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75% of CIOs say their operating models are breaking
This week, Deloitte put a number on the AI pressure CIOs are feeling: 75% say their operating models need major restructuring within 18 months. Meanwhile, SAP dangled AI access in front of 20,000 legacy customers, but the price of admission is steep.
Zack Tembi
May 19, 2026
75% of CIOs say their operating models are breaking
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Welcome to this week’s edition of CIOsurge!
This week:
Why 75% of CIOs say their operating models are breaking under AI demands
SAP's AI offer to legacy ECC customers comes with a 50% cloud commitment catch
An adoption playbook built on making AI invisible to end users
Let’s make this week a game-changer.
Stay sharp. Stay ahead.
💡 Guest Expert Insights: The Adoption Strategy That Actually Works
Enablement is the second biggest challenge I hear from our clients after security. How do you get a thousand-person organization to actually use these tools? I put this question to Anthony Enoh, CEO of Enbros Technologies, and his answer was counterintuitive.
"The future is autopilots, not copilots. We believe that AI should be invisible" Anthony told me. "The agentic workflows happen in the background, but they give the business the outcome it needs." He gave a recruitment example: drop CVs into the system, and the agent sifts candidates, matches job specs, and books interviews with the top five. The user never sees AI working. They just see results.
Anthony drew a comparison to electricity. "You and I are speaking halfway across the world right now. This screen is electricity. But at no point did we ever mention electricity. AI should be the same."
For CIOs wrestling with adoption, this is the playbook. Build the intelligence behind the tools people already use. The less your users think about AI, the more they are actually using it.
— Zack Tembi, CEO, SingleFin
75% of CIOs Say Their Operating Models Are Breaking Under AI Pressure
A Deloitte study of 660+ IT executives finds CIOs under intensifying pressure to lead AI transformation while maintaining traditional IT responsibilities. 75% acknowledge their operating models need significant restructuring within 18 months. Leaders must now demonstrate AI fluency, build expert teams, and drive measurable business outcomes. The study frames AI as the forcing function that is exposing structural gaps in how IT organizations are designed, funded, and measured. CIOs who treat AI as an add-on to existing structures will fall behind those who redesign around it.
The 18-month window is the number that matters here. If three quarters of your peers say their operating models need a rebuild and you have not started, you are already behind schedule. AI is surfacing organizational debt that has been accumulating for years.
- Zack Tembi
SAP's AI Offer to Legacy Customers Comes with a 50% Cloud Catch
At Sapphire 2026, SAP offered its 20,000+ legacy ECC customers a path to AI, but only if they commit at least 50% of their maintenance spending to the cloud. That means enabling Joule AI assistants on premises requires a significant cloud investment first. The ASUG 2026 Pulse survey found S/4HANA migration remains the top challenge, with 61% citing budget constraints and 48% struggling with integration. Only 10% of SAP customers have achieved enterprise-scale AI rollout, despite SAP unveiling its ambitious "Autonomous Enterprise" framework.
SAP is giving legacy customers a carrot, but the stick is still there. If migration is already eating your budget, adding a 50% cloud commitment to unlock AI creates a compounding cost problem. CIOs running ECC need to model this carefully before signing up.
- Zack Tembi
💡 CIO Spotlights
Kaiu Pettigrew has been appointed CIO at Pavilion Payments
25+ years across gaming, hospitality, financial services, and payments technology
Most recently held executive technology leadership at First Hawaiian Bank overseeing enterprise tech, risk management, and IT infrastructure
Tasked with unifying IT, risk, and product teams to lead Pavilion's digital transformation
Robert Mills appointed CIO at Riverview Bank
20+ years in technology leadership across financial services and fintech
Previously principal strategist at Papilio Collective, a financial services consultancy
Former CIO at Mid-Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union; leadership roles at Alkami Technology and CoreLogic
Army National Guard veteran
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