As anticipation builds for the CIO Smarter IT Summit on 18 February, CIO South Africa sits down with futurist and trend analyst Bronwyn Williams ahead of her highly anticipated keynote. From AI-driven transformation to platform risk, Bronwyn reveals the critical trends shaping IT leadership in 2025 and beyond. Here’s a sneak peek into the insights she’ll share at the summit.
With the CIO Smarter IT Summit just around the corner, excitement is at an all-time high. On 18 February, top IT leaders will gather to explore the future of enterprise technology, and at the heart of it all is futurist, trend analyst and Flux Trends partner Bronwyn Williams, who will be delivering the keynote address at 39 Melrose Boulevard in Melrose Arch.
“Attendees can look forward to deep opportunities for investment and development beyond the hype cycle, focused on in-motion drivers of change,” Bronwyn teases, while keeping her most valuable insights under wraps until the big day.
A well-known voice in trend forecasting, Bronwyn shares the key shifts she believes IT leaders should be prioritising in 2025 and beyond.
“Agentic AI (aka prosthetic intelligence or adversarial bot armies); the technology supercycle (the convergence of AI with sensors connecting and manipulating the real world from our bodies to our homes to our farms to our roads through our global supply chains) and platform risk (regulatory and IP and fraud and geopolitical) of using AI tools,” she notes.
However, with all the hype around AI and other emerging technologies, CIOs face the ultimate challenge of turning these advancements into practical, sustainable solutions. Bronwyn offers a strategic approach to striking a balance.
“Ask yourself: is this a new baseline? If so, adopt. Is this going to cut costs? Then, consider carefully. Will it add net value to my end user or their customer? Then go right ahead. Or is this going to extract value from the supply chain in a zero sum game? Then avoid like the plague.”
Bronwyn also highlights a crucial divide across industries – those that embrace transformation and those that resist it. “In every industry there are innovators and laggards. The companies and sectors trying to use the law to prevent innovation are not the winners. Think of US port workers and Hollywood writers who believe they can ‘ban’ AI in their industries. Don’t resist, lean in!” she concludes.
