CIOs: Embrace Agentic AI or Risk Falling Behind

CIOs risk falling behind by staying in the AI experimentation phase, according to Ascendion CTO Vaibhav Vora. He says they must embrace agentic AI to drive productivity, innovation, and digital transformation. This shift is compared to the late 19th-century transition from gas to electricity. That change also faced skepticism and required significant infrastructure overhauls. Today, many CIOs are "dragging their heels," ignoring both the challenges and opportunities of AI systems. They are clinging to old processes. The technology is maturing rapidly. Gartner predicts enterprises will deploy an average of 150,000 agents by 2028. An estimated 3 trillion dollars will be invested in AI infrastructure in the next three years. Agentic systems can act, decide, and coordinate independently, orchestrating data and processes with speed and efficiency. This matters because organizations that adopt agentic AI early could gain a powerful competitive advantage.