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ARMONK, N.Y., Aug. 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — A new IBM (NYSE: IBM) Institute for Business Value study found that while IT leaders are preparing organizations for accelerated generative AI adoption, C-suite executives’ confidence in their IT team’s ability to deliver basic services is declining.

The global study* of 2,500 of C-level technology executives (tech CxOs) from 34 countries revealed that less than half (47%) of those surveyed think their IT organization is effective in basic services compared to 69% surveyed in 2013. Today, only 36% of surveyed CEOs and 50% of surveyed CFOs believe IT is effective at basic services, down from 64% and 60%, respectively since 2013.

At the same time, 43% of surveyed tech CxOs say their concerns about their technology infrastructure have increased over the past six months because of generative AI, and they are now focused on optimizing their infrastructure for scaling generative AI. Respondents report they are currently spending 29% more on hybrid cloud than AI, and, over the next two years, they expect to spend half (50%) their budget on hybrid cloud and AI combined.

As tech CxOs prioritize generativeAI-ready infrastructure investments, two-thirds of surveyed CEOs cite that a strong tech CxO and CFO collaboration is critical to their organization’s success. However, a disconnect exists: only 39% of surveyed tech CxOs say they collaborate with finance to embed tech metrics into business cases, and just 35% of surveyed CFOs report being engaged early in IT planning to set strategic expectations. Among the high-performing tech CxO respondents, the study found that organizations that connect technology investments to measurable business outcomes report 12% higher revenue growth.

“Tech leaders today are grappling with multiple business demands, made even more complicated by the rise of generative AI. They must navigate the challenges of modernizing their IT infrastructure and scaling generative AI to support the business’ core competitive advantage, ” said Mohamad Ali, Senior Vice President, IBM Consulting. “In this evolving AI landscape, the relationship between tech CxOs and their finance counterparts has never been more important, aligning technology spend with business outcomes to drive real value from AI investments.”

Responsible AI is top of mind for tech CxOs, but there is a gap between intention and actions

• For the majority (80%) of CEOs surveyed, transparency in their organization’s use of next-generation technologies, such as generative AI, is critical for fostering trust.
• Yet, most tech CxOs acknowledge their organizations are falling short on delivering core responsible AI practices at scale:
  • Only half (50%) of respondents say they are delivering on key responsible AI capabilities for explainability, and even fewer say they are delivering capabilities for privacy (46%), transparency (45%) and fairness (37%).
• 41% of tech CxOs surveyed reported an increase in their concerns about regulation and compliance as a barrier to generative AI over the last six months.
•  However, most (70%) tech CxO respondents see regulatory change as an opportunity versus only 50% of CEOs.

Tech CxOs are driving their organizations to rethink their talent strategy to meet the needs of the generative AI era

• 63% of tech CxOs surveyed agree that their competitiveness will hinge on their ability to attract, develop and retain top talent.
• However, 58% of tech CxOs surveyed say they are having difficulty filling key technology roles, and only 27% of respondents identify talent as a top priority.
  • Over the next 3 years, tech executives anticipate a surge in skill scarcities over key areas, including cloud (+36%), AI (+29%), security (+25%) and privacy (+39%).
  • 40% of respondents report an increase in their concern over the past six months.
  • More than half (54%) of tech CxOs surveyed blame financial pressures for hindering their ability to invest in technology talent.
• Many tech CxOs surveyed (69%) say they are turning to business partners as a source for specialized skills

To view the full study, including recommendations for technology leaders, visit: https://www.ibm.com/thought-leadership/institute-business-value/en-us/report/cxo

*Study Methodology
The IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV), in cooperation with Oxford Economics, surveyed 2,500 C-suite technology leaders, including Chief Technology Officers (CTOs), Chief Information Officers (CIOs), and Chief Data Officers (CDOs) from 34 countries and 26 industries during Q1 2024. The IBM IBV data analytics team performed a series of in-depth analyses and data transformations to identify a group of high-performing technology organizations corresponding to clear outperformance on a variety of financial and operational measures. The study also includes data from the 2024 CEO Study and upcoming 2024 CFO Study.

The IBM Institute for Business Value, IBM’s thought leadership think tank, combines global research and performance data with expertise from industry thinkers and leading academics to deliver insights that make business leaders smarter. For more world-class thought leadership, visit: www.ibm.com/ibv.

YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, N.Y., Aug. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Two IBM-developed algorithms (NYSE: IBM) have been officially published among the first three post-quantum cryptography standards, announced today by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

The standards include three post-quantum cryptographic algorithms: two of them, ML-KEM (originally known as CRYSTALS-Kyber) and ML-DSA (originally CRYSTALS-Dilithium) were developed by IBM researchers in collaboration with several industry and academic partners. The third published algorithm, SLH-DSA (initially submitted as SPHINCS+) was co-developed by a researcher who has since joined IBM. Additionally, a fourth IBM-developed algorithm, FN-DSA (originally called FALCON), has been selected for future standardization.

The official publication of these algorithms marks a crucial milestone to advancing the protection of the world’s encrypted data from cyberattacks that could be attempted through the unique power of quantum computers, which are rapidly progressing to cryptographic relevancy. This is the point at which quantum computers will harness enough computational power to break the encryption standards underlying most of the world’s data and infrastructure today.

“IBM’s mission in quantum computing is two-fold: to bring useful quantum computing to the world and to make the world quantum-safe. We are excited about the incredible progress we have made with today’s quantum computers, which are being used across global industries to explore problems as we push towards fully error-corrected systems,” said Jay Gambetta, Vice President, IBM Quantum. “However, we understand these advancements could herald an upheaval in the security of our most sensitive data and systems. NIST’s publication of their first three post-quantum cryptography standards marks a significant step in efforts to build a quantum-safe future alongside quantum computing.”

As an entirely new branch of computing, quantum computers are quickly accelerating to useful and large-scale systems, as evidenced by the hardware and software milestones achieved and planned on IBM’s Quantum Development Roadmap. For example, IBM projects it will deliver its first error-corrected quantum system by 2029. This system is anticipated to run hundreds of millions of quantum operations to return accurate results for complex and valuable problems that are currently inaccessible to classical computers. Looking further into the future, IBM’s roadmap includes plans to expand this system to run upwards of one billion quantum operations by 2033. As IBM builds towards these goals, the company has already equipped experts across healthcare and life sciences; finance; materials development; logistics; and other fields with utility-scale systems to begin applying and scaling their most pressing challenges to quantum computers as they advance.

However, the advent of more powerful quantum computers could carry risks to today’s cybersecurity protocols. As their levels of speed and error correction abilities grow, they are also likely to encompass the ability to break today’s most used cryptographic schemes, such as RSA, which has long protected global data. Beginning with work started several decades ago, IBM’s team of the world’s foremost cryptographic experts continue to lead the industry in the development of algorithms to protect data against future threats, which are now positioned to eventually replace today’s encryption schemes.

NIST’s newly published standards are designed to safeguard data exchanged across public networks, as well as for digital signatures for identity authentication. Now formalized, they will set the standard as the blueprints for governments and industries worldwide to begin adopting post-quantum cybersecurity strategies.

In 2016, NIST asked cryptographers worldwide to develop and submit new, quantum-safe cryptographic schemes to be considered for future standardization. In 2022, four out of the 69 algorithms that were submitted for review were chosen for future standardization: CRYSTALS-Kyber, CRYSTALS-Dilithium, Falcon, and SPHINCS+.

In addition to continued evaluations to publish Falcon as the fourth official standard, NIST is continuing to identify and evaluate additional algorithms to diversify its toolkit of post-quantum cryptographic algorithms, including several others developed by IBM researchers. IBM cryptographers are among those pioneering the expansion of these tools, including three newly submitted digital signatures schemes that have already been accepted for consideration by NIST and are undergoing the initial round of evaluation.

Toward its mission to make the world quantum-safe, IBM continues to integrate post-quantum cryptography into many of its own products, such as IBM z16 and IBM Cloud. In 2023, the company unveiled the IBM Quantum Safe roadmap, a three-step blueprint to chart the milestones towards increasingly advanced quantum-safe technology, and defined by phases of discovery, observation, and transformation. Alongside this roadmap, the company also introduced IBM Quantum Safe technology and IBM Quantum Safe Transformation Services to support clients in their journeys to becoming quantum safe. These technologies include the introduction of Cryptography Bill of Materials (CBOM), a new standard to capture and exchange information about cryptographic assets in software and systems.

For more information about the IBM Quantum Safe technology and services, visit: https://www.ibm.com/quantum/quantum-safe.