Gartner 2024 IT IOCS Highlights: Equipping IT I&O Leaders for an AI Future

With the new year upon us, it's time to set resolutions for enhancing both our personal and professional lives. This month's 2024 Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations & Cloud Strategies Conference was filled with sessions that provided I&O professionals with tools to help them be more effective employees and leaders — with some bonus tips for being better partners, parents, and friends thrown in.

If you missed the Las Vegas conference, this slideshow offers an overview of Gartner's key recommendations for I&O leaders, highlighting best practices for succeeding in the AI age.

A main focus of this year's Gartner IT IOCS conference was to help I&O professionals improve both their hard and soft skills.

Here's a glimpse at what you missed:

Everybody loves infographics because they communicate complex ideas in a clear and concise manner. A big hit at this year's event was the display of infographics of a number of the sessions.

One of the most memorable insights was the surprising importance of embracing boredom to recharge creativity (see slide 8 for more from the University of Liverpool's Dr. Paul Redmond on how to future-proof teams in the age of AI).

Related:Preparing I&O for an AI-Augmented Future

Boredom was eradicated at 9:15 a.m. on Jan. 9, 2007, Redmond said, when Steve Jobs announced the iPhone. "We're no longer capable of being bored," he said. "When you've got 20 minutes to yourself, what do you do? Do you think, 'I'll read some improving literature'? No, you don't. You know what you do: Before you've even thought about it, you've got your phone in your hand, and we've lost the ability to be bored.

"But guess what? If you're going to be imaginative, creative, if you're going to think of new ways of working, if you're going to challenge yourself, guess what you need to be?" Redmond asked. "You've got to be bored. The biggest gift you can give your kids is boredom."

Redmond revealed that the average smartphone user touches their phone 2,617 times daily — a staggering statistic. Perhaps one of our New Year's resolutions should be to set our phones aside more often and rediscover the value of boredom.

But if you're an I&O leader, before cutting back on your screen time, check out this slideshow to get a better understanding of what to expect in 2025 as well as to get tips on improving your and your team's performance in the coming year.