders with transparent reporting that demystifies the ‘black box’ of the IT estate.
- Position I&O as an enabler of safe, fast AI adoption to reduce C-level anxiety and build trust.
