Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations & Cloud Strategies Conference 2025 Las Vegas: Day 2 Highlights

We are bringing you news and highlights from Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations & Cloud Strategies Conference, taking place this week in Las Vegas, Nevada. Below is a collection of the key announcements and insights coming out of the conference.

On Day 2 from the conference, we are highlighting how to avoid the top mistakes in a cloud strategy, navigating the AI agent landscape, and how to drive high value maturity improvements in an I&O operating model. 

Presented by David Smith, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner

Many organizations think that they have a working cloud strategy, or are lacking one altogether. They often consider the needs of IT without input from other parts of the organization or are operating under the false assumption that a cloud strategy is the same as a cloud implementation plan or a data center strategy. In this session, David Smith, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner, discussed the top mistakes enterprise make when creating a cloud strategy.

• “Cloud first is an excellent principle for many organizations that I&O leaders should consider for inclusion in their cloud strategy. A cloud-first approach means that if someone asks for an investment and it meets the relevant criteria, the default place for them to build or place this new thing is in the public cloud. ”

• “A good cloud strategy should be a concise, living document that is updated regularly. It should be driven by business strategy and should provide guidance for those who will implement it. And, it must coexist with other strategic efforts, not redo them.”

• "Some key actions for I&O leaders to take are: 

  • Establish a cloud strategy council with key members from across the enterprise.

  • Follow a cookbook approach to building a cloud strategy.

  • Separate (but align) cloud strategy from adoption plans.

  • Collaborate with noncloud technology experts (such as enterprise architects) to build the cloud strategy with an open mind.

  • Devise your own cloud strategy to align it with the organization’s strategic plans."

Journalists can receive additional information and/or request an interview with the Gartner expert by contacting Matt LoDolce at matt.lodolce@gartner.com. 

Presented by Arun Chandrasekaran, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner

The AI agent ecosystem is rapidly advancing, characterized by considerable hype and overwhelming choices. In this session, Arun Chandrasekaran, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner, provided an overview of the AI agent ecosystem.

• “According to a recent Gartner poll, over half (53%) of participants were exploring Agentic AI, whereas 25% were piloting it and only 6% had reached production mode.” 
• “The high exploration and pilot percentages suggest strong interest and perceived potential in Agentic AI. However, the low production percentage implies barriers to scaling, such as technical complexity, lack of maturity in tools, governance challenges, or unclear ROI.”
• “Agentic AI is at the peak of inflated expectations: while it offers transformational benefits in the long-run, it is marked today by intense hype. Integration of AI agents with enterprise tools and other agents is still hard. And, tools to manage the lifecycle of AI agents are just now emerging.”
• “Current LLM-based AI agents can efficiently perceive information but aren’t adaptable and struggle with contextualized decision making.”
• “Agentic AI presents challenges across agent governance, agent integration, and agent value."

Journalists can receive additional information and/or request an interview with the Gartner expert by contacting Matt LoDolce at matt.lodolce@gartner.com. 

Presented by Roger Williams, VP Analyst, Gartner

The pressure on I&O leaders to change their approach to getting work done continues to intensify. Unfortunately, improvement projects too often fall short of delivering promised benefits. In this session, Roger Williams, VP Analyst at Gartner, provided guidance on where I&O leaders could target maturity improvement efforts, and how tuning their focus for improvements to their I&O operating model can deliver immediate value and better positioning for the future.

• “43% of CIOs want to transform the IT function’s operating model.”
• “I&O leaders don’t ‘choose’” the I&O operating model, and the CIO doesn’t choose the IT operating model. The IT operating model is chosen by the organization’s leaders to support its strategic objectives.”
• “Our research has found that there are five I&O operating model patterns that are suitable for different sets of strategic objectives and are sustainable. These include focusing on optimizing assets, processes, services, values and inventions.”
• “There are nine elements within an operating model that include performance, financials, talent, delivery models and organizational structure. Too often, I&O leaders' maturity efforts fixate on one or two of these elements and miss the rest. That doesn’t work because big gaps in any of these will undermine their efforts.”
• “I&O leaders can implement an Office of the Head of I&O that drives and coordinates implementation and execution of the improvement work. Actions can include drafting documentation like policies, processes, etc., developing and conducting training and reporting on progress.” 

Journalists can receive additional information and/or request an interview with the Gartner expert by contacting Matt LoDolce at matt.lodolce@gartner.com.