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# The FAST AI Framework: The CIO Guide to Unlocking Scalable Wins
by  | Nov 6, 2024 | 
As a CIO, your role extends beyond overseeing technology and AI initiatives; you’re actively shaping your organization’s strategic future. The journey to achieving scalable AI success is complex and often challenging. To help navigate these obstacles, we’ve developed a tailored framework specifically for this purpose. With the FAST AI Framework, you have a reliable guide to support you every step of the way.
### **Facing the Roadblocks: Tackling AI’s Tough Terrain**
Before we get into the framework, I want to take a moment to talk about some of the common challenges CIOs face when integrating and scaling AI. Ethical dilemmas, collaboration hiccups, governance headaches, and unexpected project failures—you’ve seen them all. But, these aren’t just challenges; they’re opportunities to build a stronger, smarter organization.
**Ethical Considerations:** With AI taking on bigger roles in critical business functions, issues like data privacy, algorithmic bias, and job impacts are now front and center. And let’s be clear—responsible AI deployment isn’t just a ‘nice-to-have.’ It’s essential to earning trust and avoiding unintended consequences.
*Pro Tip:* Set up an AI Ethics Charter and make AI Ethics Audits a routine check-in. Transparency and fairness can’t be afterthoughts. Also, explore Explainable AI (XAI) to make sure your stakeholders understand the “why” behind AI decisions.
**Cross-Functional Collaboration:** AI can’t succeed in isolation. It needs a team effort that aligns business units, data scientists, and IT under a shared vision.
*Pro Tip:* Create an AI steering committee with reps from every key department. It’ll keep everyone on the same page and build organization-wide buy-in.
**AI Governance:** Without the right oversight, AI projects can quickly go off the rails. As the CIO, it’s up to you to build a solid governance structure that keeps things transparent and compliant.
*Pro Tip:* Set up a clear AI governance framework. Make sure it includes guidelines on data usage, bias detection, and regulatory compliance.
**Handling AI Setbacks:** Even the best-laid plans can hit roadblocks—data issues, integration problems, or misaligned expectations. It’s not about avoiding failure altogether, but about learning from it.
*Pro Tip:* Establish a standardized post-mortem process. Use it to gather insights from failed projects so you can tweak and refine future initiatives.
### **Meet the FAST AI Framework: Your Roadmap to Scalable Wins**
To turn these challenges into wins, you need a game plan. That’s where the FAST AI Framework comes in. It’s designed to guide you through the complexity of AI deployments while staying aligned with business goals and delivering results.
#### **Focus: Zeroing In on High-Impact AI Opportunities**
Prioritization is key. You’re looking for projects that solve real pain points and unlock untapped potential.
*Action Steps:* Start with a thorough audit of business processes to identify inefficiencies. Gather feedback from your customers to spot where AI can make a real difference. Then, use a project prioritization matrix to weigh potential business value against the complexity of implementation.
#### **Alignment: Tying AI to Business Strategy**
If your AI projects aren’t aligned with the bigger picture, they won’t drive lasting value.
*Action Steps:* Set clear business outcomes for each AI initiative and map out a roadmap that links each project to key metrics like revenue growth or customer satisfaction.
#### **Scalability: Planning for AI Growth**
The initial wins are just the beginning. Now, it’s time to scale those successes across the organization.
*Action Steps:* Design AI projects to be modular and reusable, allowing you to replicate them efficiently. Set up centralized data governance to maintain consistency as AI expands into other departments.
#### **Tangible Results & Continuous Feedback: Measuring AI’s Impact**
It’s crucial to show concrete results and establish ongoing feedback loops to keep the momentum going.
*Action Steps:* Implement real-time monitoring dashboards for your key metrics. Regularly schedule AI Health Checks to fine-tune models based on what’s happening in the real world. And set up quarterly performance reviews to assess progress and pivot if needed.
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### **The Path Forward: Unlocking AI’s Full Potential**
Navigating AI is complex, but with the FAST AI Framework, you have a roadmap to achieve scalable, measurable wins. Prioritize impactful projects, align them with your strategy, and always plan for growth. Doing this allows you to set up your organization for success in the AI era.
Next week, we’ll share an AI Decision-Making Template designed to align seamlessly with the FAST AI Framework. This practical tool will help you prioritize and structure AI initiatives effectively, setting your organization up for long-term success. In the meantime, check out Aquant’s eBook, ****, the executive guide to kickstart your AI strategy for a more innovative, faster, future-proof service operation.
#### About the Author
Assaf Melochna****, President and CoFounder, Aquant**
Assaf Melochna is the President and co-founder of Aquant, where his blend of decisive leadership and technical expertise drives the company’s mission. An expert in service and enterprise software, Assaf’s comprehensive business and technical insight has been instrumental in shaping Aquant.
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# The Next-Gen CIO: Embracing AI to Enhance Competitive Edge
by  | Oct 30, 2024 | 
Companies investing heavily in AI are seeing significant financial benefits. According to new research from Accenture, 74% of organizations have reported that their investments in generative AI and automation have met or exceeded expectations, and 63% plan to further strengthen these capabilities by 2026. The new report, , also reveals that the number of companies with fully modernized, AI-led processes has nearly doubled from 9% in 2023 to 16% in 2024. These “reinvention-ready” companies achieve 2.5 times higher revenue growth, 2.4 times greater productivity, and 3.3 times greater success at scaling generative AI use cases compared to their peers.
In this new AI-powered era, the role of the CIO is evolving from managing IT infrastructure to strategically leading AI initiatives that can drive growth, distinction, and innovation. Today’s CIOs are better described as *Chief Competitive Advantage Officers*, focusing on how AI can not only solve existing problems but also unlock new business models, streamline operations, and personalize customer experiences at scale.
But with this evolved role comes a critical challenge: how can CIOs implement AI initiatives that deliver fast, scalable wins?
### AI: A Strategic Imperative for Competitive Advantage
While we’re seeing more companies than ever experimenting and implementing AI programs, a decent amount are struggling to attain real value at scale. Only 26% have developed the necessary capabilities to move beyond proofs of concept and generate tangible value, according to  from Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Even more telling, just 4% of companies have achieved cutting-edge AI capabilities across functions and consistently generate significant value.
Accenture’s 2024 report, *Reinventing Enterprise Operations with Gen AI*, further reinforces this gap in AI maturity. It found that nearly two-thirds (64%) of organizations are still struggling to change the way they operate. A major barrier is their data infrastructure—61% report that their data assets are not yet ready for generative AI, and 70% are finding it difficult to scale projects using proprietary data. The inability to build a strong data foundation and effectively scale AI initiatives prevents these companies from realizing the full potential of their investments.
I’ve highlighted below the characteristics that set leading CIOs – who make AI a key priority – apart:
### 1. Embrace a Talent-First Reinvention Strategy
One of the most crucial steps leading CIOs take is focusing on people and processes over purely technological capabilities. Both studies emphasize the importance of this approach. Accenture’s research highlights that 82% of companies in the early stages of AI maturity have not yet applied a talent reinvention strategy, putting them at a disadvantage. To address this, leading CIOs invest heavily in training and developing AI-specific skills within their workforce to keep up with rapid advancements in generative AI. Similarly, the BCG study reveals that successful companies allocate 70% of their AI resources to people and processes, ensuring that employees are equipped and workflows are optimized to integrate AI initiatives effectively.
### 2. Focus on Core Business Processes for AI Integration
According to BCG, leading companies derive 62% of their AI value from core business functions. This strategic focus allows them to leverage AI where it can drive the most impactful outcomes. CIOs who prioritize AI-driven transformations in these critical areas create substantial competitive advantages and outperform their peers. This primary focus on core functions, with a secondary focus on support functions, is a hallmark of successful AI integration. Of course, every business is different, so it’s important to understand what the core functions and supporting functions of your business are.
### 3. Adopt a Robust Data Foundation and Scalable AI Strategy
Both reports point to the importance of establishing a solid data infrastructure and focusing on scalable AI initiatives. Accenture’s research found that 61% of companies struggle to build the necessary data foundation for generative AI, which hinders their ability to scale these technologies. Leading CIOs implement centralized data governance and adopt a domain-centric approach to data modernization, ensuring their data assets are ready to be leveraged by AI tools across the business.
By prioritizing talent development, focusing AI efforts on core business processes, and establishing a robust data infrastructure, leading CIOs can ensure they maintain their competitive edge and unlock the full value of their AI investments and drive sustainable business growth.
### Setting the Stage for AI Success
Despite its immense potential, implementing AI comes with challenges. In Part 2, we’ll explore the key hurdles CIOs face—like ensuring cross-functional collaboration, handling ethical considerations, and establishing AI governance. We’ll also introduce the FAST AI Framework, a structured roadmap for achieving scalable AI wins.
Stay tuned for Part 2, where we’ll dive deeper into these challenges and discuss actionable strategies to drive AI success. In the meantime, check out Aquant’s ebook *,* the executive guide to kickstart your AI strategy for a more innovative, faster, future-proof service operation*.*
# Active Directory Security Measures for U.S. State and Local Government and Education
by  | Oct 29, 2024 | 
*[Editor’s note: This article is a guest post by TAG CEO and founder Ed Amoroso.]*
Broad cybersecurity support encompasses a wide variety of obligations, ranging from compliance documentation to user training. But the most challenging—and essential—aspect of  involves the detection of attacks, before, during, and after their initiation. Without such ability, teams in all sectors—including State and Local Government and Education (aka SLED)—will have serious security operational deficiencies.
Our research and advisory team at TAG regularly tracks issues raised by our base of enterprise security team customers. Without question, challenges securing  are some of the most intense problems that arise amongst Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)-led teams. This should come as no surprise to any practitioner who reviews common attacks, many of which use AD as an essential compromise resource.
AD serves as the backbone of identity and access management (IAM) for most enterprises, making it a prime target for attacks. As AD controls permissions and access to critical systems, applications, and data, any compromise can lead to security breaches, including privilege escalation, data theft, or even ransomware. Strengthening AD security is thus essential to safeguard business operations, particularly as organizations shift toward hybrid networks.
In addition, attackers often exploit AD misconfigurations, unpatched vulnerabilities, or stolen credentials, allowing them to move laterally and gain control of resources. Given the role AD plays in user access, ensuring security is essential for maintaining the safe posture. We’ve learned at TAG that modern security strategies need to prioritize AD hardening, continuous monitoring, and rapid detection to prevent unauthorized access.
## What is AD attack detection?
AD attack detection involves monitoring and identifying signs of malicious activities targeting AD. This includes detecting abnormal behavior, privilege escalations, or attempts to exploit AD vulnerabilities. Attack detection solutions leverage real-time monitoring, artificial intelligence, and behavioral analysis to spot indicators of compromise (IOCs) such as unauthorized changes to group policies, abnormal logins, or unexpected privilege grants.
These detection methods are crucial for mitigating attacks early, particularly given the persistence of , where AD is frequently a high-value target. Effective AD attack detection enables security teams to respond quickly to potential breaches, limiting damage and preserving the security of critical assets within an organization. TAG now tracks AD security as its own category of solution to help emphasize these points.
## Current cyber threats to State and Local Government and Education sector
While every sector will find AD security to be a critically important concern, it’s been our observation that one critical sector—namely State and Local Government and Education—faces a particularly difficult set of challenges. It’s worth mentioning that our analyst team at TAG maintains close relationships in this sector through professorships and other appointments in various state and educational institutions.
What we see in this sector is an increasing number of cyber threats, driven by often-limited resources and aging infrastructure. Ransomware remains a significant threat, where attackers exploit AD vulnerabilities to gain access and demand payment in exchange for decrypting data. State and Local Government and Education institutions are also frequent targets of phishing aimed at credential theft, which can compromise AD and enable attackers to move laterally across networks.
Insufficient patch management and weak password policies also expose SLED institutions to a wide range of attacks. With the rise of hybrid work models and digital transformation initiatives, State and Local Government and Education environments are expanding their use of technology, including in classrooms, which makes them even more susceptible to attack. Given these vulnerabilities, a proactive approach to Active Directory security is essential for maintaining the resilience of these critical services.
## U.S. federal agency support for AD security in State and Local Government and Education
While no specific U.S. federal agency or regulatory body *exclusively mandates* AD security by name, many regulations and frameworks in the public sector, including State and Local Government and Education environments, do emphasize cybersecurity practices that inherently cover AD security. This implies that security teams in the SLED sector must take the lead in leveraging key regulations to drive more robust AD cybersecurity. This includes the following frameworks:
. Managed by the FBI, this policy outlines security controls for systems handling criminal justice information. Given that AD is often used in such systems for access control, securing AD is essential for compliance.
. In public healthcare environments (e.g., state or county hospitals), HIPAA mandates stringent security measures for handling protected health information (PHI). Securing AD would be critical in such environments to manage access to PHI.
. These frameworks, widely adopted by government agencies, provide security controls that impact AD environments, such as IAM, incident response, and continuous monitoring.
. Though it applies mainly to federal agencies, FISMA has a downstream effect on state and local governments that receive federal funding. It requires adequate security measures for information systems, making AD security essential for compliance.
State-specific regulations. Certain states, like California (via the ) and New York (via the ), have their own cybersecurity regulations that affect SLED environments. AD security often becomes a key component of compliance under these broader cybersecurity mandates.
In summary, while there is no explicit and direct requirement for AD security in SLED environments (at least that we are aware of at TAG), compliance with broader federal, state, and sector-specific cybersecurity regulations indirectly demands it due to the central role AD plays in managing user identities and access.
## Using Semperis for AD security in the SLED sector
For State and Local Government and Education, advanced Active Directory security solutions are available to protect, detect, and recover from AD-related attacks.
Cybersecurity company —founded in 2014 by a team of cybersecurity experts led by Mickey Bresman, Guy Teverovsky, and Matan Liberman—focuses specifically on identity-driven cybersecurity, with solutions for securing Active Directory. Semperis has developed a set of world-class tools, including , designed to provide continuous monitoring and real-time protection for AD environments.
Semperis’ identity resilience platform delivers automated threat detection, real-time monitoring, and response capabilities that help mitigate risks such as privilege abuse, ransomware, and AD exploitation. The platform ensures that any unauthorized changes to AD are identified and flagged immediately for SLED teams.
In addition to detection and monitoring, Semperis also gives State and Local Government and Education organizations the ability to engage disaster recovery tools to quickly restore compromised AD environments, an obvious priority in this sector. Given the limited IT resources that are so common in many SLED environments, Semperis’ automation and ease of use are crucial in ensuring that security teams can maintain control and recover from incidents with minimal downtime.
## Action plan for cybersecurity leaders in SLED
TAG advises that CISOs in SLED institutions prioritize a multi-layered security approach that emphasizes AD security. This begins with regular audits and assessments to identify and remediate vulnerabilities within AD, such as misconfigurations or outdated policies. Implementing continuous monitoring solutions like Semperis to detect abnormal activities in real-time is crucial for maintaining a proactive defense.
State and Local Government and Education CISOs should also focus on ensuring that their teams are trained and prepared to respond to AD-related breaches. This is best done in conjunction with deployment of a world-class AD security platform, and our recommendation is that Semperis fits the bill. Readers are welcome to reach out to  for assistance in their source selection, or you can  directly.
**Need help improving AD security in your state or local government agency or school?** 
**About TAG:** Recognized by Fast Company,  is a trusted next-generation research and advisory company that utilizes an AI-powered SaaS platform to provide on demand insights, guidance, and recommendations to enterprise teams, government agencies, and commercial vendors in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and climate science.
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