Well, my first official month as Chief Distllier is over and it has been great.
Spent a long time combing through information, research, insights, data points, and talking to my community of executives and board members around the world and I concluded two things: I am overwhelmed by the need, and overjoyed by the pace of change. Maybe the other way around? Nah, that's right...
First impressions from following the topics, themes, and trends? Read on...
You may recall I wrote about what companies should be focusing on in 2025 in LinkedIn before I joined Constellation (growth, resiliency, sustainability).
Resiliency quickly became the key theme for 2025 mostly derived from tariffs wars (had my say about that also...).
Shared the topics I'd cover a couple weeks ago: Cloud infrastructure in the enterprise (this is a hot, hot, hot topic for CIOs), Cybersecurity and Compliance (CISOs like this one, me -- the more time I spend in it, the more I want to be offline), GenAI adoption in the enterprise (mainstream you say? Yay, I say), Supply Chain Optimization (apply GenAI to it and -- wowzer), and Advanced Computing (now that GenAI hype is dying, Quantum Computing is heating up... but nowhere near there -- yet; don't forget about edge computing).
Readings through everything I found in April for these topics, after I recovered from that horrible flu-like thing...man, that was nasty, led me to three key cross-tabbed, correlated talking points:
Interoperability Across Cloud, AI, and Edge Ecosystems is critical. As enterprises increasingly build their hybrid multicloud infrastructure, resulting in private and public platforms connectivity, the need for integrated edge computing and cloud-native tools is critical for enabling real-time decision-making, especially in areas like supply chain optimization and AI deployment. Successful organizations are those building interconnected, agile ecosystems that allow AI models and data flows to operate seamlessly across environments. Shorter? cloud infrastructure + analytics / AI + edge = next generation of enterprise architecture (which you need in place before you can successfully deploy AI across the enterprise... which is what's next).
Generative AI is Driving Transformation—But Only When Operational Foundations Are in Place. Generative AI has moved beyond experimentation into deployment (reaching mainstream adoption means that virtually all organizations have streategic, long-term initiatives on it - past proof-of-concept), yet many projects stall due to infrastructure limitations, governance issues, and unclear ROI (a move from ROI to TTV is underway, stay tuned for this shift). Orgnizations with high operational readiness are far more likely to scale and see measurable returns (Accenture said this, I agree). This signals that GenAI's value is not just in the model but in the enterprise’s ability to deploy it effectively. This is interlacing cloud infrastructure and GenAI (see above).
Data and Trust are Emerging as Strategic Differentiators in Advanced Computing. As AI and edge technologies expand across enterprise functions, organizations must address trust gaps—whether related to data sovereignty in the cloud, the ethical use of GenAI, or privacy and compliance transparency. The alignment of compliance, cybersecurity, and sustainable practices is becoming central to technology adoption decisions. If you add AI to this, watch out for the catastrophe that it can generate if you don't tackle it at the operational level (versus, each project or provider doing their own thing). The creation of private platforms by smart CIOs over the last 5 years (and next 15 -- defining the next generation of IT investment) to power complex ecosystems is driving enterprise investment for those who pay attention and get past the shiny beads. And -- governance.
Want data points for these? More details? See how it applies to your organization? Ping me...
Things I am keeping my eyes + ears on for May: GenAI mainstreaming, trade wars and cybersecurity, private plaforms, and --- sigh, quantum.
More to come...
