Business success today is measured by uptime and high customer satisfaction scores. IT is the critical link—because in our highly digitized world, IT is the business that makes apps and application health a priority not just for IT teams and CIOs but the entire C-suite.

The recent explosion of generative AI and the possibilities it brings put IT—its teams, tools and processes—at a critical juncture. There’s tremendous opportunity for IT, powered by AI, to become not just indispensable to the organization but also a key driver for employee productivity, innovation, responsible stewardship, and seismic cultural shifts.

But there are challenges, too. Delivering ROI, managing employee expectations and creating trustworthy systems for ethics and governance may seem daunting. Yet the risks of maintaining a stale status quo or worse—falling behind the competition—are even greater. As enterprises look for the smartest path forward, it’s time for CIOs and their IT teams to build an AI-powered plan, one that’s “AI first” instead of “AI plus,” because putting AI first changes how you think, operate, and work with your employees, customers, and suppliers.

Using research and insights from IBM® AI and IT professionals, this guide offers ways to tailor, update, or rethink your approach to your own IT and AI strategy.