The Golden Age of the CIO: Insights from PwC's Tech Leader

"We are experiencing the Golden Age of the CIO."  PwC, Vice Chair and Chief Products & Technology Officer - Joe Atkinson 

Just got off a brilliant call, and among the many nuggets, the above statement is a good one to start.

It is the second time I've hear "Golden Age of..." used this week.  As you know "Golden Age" refers to the period of retirement, typically after a person has ended their working life.(ChatGPT)

I imagine we are going to hear, if not utter, "The Golden Age of..." for many aspects of Life - from how we thrive in the long tail of Taylorism to how we decide who gets our vote.

The time is now, we are in

• The Golden Age of Copiers
• The Golden Age of Actors
• The Golden Age of Unions
• The Golden Age of Apps
• The Golden Age of the C-Suite
• The Golden Age of royalties, trademarks and copywrites

on and on...

The concept is almost more than we can bear, Ai is changing everything now, not in five years, not in one.  Right now. Indeed, five years from now, will we lament, "the Golden Age of Golden Ages"?

How do we cope?  How do we plan?  How do we thrive.

Price Waterhouse shared some ideas and when the Vice Chair and Chief Products & Technology Officer of one of the largest and remaining consulting houses on the planet says something about embracing Ai, we should take note.  

What other tidbits were gleaned? Many. I was able to pose a few questions.

When asked, "What advice do you have for the SMB, 20-$800M sector on how to engage Ai internally and for their customers? Three points."

"Great question, I'd say three things...

1. Get engaged, make sure somebody in your organization has ownership for the generative AI strategy.
2. Think carefully about Build vs. Buy vs. Rent. In the smaller businesses, you may be better off purchasing from your suppliers.
3. Make sure your people are prepared." 

And a final question, "Along the 'Ai Ethics' line. I am a fan of AiAnarchy, for now. Where do you see the demarcation between regulation and stifling Ai innovation?"

Joe says, "I think we're all going to be figuring out where that line lands...I think there's some risk that regulation will stifle, there's a risk it doesn't go far enough to prevent some harm, so that's a line we're all going to be working together to go find."

I encourage you to listen to the entire presentation, good content great questions and answers, relevant insight for today's turbulent Ai world.

The presentation is here.  My contribution was toward the middle, at 40:16, 52:10 and closing out at 1:00:56. Good stuff.