How CIOs Can Securely Innovate with New Platform Capabilities 

In the not-so distant past, CIOs were primarily responsible for maintaining IT infrastructure and ensuring systems ran smoothly. However, digital transformation over the past decade and the recent explosion of AI have dramatically expanded their roles. 

Today, CIOs, CISOs, and other IT leaders find themselves as central players in driving their businesses forward. This expanded role is leading them to ask several critical questions: 

• How do we continuously innovate and stay ahead of the competition?
• How do we build and maintain customer trust by protecting the data being generated by all the different systems in our tech stack?
• How do we optimize operations and processes for maximum efficiency?

Innovate quickly, but with governance in mind

CIOs are no longer just keeping the lights on. They’re essential to driving innovation across the company and creating business value through technology. While the possibilities of AI are endless, getting started is another story. 

CIOs must identify the areas where AI can make the most impact and develop a roadmap to implement these technologies quickly, while keeping governance in mind. IT teams only build 35% of an organization’s AI capabilities, meaning IT leaders will need to empower responsible innovation across all areas of the business.

Build trust by protecting data 

Speaking of governance, innovation won’t keep pace if data security, compliance, and resilience aren’t prioritized and built in at every step. In fact, prioritizing these aspects can actually speed up innovation by reducing risks and ensuring smooth operations.

While securing data has always been vital, the rise of AI has magnified its importance. Data is the lifeblood of AI systems, and having accessible, reliable data is crucial. In collaboration with the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and other leaders, CIOs must implement measures to reduce the risk of data loss or corruption and have a continuity plan in place to bounce back quickly from any data incidents.

Optimize operations and processes

Reducing costs, automating repetitive tasks, minimizing technical debt, and improving overall efficiency are well-established duties for most CIOs. A decade ago, when the average company used only a handful of SaaS applications, keeping tabs on each of these systems was manageable. 

Today, companies use an average of almost 900 SaaS apps. This increase makes it much more challenging to manage and understand what’s happening within each system, particularly within Tier 1 applications. 

How does AI affect these priorities? On the one hand, AI can significantly enhance team efficiency and productivity (marketing employees estimate that generative AI saves them an average of 5 hours per week). On the other hand, organizations often invest in new AI tools without a clear definition of what success looks like. Moving forward, leaders will need to strike a balance between rapid adoption and cost-effectiveness, while ensuring that each AI investment aligns with strategic business objectives.

How Salesforce can support your AI digital transformation journey

If CIOs are asking themselves these questions, you can bet that their CEOs and boards are asking the same ones. So, how can Salesforce help CIOs and IT leaders provide compelling answers?

With one deeply unified platform, Salesforce simplifies each of these CIO challenges. The Salesforce Platform brings together all the tools and capabilities needed to drive innovation, secure data, and optimize operations. And with Agentforce built in, you can ensure that all of your AI initiatives are secure, scalable, and aligned with your organization’s broader digital transformation goals.

Introducing new, trusted products from Own

If you’re thinking that a platform like this needs a strong foundation, you’d be right. That’s why we’re strengthening the Salesforce Platform with the addition of Own Company, a leader in data protection and management trusted by over 7,000 customers. Today, we’re excited to announce that Own’s products are officially part of the Salesforce Platform. Here’s a preview of what’s new and updated:

• Backup & Recover: Protect against data loss with automated backups and precise restoration capabilities at any scale
• Salesforce Discover: Easily feed data to any data visualization tool with desired objects over a specified time period, with no additional data extraction or preparation required
• Archive: Manage data growth efficiently while keeping inactive data accessible and actionable
• Data Mask & Seed: Seed your development org with relevant data and protect any sensitive data by anonymizing it
• Shield 2.0: Monitor threats and automatically encrypt data to help apps stay compliant and prevent data loss
• Security Center 2.0: Centrally manage security controls and permissions across all orgs, including AI-processed data and user access

Learn more about these new capabilities here, including on-demand demos and other resources.