This year’s IT Directors Forum brought together IT leaders to share insights, discuss common challenges, and explore innovative solutions. With keynote speakers like mathematician & broadcaster Hannah Fry addressing decision-making under uncertainty and Dave Fishwick, Bank of Dave founder inspiring resilience and innovation, the event underscored the evolving role of IT in driving business transformation.
For Conor Whelan, CEO of Digivante, the forum provided the chance to engage with IT leaders, hear first-hand about their challenges, and identify the top trends currently shaping the technology landscape.
1. AI: Building smarter operations
AI is becoming a cornerstone for driving efficiency and innovation. Attendees shared how AI is being leveraged for predictive analytics, operational automation, and even personalised customer experiences. For many, the challenge lies in adopting AI responsibly, ensuring ethical use, and aligning it with business goals. However, many acknowledged that while AI offers significant benefits, it often misses the nuanced understanding that only humans can provide, especially in areas like digital customer experience (CX) and user experience (UX).
Real challenges from attendees:
- Several organisations are exploring AI to improve their IT service management, using it to predict and pre-empt system failures. Yet, they find that human oversight is crucial to interpret complex scenarios that AI might misread.
- Others are focusing on deploying AI in customer service, with chatbots and sentiment analysis tools to enhance client interactions.
Why it matters:
AI can dramatically reduce manual workloads and provide actionable insights, but success requires clear use cases and cross-department collaboration. For IT leaders, this means ensuring AI solutions are balanced with a human element and don’t just work in silos but integrate seamlessly into existing systems.
2. Cybersecurity: Staying ahead of threats
Cybersecurity dominated discussions, with ransomware, phishing, and insider threats among the biggest concerns. IT leaders noted the difficulty of securing hybrid work environments and the need for real-time threat intelligence, all while maintaining a seamless user experience.
Real challenges from attendees:
- One organisation was tackling the complexity of securing IoT devices as they expand their smart infrastructure.
- Another faced the challenge of integrating cybersecurity measures into their cloud migration strategy without creating bottlenecks.
Why it matters:
Modern cybersecurity isn’t just about firewalls and antivirus, it’s about creating resilient systems that adapt to evolving threats while keeping user experience in mind. For IT directors, balancing stringent security protocols with an intuitive UX is essential to maintaining the user journey while protecting sensitive data.
3. MI/BI/Analytics: Turning data into actionable insights
Data-driven decision-making is a priority, and IT leaders are focused on scaling their analytics capabilities. Whether it’s real-time dashboards or predictive modelling, Management Information and Business Information tools are helping businesses make smarter, faster decisions.
Real challenges from attendees:
- Some attendees were grappling with data silos and fragmented data across departments, making it difficult to deliver cohesive insights to stakeholders.
- Others were pushing for democratising data, empowering non-technical teams to run their own analytics.
Why it matters:
For IT leaders, tools that help to break down these data silos are essential for uncovering inefficiencies and identifying growth opportunities. By fostering cross-department collaboration and focusing on the human use case, organisations can streamline operations and enhance brand cohesion.
4. Data: Managing the digital lifeblood
Data continues to grow exponentially, and managing its storage, security, and accessibility remains a key challenge. Attendees discussed how to structure their data ecosystems for greater agility and scalability of personalised services.
Real challenges from attendees:
- One organisation was investing in data lake architectures to centralise and streamline data access.
- Another prioritised compliance, ensuring their data strategies adhered to GDPR and other global regulations, which in turn builds user trust and confidence.
Why it matters:
Effective data management ensures your organisation can act on insights quickly and confidently. For IT directors, applying robust data strategies means creating systems that are both flexible and secure, directly contributing to a more streamlined and satisfying UX.
5. Microsoft: Empowering hybrid work and innovation
Microsoft’s tools remain foundational for many organisations, but maximising their potential is an ongoing journey. IT leaders discussed their reliance on platforms like Azure and Dynamics to modernise operations and support hybrid workforces.
Real challenges from attendees:
- Some attendees highlighted difficulties in migrating legacy systems to Azure without disrupting operations, noting that Microsoft’s rapid updates can sometimes outpace organisational readiness.
- Others noted a need for deeper integrations between Microsoft tools and third-party platforms to support automation and analytics.
Why it matters:
For IT leaders, the power of Microsoft lies in its versatility. Leveraging its full potential means taking the time to customise and optimise its use for your business’s unique needs and user expectations.
6. Website/App/Portal development: Meeting user expectations
Attendees identified customer-facing platforms as critical touchpoints for delivering exceptional experiences. Emphasising customer-centred development, IT leaders are focusing on building digital products that not only meet but exceed user expectations in terms of accessibility, performance, and personalisation.
Real challenges from attendees:
- Many attendees emphasised the importance of localisation, ensuring websites and apps resonate with culturally and linguistically with global audiences.
- Others were tackling performance issues, particularly under heavy traffic, to ensure seamless user experiences.
Why it matters:
Websites and apps are often the front line of a company’s digital strategy. Ensuring they are functional, fast, and delightful to use is crucial. And this is where Digivante plays a role during the user acceptance stage, keeping users at the heart of development to stand out in competitive markets.
7. Network: The backbone of modern IT
Networks are under increasing strain as hybrid work and cloud adoption expand. IT leaders are investing in resilient and scalable networks to meet rising demands.
Real challenges from attendees:
- Organisations struggled with ensuring consistent performance across geographies, especially for remote teams.
- Others focused on implementing SD-WAN to improve network flexibility and reliability.
Why it matters:
A strong network underpins every aspect of IT and user experience. For IT leaders, investing in network resilience means empowering your team to collaborate effectively, no matter where they are.
8. Process improvement: Bridging IT and business goals
Streamlining processes to align IT operations with broader business goals was a hot topic. IT leaders are increasingly becoming key players in driving enterprise-wide efficiency.
Real challenges from attendees:
- One organisation was working to eliminate bottlenecks in their software development lifecycle, integrating DevOps practices while ensuring business stakeholders understood the technical benefits.
- Another was focused on improving communication between IT and business teams to better align priorities.
Why it matters:
Process improvement isn’t just an internal IT issue, it has ripple effects across the entire business. IT leaders who champion collaboration and efficiency will be seen as strategic partners in business growth.
9. Cloud migration: The inevitable shift
Cloud migration continues to be a transformative initiative for IT leaders. From cost savings to scalability, the benefits are clear, but so are the risks.
Real challenges from attendees:
- Organisations are grappling with balancing the speed of migration with minimising downtime and disruption.
- Compliance and data sovereignty issues also loom large, particularly for those operating across multiple regions.
Why it matters:
Cloud migration enables agility and innovation but requires meticulous planning. IT leaders must navigate vendor lock-in risks and ensure their cloud strategy aligns with long-term business objectives.
Final thoughts
The IT Directors Forum event was a reminder of the dynamic role IT leaders play in shaping the future of their organisations. Whether addressing challenges like cybersecurity or balancing the potential of AI and the human touch, IT directors are at the forefront of digital transformation.
Digivante understands the importance of these trends and the role of human insight in technology. Whether it’s through large-scale human testing for CX and UX or ensuring your digital products meet user expectations before launch, we’re here to support your journey.
If you’d like to explore how your team can navigate these trends successfully, or discuss how to prepare your digital products for user acceptance testing, let’s keep the conversation going. Get in touch today.
