2025 CIO Priorities: What Is In, What Is Out

Based on Gartner research and dozens of engagements, here is 2025:

## What Is IN

**1. AI with Measurable ROI**: Not experiments, but specific use cases
- Financial Services: Fraud detection saving $2.8M
- Manufacturing: Predictive maintenance reducing downtime 40%
- Retail: Personalization driving 23% conversion increase

**2. FinOps as Core Discipline**: Cloud cost growing 35%, governance required
- Monthly cost reviews by team
- Automated rightsizing
- Culture of cost accountability

**3. Cybersecurity** (4th consecutive year #1)
- Zero-trust architecture
- AI-powered threat detection
- Security automation

**4. Composable Architecture**: API-first, microservices, low-code
- 50-70% faster time-to-market

**5. Vendor Consolidation**: 80+ vendors to 30-40 strategic partners
- Easier negotiation, better pricing, reduced complexity

## What Is OUT

**1. Vanity Tech Projects**: No "cool tech" without ROI
**2. Massive Transformations**: 52% fail, do 90-day sprints instead
**3. Build vs. Buy Debates**: SaaS delivers 80% at 20% cost
**4. Unlimited Cloud Budgets**: Every resource needs justification
**5. IT as Order Taker**: Strategic partner, not reactive service

## Budget Shifts

Decreasing: Legacy maintenance (-12%), Data centers (-8%), Custom dev (-15%)
Increasing: Cloud/SaaS (+35%), Cybersecurity (+28%), AI/ML (+62%)