For CIOs and other senior IT leaders, the annual top tech trends report offers a critical glimpse into the future of tech opportunities, investment and deployment decisions.
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Factoring tech trends into your business and technology decisions
For CIOs and other senior IT leaders, the true measure of leadership lies in the ability to anticipate and prepare for the future. Use the Gartner Top Strategic Technology Trends report to:
Drill down on specific trends that Gartner predicts will change the shape of business
See use cases from early adopters
Consider how these innovations align with enterprise digital ambitions
Anticipate how business and operating models might need to change
Inform adjustments in mid- and long-term strategies and tech roadmaps
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CIOs: Put top tech trends in your specific context
As a CIO, the key is to determine which single tech innovation — or strategic combination — will be most important to your organization and the ecosystem in which you operate.
About the Trends
Strategic Planning
Responsible Innovation
Explore what’s shaping the future of business
Each year, Gartner experts identify critical technologies that CIOs and IT leaders must understand to deliver digital transformation, drive innovation, achieve operational excellence — and, ultimately, power their organization to achieve its business goals.
The Gartner Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends report isn’t a ranked list where one trend is more important than the others. Instead, trends are interconnected and their importance depends heavily on your organizational maturity, as well as your industry, business needs and previously devised strategic plans.
You can use some trends for a specific goal, while deploying others for multiple purposes, depending on the connections between the trends and the themes into which they fall.
You can download the quick guide to the latest report now, but Gartner clients can access detailed reports on individual technology trends and tailored insights for key industry verticals and segments.
If you’re not already a client and are interested in learning about what Gartner offers, you can reach out to our Become a Client team.
Every year, the Top Strategic Technology Trends research highlights:
- Key strategic technology trends. Disruptive innovations poised to transform business and industry, from AI and security to IT infrastructure and sustainability.
- Actionable insights. Practical, research-backed guidance to help you incorporate these innovations into your organization’s digital ambitions and technology roadmaps.
- Business impact. Examples of use cases by early adopters to show how these technology investments might drive business outcomes, such as improved agility, enhanced security and accelerated growth.
Use this report as you scope the horizon to capitalize on emerging opportunities, navigate complexities and drive sustainable growth.
Incorporate tech trends into your IT strategy to stay competitive and future-ready
Strategic planning maps the initiatives and investments required to achieve long-term strategic objectives. It creates a common understanding of what an organization wants to achieve and what it must do to meet its goals. CIOs and IT leaders can use the tech trends report to help inform their technology decisions and investments and ensure they drive enterprise goals.
Taking this type of proactive approach improves resource allocation and risk management, and boosts your ability to pivot quickly in response to market changes.
Consider technology innovations whenever you revisit key decisions within the IT strategic planning process, including:
How the IT organization will help the business meet its objectives
What initiatives and portfolio of investments are needed to achieve the objectives defined in the strategy
What technology disruptions lie ahead — and how to blunt the impact of a disruption and take advantage of others to capture new business opportunities and turn disruptions into new solutions
Drive responsible and sustainable innovation
The ethical and responsible use of technology is fast becoming part of the mandate for CIOs, as organizations balance the need for progress with the protection of stakeholders’ trust and well-being. The top tech trends report provides added insight around the risks associated with specific new technologies and innovations.
For example, CIOs already have primary responsibility for measuring and reducing the environmental impact of the IT function, but now ethical imperatives are emerging with the growing use of AI.
AI imperatives and risks
AI, for example, presents significant opportunities and challenges for most organizations. On the one hand, AI can drive substantial improvements in efficiency, decision making and innovation. For instance, in a world where agentic AI systems autonomously plan and take actions to meet user-defined goals, a virtual workforce assists and augments humans in their work and can manage a wide range of tasks within any domain.
But the deployment of AI also comes with inherent risks. One of the primary concerns is ensuring that AI systems operate within ethical boundaries. This includes managing the potential for AI to perpetuate biases, violate privacy or be used maliciously. For example, AI’s ability to generate synthetic media (deepfakes) can be exploited to spread disinformation, posing significant risks to organizations and society.
To mitigate these risks, organizations must implement robust AI governance frameworks. These frameworks should include policies for responsible AI use, mechanisms for explaining how AI systems work, and continuous monitoring to ensure fairness and transparency. By doing so, organizations can build trust and accountability in their AI systems, which is essential for maintaining stakeholder confidence.
To navigate the complexities of AI, CIOs must prioritize responsible innovation. This involves not only leveraging AI to drive business value but also ensuring that its deployment aligns with ethical standards.
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Related Top Technology Trends resources
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FAQs on the Top Strategic Technology Trends
What is the Gartner Top Strategic Technology Trends report?
The Gartner Top Strategic Technology Trends research highlights the most impactful technologies and innovations that Gartner experts predict will shape industries and drive business outcomes in the upcoming year.
What are the latest top tech trends?
Here are the 2025 top trends (as published October 2024):
Agentic AI
Post-quantum Cryptography
Spatial Computing
AI Governance Platforms
Ambient Invisible Intelligence
Polyfunctional Robots
Disinformation Security
Energy-Efficient Computing
Neurological Enhancement
Hybrid Computing
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