From the CEO Dr. Tom Zehren’s opening call to action to expert perspectives on Exponential IT and agentic AI to leading through disruption and innovation strategy, the keynotes from Day 1 of Info-Tech LIVE 2025 delivered a practical roadmap for IT leaders navigating today’s heightened uncertainty.
Key Highlights from Day 1 Featured Keynotes at LIVE 2025
1. Transform IT. Transform Everything.
Speaker: Dr. Tom Zehren, CEO, Info-Tech Research Group
Dr. Tom Zehren opened the conference with a powerful call to action for IT leaders navigating today’s unprecedented global uncertainty. Citing a 481% spike in the World Uncertainty Index in just six months, now 40% higher than its COVID-era peak, the firm’s CEO outlined how two massive forces have collided: the rapid acceleration of technology and widespread geopolitical, social, and economic volatility.
Zehren urged IT leaders to seize “IT’s moment” by transforming their role into that of “Enterprise Technology Officers (ETOs),” capable of driving organization-wide change. A key focus was the “Rise of Agentic AI,” a new era in which AI agents can execute entire workflows and make decisions independently, with orchestration becoming a core capability.
The keynote introduced the firm’s newly launched Research Center for IT’s Moment, which included six steps for IT transformation:
- Lead the Organization, Not Just IT
- Fund Innovation by Cutting Costs
- Pursue IT Excellence
- Build an Adaptive IT Workforce
- Slash Your AI Transformation Timeline
- Execute and Prepare to Pivot
Under the “Pursue IT Excellence” pillar, Zehren unveiled IT Playbooks, an ecosystem of capability-based tools and training resources for Security, Infrastructure & Operations, and Data to enhance IT performance, develop team skills, and assess organizational maturity. The new collection, which is connected to the firm’s previously launched CIO Playbook & IT Department Assessment, represents a critical part of Info-Tech’s broader transformation toolkit.
2. Bending the Exponential IT Curve: Exciting Advancements in IT Process Improvement
Speaker: Aaron Shum, VP of Research & Advisory, Info-Tech Research Group
Aaron Shum delivered a timely session exploring how IT leaders can advance process maturity and deliver greater value by embracing the principles of Exponential IT. As technology continues to accelerate and expectations rise, Shum emphasized that IT must evolve beyond operational excellence to enable exponential outcomes across the business.
Building on Info-Tech’s Exponential IT framework, the session detailed how organizations are progressing through five transformation milestones, with some IT domains approaching maturity while others remain in the early stages of the journey. Shum highlighted to the audience how real value is being delivered in industries such as manufacturing, higher education, and the public sector through purpose-built AI and automation.
Key Takeaways:
- Generative AI is accelerating the adoption of exponential technologies and enabling capabilities like predictive analytics and intelligent automation, while also introducing more sophisticated cybersecurity threats.
- Early adopters of automation are better positioned to capitalize on AI; however, organizational inertia remains a significant barrier.
- CIOs must lead the reconfiguration of their organizational operating model, such as augmenting data, empowering AI, and driving adaptive workforce development, to fully realize the benefits of Exponential IT.
3. Malcolm Gladwell’s Perspective on Leadership and Innovation
Speaker: Malcolm Gladwell, Author of Eight New York Times Bestsellers
Malcolm Gladwell’s keynote was a masterclass in turning uncertainty into opportunity. Rather than fixating on having the perfect answer, he urged leaders to stay curious when the path ahead is unclear. Pulling stories from behavioral science and his own reporting, Gladwell showed that big breakthroughs often start in odd corners; by poking at “wrong” ideas or asking questions no one else thinks to ask.
Gladwell pushed back on the myth that leaders must always appear sure‑footed. Real progress, he argued, comes from admitting what you don’t know, placing small experimental bets, and giving teams the freedom to challenge the status quo. In other words, innovation flourishes when people feel safe to test, tinker, and occasionally fail.
Gladwell left the audience with a simple takeaway: leadership isn’t about being infallible; it’s about staying open to surprises, contradictions, and insights from unexpected places.
4. The Rise of AI Agents
Speaker: Robert Garmaise, VP of AI Research, and Martin Bufi, Research Director, Info-Tech Research Group
Rob Garmaise and Martin Bufi led a high-impact session on the rise of AI agents and what it takes to succeed in this rapidly evolving space. They emphasized that modern AI agents have moved far beyond chatbots and are now capable of autonomously executing end-to-end tasks, dynamically directing processes, and integrating deeply across enterprise workflows.
While interest in agentic AI is surging, the speakers warned that most organizations will fail to scale these efforts unless they adopt a disciplined, enterprise-level approach to design and deployment.
Key Takeaways:
- AI agents are action-oriented systems that dynamically manage their own tools and workflows; they are not just chatbots but rather autonomous problem solvers.
- The “myth of the one-click agent” leads to underperformance; real value depends on deeper foundations such as orchestration, memory design, integration, and safety.
- Six common failure points were discussed: poor task design, weak planning and reasoning, tool integration issues, lack of evaluation frameworks, cost concerns, and limited scalability.
- A true agent development lifecycle is essential, including foundational design, capability development, alignment and safety, and robust evaluation and iteration processes.
- Organizations should conduct a rigorous suitability assessment before deploying agents, analyzing factors such as complexity, regulatory risk, return on investment (ROI), and integration feasibility.
5. Run IT by the Numbers: Budget with Clarity and Spend with Purpose
Speaker: Jack Hakimian, SVP, Research & Development
Jack Hakimian explained the importance of IT Financial Management (ITFM) as a core capability that distinguishes leading organizations. As technology increasingly becomes the primary driver of enterprise value, Hakimian emphasized that CIOs must adopt a CEO-level mindset and “Run IT by the Numbers” because in 2025 and beyond, every organization is a tech organization.
Hakimian outlined for attendees the four major challenges IT leaders must overcome:
- Lack of meaningful spend data: Due to system ownership by finance, improper taxonomies, and limited financial acumen within IT teams, IT spend often lacks clarity. Hakimian introduced Info-Tech’s Five-Lens ITFM Taxonomy and highlighted how ML-enabled tools can help map staffing and spend data into actionable insights.
- Ineffective budgeting and forecasting: Rigid annual cycles and immature budgeting practices hinder fiscal agility. Hakimian recommended adopting rolling forecasts, embedding finance into planning cycles, and using real-time analytics to make proactive decisions.
- Inability to quantify IT’s ROI: IT is often treated as a cost center. To shift this perception, Hakimian urged leaders to measure IT’s contribution to organizational objectives using dashboards that track revenue impact, efficiency gains, and improvements in customer satisfaction.
- Excessive spend on technical and data debt: On average, 82.6% of IT spend goes toward “keeping the lights on.” Shifting resources to innovation requires structured cost optimization, vendor rationalization, and reprioritization of backlogged projects.
Looking Ahead to Day 2 at Info-Tech LIVE 2025
The momentum continues with Day 2 of Info-Tech LIVE 2025 in Las Vegas on June 11, which is set to feature sessions that explore the evolution of IT leadership, AI disruption, and bold strategic moves in the hyper-digital era. Keynotes are expected from industry thought leaders such as John Rossman, Zack Kass, Steve Reese, Geoff Nielson, and Rob Meikle. Day 2 will also include sessions that examine the organizational impact of accelerated technology.
Media Access to Info-Tech LIVE 2025
For media inquiries, including requests for onsite interviews with featured speakers and experts at LIVE 2025 or for access to session recordings and additional content, please contact [email protected]. For conference-related press releases and images, please visit the online Info-Tech LIVE 2025 Media Kit.
About Info-Tech Research Group
Info-Tech Research Group is one of the world’s leading research and advisory firms, proudly serving over 30,000 IT and HR professionals. The company produces unbiased, highly relevant research and provides advisory services to help leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. For nearly 30 years, Info-Tech has partnered closely with teams to provide them with everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.
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SOURCE Info-Tech Research Group
