Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo 2025 APAC: Day 2 Highlights

We are bringing you news and highlights from Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo, taking place this week on the Gold Coast, Australia. Below is a collection of the key announcements and insights coming out of the conference. You can read the highlights from Day 1 here.

On Day 2 of the conference, we are covering sessions on the pillars of a successful AI strategy; an executive AI governance playbook; how to maximize the value of AI in banking; and scaling government efficiency with AI and emerging technologies.

• Gartner Reveals Top Technologies Shaping Government AI Adoption
• Gartner Forecasts IT Spending in Australia to Exceed $172 Billion in 2026

Presented by Adrian Leow, VP Analyst, Gartner

The vast potential business value of AI will not emerge on its own. AI leaders must steer their organizations toward a future where AI not only delivers tangible business value, but also evolves into a critical competitive differentiator and industry disruptor. In this session, Adrian Leow, VP Analyst at Gartner, discussed how AI leaders can develop a successful AI strategy to fully harness the benefits and potential of AI.

• “AI isn’t a strategy, it’s an amplifier. If a smart, focused strategy is already in place, AI can take it further, faster and more efficiently. But if it isn’t clear or aligned, the wrong outcomes will be delivered quicker.”
• “The most successful AI initiatives don’t start with technology. They start with a business priority and then AI is used to supercharge it.”
• “An AI strategy must be created as a living, dynamic document. Assess the importance of AI, identify where the value lies and determine the organization’s risk appetite.”
• “Create a roadmap for AI adoption, maturing the key enabling capabilities of organization, people and culture, governance, engineering and data.”
• “Regularly recalibrate the AI strategy by engaging all relevant stakeholders. Ensure AI initiatives are aligned with business, data and analytics, and IT strategies, and vice versa.”

Presented by Carlton Sapp, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner

Successful AI governance requires an operating model, policies, controls and enabling technologies. It is necessary to balance AI’s value with the new risks resulting from its criticality, scalability and democratization. In this session, Carlton Sapp, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner, outlined Gartner’s AI governance playbook to design, implement and adjust AI governance, ensuring compliant, ethical, trustworthy and responsible AI.

• “Focus governance on the AI portfolio over AI projects. Manage each portfolio use case across business, social, customer or employee dimensions of responsible AI.”
• “Define levels of use-case criticality to focus AI governance on what matters the most to the business.”
•  “Proactively design and execute an AI literacy program centered around upskilling. Balance risk with AI literacy via differentiated controls.”
• “All leadership approaches and structures vary due to the novelty of AI governance. Consider AI scope and maturity, industry, regulatory compliance and culture.”
• “Involve diverse stakeholders in AI governance who can ask and resolve questions to address AI issues. Pace governance with AI speed.”

Presented by Jasleen Kaur Sindhu, VP Analyst, Gartner

AI adoption in banking is accelerating and CEOs expect strong results, but most banks are not seeing financial returns. This is because banks are taking a cautious, incremental approach to AI, to protect current processes instead of transforming them. Meanwhile, competitors, customers and employees are reshaping the banking industry with AI. In this session, Jasleen Kaur Sindhu, VP Analyst at Gartner, discussed how banking CIOs can reinvent their AI approach to achieve better results and meet board expectations.

• “Sticking to small, incremental changes will lead to undifferentiated processes that solve the same old problems. Real value comes from bold moves that set a bank apart."
• “AI is most valuable when it solves problems for customers, not just the bank. Without re-centering the AI strategy to do this, value from investments will continue to lag.”
• “Don’t just add AI to legacy workflows – reinvent them with AI at core. This is the future of banking operations that enables real-time decisioning, continuous learning and human-AI collaboration.”
• “Success in banking isn’t about replacing people with AI, but it is about enabling people to thrive with it. Human intelligence remains essential in areas where empathy, ethics, and judgment matter the most.”

Presented by Dean Lacheca, VP Analyst, Gartner

Governments recognize the opportunity to boost efficiency through technology, but struggle to execute due to traditional barriers like talent, funding and risk aversion. In this session, Dean Lacheca, VP Analyst at Gartner, explained how CIOs can align efficiency goals with AI and automation strategies to improve operations and guide their government organizations into the digital future.

• “Technology driven efficiency should be accelerating, but government CIOs are often distracted by tactical challenges. They can’t afford to be unprepared, like they were with AI.”
• “Take practical steps to enhance government service delivery, such as driving AI adoption and establishing guardrails for AI agents. Adoption will grow as the technology matures and CIOs gain confidence in building, buying and governing them.”
• “Combine AI with emerging and existing technologies to enhance impact. Don’t waste resources on new technologies that won’t deliver tangible value.”
• “Encourage innovation and experimentation. Innovation labs offer a safe space for human-centered projects while protecting government data.”
• “Tackle traditional barriers to technology adoption like risk aversion, lack of investment and weak ties to mission goals. Innovation that isn’t aligned with strategy often fails to deliver needed ideas.”

Journalists can receive additional information and/or request an interview with the Gartner expert by contacting Emma Keen at emma.keen@gartner.com.