Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo 2026 Orlando: Day 1 Highlights

We are bringing you news and highlights from Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo, taking place this week in Orlando, Florida. Below is a collection of the key announcements and insights coming out of the conference.

On Day 1 from the conference, we are highlighting the Gartner opening keynote presentation, the key areas CIOs and IT executives are focused on heading into 2027 and the top trends in data. Be sure to check this page throughout the day for updates.

• Gartner Says AI Risk is Rising Faster Than AI Value
• Gartner Survey Finds Only 13% of CIOs Say Their Enterprise Has Realized Significant or Transformational Value from AI

Presented by Kristin Moyer and Daryl Plummer, VPs, Distinguished Analysts and Gartner Fellows

As AI becomes embedded across the enterprise, value is increasing, but risk is growing at a much faster rate. In the Opening Keynote, Daryl Plummer, VP, Distinguished Analyst and Gartner Fellow and Kristin Moyer, VP, Distinguished Analyst and Gartner Fellow, explained how CIOs and IT leaders can build an approach to drive good AI momentum while balancing value against compounding risk. 

• “Your need to build AI value is strong, but your ability to govern the risk is weak.”
• “The new CIO imperative is to align value with risk and align safety with governance. Without this alignment, AI will create risk faster than organizations can create value.”
• “Value and risk can’t be managed separately. They are interconnected outcomes that compound as AI adoption accelerates.”
• “Momentum accelerates outcomes, while drag slows outcomes. CIOs who outperform know how to create positive momentum and strategically introduce good drag, while reducing bad momentum and bad drag.”
• “The goal is not simply to move faster. It is to build momentum and apply the right drag so you can build more value safely.”

Learn more from the Gartner press release Gartner Says AI Risk is Rising Faster Than AI Value.

Journalists can receive additional information and/or request an interview with Daryl Plummer or Kristin Moyer by contacting Matt LoDolce at matt.lodolce@gartner.com. 

Presented by Alicia Mullery, VP Analyst, Gartner

As GenAI and AI agents become key business pillars, CIOs must lead the charge around budgets and resource plans required to achieve critical business outcomes. In this session, Alicia Mullery, VP Analyst at Gartner, identified critical attributes and tactics that distinguish the most successful leaders. 

•  “According to the 2027 Gartner CIO and Technology Executive Survey, only 11% of CIOs are AI Vanguards, delivering strong business outcomes and high CEO-perceived AI value.”
• "Only 13% of CIOs reported their enterprise has realized significant or transformational value from AI so far”
• Build a Quit & Redirect Discipline: “Vanguards are more likely to establish explicit criteria for stopping pilots and abandoning low value initiatives in production.”
• Expand What Humans Do: “Vanguards recognize that AI causes roles to compress and expand simultaneously, reducing the number of distinct role types while increasing the scope of work performed within each role. The result is a workforce paradox: broader roles, fewer role types and growing demand for technology talent.”

Learn more from the Gartner press release Gartner Survey Finds Only 13% of CIOs Say Their Enterprise Has Realized Significant or Transformational Value from AI

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

Presented by Deepak Seth, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner

AI agent adoption transforms data and analytics (D&A) strategy and operations. In this session, Deepak Seth, Sr Director Analyst at Gartner, examined the top trends across three key themes: agentic D&A, semantics at the core and D&A platformization.  

• “By 2030, more than one in 10 enterprises will be AI-first, achieving competitive advantage by integrating AI agents, semantics and converged D&A platforms into core business operations.” 

• “Agentic D&A is the next wave in optimizing the data-to-impact lifecycle. By integrating AI agents wherever scarce resources are used, organizations maximize business value through responsive D&A operations.”

• “Semantics at the core enables the AI-first enterprise by establishing the standardized, contextual foundation necessary to connect fragmented analytical silos. This creates the reliable structure required for AI agents to scale and drive the best business outcomes.”

• “D&A platformization is a technology rationalization process that replaces disconnected, single-purpose data and analytics tools with converged platforms to simplify architectures, standardize operations, and reduce technical handoffs across teams and systems.”

• “Converged data, analytics and AI platforms simplify the complex operations that have traditionally slowed down D&A teams, making it easier for them to become AI-first faster.”

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