Gartner Symposium: 10 thought-provoking tweets

Digital disruption and AI loom large on the minds of many CIOs – and loomed large in this week’s Gartner Symposium 2017 in Orlando, Florida. In concert with the event, Gartner released its take on the top ten strategic tech trends for 2018. AI tops that list, along with intelligent apps and analytics. Blockchain also made the cut - though Gartner Research Vice President and Fellow Ray Valdes noted in a presentation that much misunderstanding still surrounds the technology, and the disruptive effect will take years to play out. ( A fact we have explored as well: See Blockchain: 3 big implications for your company.)

On the talent front, CIOs heard from Susan Cain, who wrote "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking," about the power of introverts as IT leaders. "Introverts make up one-third to one-half of the workplace … we are not using that talent," she said. (Read the WSJ’s interesting account of her talk. )

As for digital transformation, HCSC (Health Care Service Corporation) CIO Steve Betts gave a much-discussed talk on his organization’s transformation journey.

Did you miss the conference? We’ve rounded up some interesting data points and insights for IT leaders.

1. A look at digital leaders and laggards, by industry, according to Gartner data:

2. Look at some of the new titles for digital roles: Machine trainer, API product manager...

3. What kind of IT talent will you need most?

4. Those legacy apps of yours? They’re not going anywhere:

5. @HCSC CIO Steve Betts shares advice on leading IT transformation:

6. What do CIOs want? Dev speed. Grow your team’s #DevOps knowledge:

7. Gartner’s prediction on AI vs. jobs: Net positive

8. What network effect technologies should you be watching?

9. The danger of disrupting yourself: Are you being honest about the plan?

10. Do CIOs think security threats are rising? (We have to agree about that 1 percent)