In the past, volatility for CIOs came in waves: an economic downturn here, a security breach there, a digital transformation sprint every few years. But 2025 has been an entirely different animal — a mythical beast, if you will — that no CIO ever wanted to encounter.

The Year Of “Too Much, Too Fast”

In my role as a research director at Forrester, I talk to CIOs at a lot of companies about many topics, often about things that trouble them. And in conversations with CIOs across industries, a consistent theme has emerged this year: the pressure and pace is relentless. AI dominates the collective minds of all executives, and boards now expect tangible results, not just exploratory use cases. They’ve funded enough pilots and want to see real applications with real value — results that scale.

Meanwhile, cybersecurity threats have become more personal, persistent, and damaging. This is the promise and the peril of advancing technology; threats advance at an accelerated rate, too. And CIOs are facing hard questions about their cloud journey and decisions — did they push too far too soon? Did they move too much? Should some of those workloads come back from the clouds, hopefully with a parachute on?

2025 has been a beast because in addition to the usual challenges (e.g., modernizing your tech, accomplishing more with less, partnering with many different business stakeholders, avoiding cyber incidents), CIOs have also had to deal with the uncertainty of tariffs, unpredictable swings in geopolitics, regulatory issues — lions, tigers and bears, oh my!

The Human Cost Of Tech Volatility

At the center of all of this are your people, your staff that has been feeling the same pressures you have. CIOs are increasingly concerned about whether they have the right operating model in the age of AI. Talent churn, skill mismatches, and overextended delivery teams are creating a real challenge in many tech organizations. Burnout of your best performers creates flight risks you cannot afford. This is all while there is an ever-growing drum beat of replacing human jobs with AI.

How are CIOs expected to lead workforce transformation while their own teams are in a state of anxious uncertainty? They are told to reskill staff while also hitting quarterly delivery goals and tightening budgets. It is a contradiction that’s not fun to talk about — but it is one that every CIO is living. If you’ve been a tech leader a while, you know some of this is not new, but the pace has intensified.

Learn From Our Panel Of Adaptable Tech Leaders

To help tech leaders navigate all of this swirl, we came up with a panel entitled, “Navigating A Year Of Volatility,” at our upcoming Technology & Innovation Summit North America in Austin. We’re bringing together a diverse set of CIOs from different industries, all of whom have lived through the chaos and made tough choices in the eye of the storm. Some doubled down on automation, some tightened spending and refocused on value realization, others pivoted to AI-native roadmaps, and some have done all of the above. They’ll each discuss how much adaptability has been a crucial skill for success. But this will not just be a conversation — it will provide a blueprint for resilient leadership.

If you are a technology leader or someone interested in how to navigate volatility, this panel is your chance to stop treading water. You can start building a boat that can actually sail through this relentless storm, as the current wave of volatility shows no signs of cresting anytime soon. And the CIOs who adapt fastest — with clarity, humility, a listening and learning mindset, along with a sharp grasp of reality — will emerge stronger.

So join us November 2-5 in Austin at Technology & Innovation Summit North America. Because the future is not waiting. Will there be serenity? Perhaps, but not any time soon.