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The 2025 State of the CIO Survey found that IT leaders were putting AI high on the technology agenda while being asked to tie technology work more closely to business growth. At the same time, security, day-to-day operations and talent shortages remained substantial responsibilities. These are reported expectations and priorities from Foundry’s 2025 survey—not a census of CIOs, a measure of realized spending or evidence that AI investments delivered business returns.
What the 2025 State of the CIO Survey covers
Foundry’s annual State of the CIO Survey is described by CIO.com as its 24th annual edition. The publisher reports responses from 906 IT leaders and 250 line-of-business (LOB) professionals. Its findings capture respondents’ 2025 priorities and expectations; they do not establish what all CIOs think or what organizations ultimately spent. The available source material does not establish weighting, response rate or enough sampling detail to assess representativeness.
CIO.com titled its coverage “State of the CIO, 2025: CIOs set the AI agenda.” Across the findings, the central tension is clear: IT leaders were expected to help create business value through AI and other digital initiatives without relinquishing operational excellence, security or responsibility for the technology foundations those initiatives depend on. CIO.com’s report coverage includes executive perspectives alongside the survey results.
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How respondents described the changing CIO role
Among IT leader respondents, 41% described their role as strategic in 2025, up from 35% in 2024. Another 52% expected that strategic orientation to continue over the next three to five years. The role was also described as one of change: 81% of IT leaders said it was a change-maker role.
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That shift does not mean operational work has disappeared. Seventy-six percent of IT leaders said balancing business innovation with operational excellence was difficult. The findings point to a broader remit, not a clean handoff from keeping systems running to strategy alone.
Executives quoted in CIO.com illustrate the business-facing expectation, but their comments are individual perspectives, not survey measurements. Tractor Supply executive Rob Mills framed technology as a way to solve business challenges and argued that organizations should focus AI on business problems. Webster Bank CIO Vikram Nafde described CIOs as helping the organization and board understand AI as business strategy. Oshkosh CIO Anupam Khare emphasized that value creation still depends on modernized technology, strong cybersecurity and employees who understand both business and IT.
AI led investment priorities, alongside security and analytics
AI and machine learning (AI/ML) stood out in the technology agenda: 42% of respondents identified it as a leading technology investment, while 45% called AI/ML investments strategically important. The survey also named two established priorities outside AI: security and risk management, at 34%, and data and business analytics, at 31%.
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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteThese figures describe respondent priorities, not a ranking of actual expenditures or proof that organizations completed their planned projects. They also show why AI should not be read in isolation: analytics and security address the data and risk conditions that shape whether AI initiatives can be used responsibly and effectively.
Business initiatives linked technology to growth and customers
Respondents identified several leading business initiatives that connect technology work to business outcomes:
- Monetizing company data: 38%.
- Meeting compliance requirements: 35%.
- Improving customer experience: 35%.
- Developing new digital revenue streams: 32%.
The mix combines growth ambitions with obligations and customer improvements. In particular, the survey’s figures do not show that monetizing data or launching digital revenue streams succeeded; they indicate that respondents identified these as priorities.
Reported AI use spanned internal operations and customer applications
AI use was not limited to customer-facing products. The survey reports that 69% were using AI for internal process automation and 62% for customer-facing applications. In addition, 68% of IT leaders said AI had already begun or was beginning to reshape operations.
These are reported uses and perceptions, not measures of productivity, revenue, service quality or return on investment. The survey supports the conclusion that AI was being applied in both internal and customer-facing contexts; it does not establish that every use case produced a measurable benefit.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.IT budget growth was an expectation, not a result
For 2025, 65% of respondents anticipated an increase in IT funding, and about 24% expected funding to remain the same. The average planned spending increase was 6.9%. These are survey expectations for 2025, not audited spending outcomes or a forecast for 2026.
Read together with the investment priorities, the budget figures suggest that respondents expected room for technology investment while facing competing demands. The survey does not say how much of planned spending went to AI specifically, nor whether budgets later matched expectations.
Hiring plans met persistent talent constraints
IT leaders reported plans to increase hiring in AI/ML (36%) and cybersecurity (34%); the survey also lists planned hiring in business/IT automation at 25%. Respondents anticipated difficulty hiring for AI/ML (38%), cybersecurity (33%) and data science or analytics (21%). Separately, 54% said talent issues affected their ability to focus on strategic and innovation objectives.
The juxtaposition matters: the skills respondents expected to need were also among the areas where hiring was expected to be difficult. The findings describe anticipated hiring needs and reported constraints, rather than actual hiring totals or a measure of how many positions remained unfilled.
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How to interpret the survey
- Keep the denominator in view. The report includes IT leaders and LOB professionals; a percentage should be attributed to the respondent group specified for that finding, not generalized to every business leader or CIO.
- Separate plans from outcomes. Investment priorities, hiring plans and budget expectations are not evidence of completed spending, successful hiring or realized business returns.
- Distinguish adoption from impact. Reported AI use and views that AI is reshaping operations do not measure the effect on cost, revenue, customer outcomes or productivity.
- Treat it as a 2025 snapshot. The findings explain what respondents reported or anticipated for that period; they are not current 2026 survey results.
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