Exciting times await in the technology sector this year. There remains a huge opportunity for the brightest minds to grasp the latest capabilities in deep tech, and use them to create exciting solutions that enhance and improve business creativity and productivity. But along with the positives, there will always be challenges – most often in the shape of cyber criminals.
Everyone needs to be increasingly vigilant against threats from ever more sophisticated hacks and attacks. And a continued effort needs to be made in terms of sustainable practices in business that combine growth ambitions with climate responsibility.
Below, three CGI experts in AI, cybersecurity and sustainability give their opinions on what they believe awaits this year, and what businesses and organisations in Scotland need to both embrace and prepare for.
AI
By Russell Goodenough, CGI Head of AI in the UK and Australia
1. Implementation of AI across organisations
From experimentation to deep integration, AI will become completely woven into business operations. We’ve seen this evolution in our own business, and know other organisations will follow suit.
Instead of a top-down approach where leaders instruct teams how to use software and tools, leading organisations will democratise AI for all. Letting employees experiment will be the best thing an IT leader will do.
The result will be innovations and applications you never had planned for, but ones that have a tangible effect on your organisation. We’re seeing a remarkable 40% increase in productivity across some workstreams.
That being said, all of this experimentation and implementation needs to be underpinned by providing the necessary guardrails.
2. AI as a support mechanism for a diverse workforce
AI’s impact is already transforming workplaces in unexpected ways. Tools like ChatGPT have helped neurodiverse employees to reduce the time spent on tasks like drafting emails. This eases anxieties and makes work more manageable.
The impact of these goes beyond productivity gains, they create happier and more inclusive environments.
By giving employees, the tools to work smarter and focus on what matters, AI will can enable organisations to achieve more, while a creating a culture of support and equity.
3. AI for Good
AI will tackle some of society’s most pressing issues, aligning technological advancements with public good.
AI is already making a genuine impact on all areas of society, from projects that utilise AI to take early intervention for at-risk children or speeding up the diagnosis of brain bleeds in hospitals.
This is just the start though.
Through these ‘AI for Good’ initiatives, public services will be enhanced, climate change efforts supported, and the efficiency of critical systems like court services improved.
There will be a shift in mindset from fear of AI to recognising how it can enable society to focus on and develop solutions in areas that are most in need.
4. The next frontier:
Agentic AI
Agentic AI is enabling organisations to automate complex sequences of tasks while keeping humans in the loop.
This shift allows teams to focus on higher-value work, driving innovation and addressing critical challenges with greater efficiency – all within a responsible AI framework.
Sustainability
By Mattie Yeta, CGI Chief Sustainability Officer in the UK and Australia
1. Increased reporting on nature
Publicly listed companies like CGI operating across industry sectors and geographies represent US$4 trillion in market capitalisation.
Over 100 financial institutions, including asset owners and managers representing US$14 trillion, have volunteered their intention to begin adopting nature reporting as part of their annual corporate reporting for FY2023, FY2024 or FY2025 – so we shall see more of this.
2. Stricter Frameworks and legislation on Environment, Social and Governance (ESG)
New ESG regulations aimed at enhancing sustainability transparency and accountability in business practices will come into effect over the next few years.
We will see businesses align with stricter frameworks that mandate reporting across ESG, especially the supply chain in a bid to hit goals whilst continuing to accelerate innovation.
Government intervention through more stringent guidelines and legislation will intensify efforts.
3. Embedding sustainability into core business strategies, supported by technology
In the last 12 months, I’ve seen a big emphasis on the integration of sustainability into different business functions like finance, marketing and operations.
At the same time, there has also been a lot of investment in AI. Many organisations are investing to uncover patterns to support sustainability initiatives.
4. Rise of green careers and the need for sustainability experts
The demand for sustainability experts within businesses will continue to grow, and this will open doors for green careers and education.
Organisations will look at prioritising reskilling initiatives to ensure they tap into existing talent that have a passion for sustainability, but sometimes just lack some of the specific skillsets.
This will close the sustainability skills gap, while we wait for new generations of green-specialists to come into the workforce.
5. Transparency and accountability in energy usage for cloud providers
By 2025, hyperscalers and cloud providers will face increased pressure to improve the transparency and accountability of their energy usage. As this evolves, reporting and measuring sustainable IT metrics will grow in importance.
On a granular level, there will be a greater adoption of tools like Data Twin 360, which tracks metrics like CPU and memory energy consumption.
Cyber Security
By Alex Woodward, CGI Senior Vice President – Consulting Delivery, Cyber Security, in the UK and Australia
1. Tactical deployment of AI
This year we will see organisations adopt a hyper-focused approach to AI making more targeted and impactful deployments.
Looking for genuine use cases to protect themselves from surface-level attacks and identifying inefficiencies but comes with challenges such as high energy usage costs.
2. Smarter scams and smarter solutions
Whilst scammers step up the cyber war with more AI-powered social engineering phishing, organisations will fight back aided by ever more sophisticated AI-enabled tools.
As the tech arms race grows, humanity will be a differentiator. We’ll see an impact of students joining the workforce from more varied academic backgrounds – those studying psychology as opposed to coding for instance.
3. The Quantum kick-off
Quantum computing has the power to disrupt the cybersecurity landscape.
Although its growth has been rapid, the technology remains in its infancy and its eventual widespread adoption will bring significant challenges.
Upgrading systems to quantum-resistant encryption will not be a simple task; quantum computing excels in specific types of mathematical operations but falls short in others, resulting in newly exploitable weaknesses in some commonly used encryption methods.
As a result, industries heavily reliant on long-term data protection face an increased risk of breaches.
To mitigate this, organisations must thoroughly understand their encryption methods and the required protection timelines for their sensitive data.