How to Be a Digital Vanguard: CIO Priorities for 2025

Introduction

Every CIO today faces the same challenge: bridging the gap between digital ambition and real business outcomes. According to Gartner’s 2025 CIO & Technology Executive Survey, only 48% of digital initiatives meet or exceed their intended goals. That means more than half of transformations stall, underdeliver, or fail to scale.

But there’s a new class of leaders—what Gartner calls the Digital Vanguard. These organizations have found a better way to lead transformation, co-owning digital delivery with the business. The results speak for themselves: a 71% success rate, far outperforming the rest (The National CIO Review).

So what makes a Digital Vanguard, and how can today’s CIOs join their ranks? Let’s break it down.

What Sets the Digital Vanguard Apart

The biggest differentiator isn’t a new piece of technology—it’s a new way of working.

Digital Vanguard CIOs don’t operate in silos. They share accountability with business leaders, meeting with their counterparts four times more frequently than their peers. And while most companies involve just 21% of non-IT staff in digital initiatives, Vanguards engage 35% or more (The National CIO Review).

This co-ownership model creates stronger alignment, faster feedback loops, and better adoption across the enterprise. In other words, success isn’t just “delivered by IT”—it’s owned by the business.

Strategic Investment Shifts

Technology budgets reveal another difference. CIOs everywhere are shifting resources toward modern, agile solutions, but Digital Vanguards do it with sharper focus.

In 2025, over 80% of CIOs expect to increase investment in:

• Artificial intelligence (AI) for insight and automation

• Cybersecurity to safeguard growing digital ecosystems

• Business intelligence to unlock value from data

• APIs for seamless integration

At the same time, they’re deliberately reducing spend on legacy infrastructure (Gartner). The Vanguard mindset isn’t about cutting costs—it’s about freeing resources for innovation.

Developing Digital Skills Across the Enterprise

Technology alone isn’t enough. For digital transformation to scale, skills need to spread beyond IT.

Yet, only 16% of CIOs currently plan to build digital skills across the wider enterprise (The National CIO Review). That’s a missed opportunity. Digital Vanguards stand out by actively developing new capabilities among non-IT teams.

This might mean teaching business users the basics of data analysis, embedding product management skills in departments, or training staff to co-design applications. When the whole organization is digitally literate, innovation doesn’t bottleneck at IT’s door.

Democratizing Innovation

Digital Vanguards empower their teams with tools that make innovation accessible. Platforms that allow drag-and-drop app building or workflow automation—without deep coding knowledge—are critical here.

By giving employees across the business the means to solve their own challenges, CIOs unlock creativity and accelerate outcomes.

At Cyferd, we see this firsthand: when organizations move beyond rigid legacy systems and put adaptable, user-friendly tools in people’s hands, transformation stops being a project—it becomes a habit.

Driving Success Through Shared Leadership

Only 18% of CIOs currently plan to make collaborative leadership a top priority in 2025 (The National CIO Review). That’s surprising—because the Digital Vanguards show that this is exactly what makes transformation stick.

When CIOs and business leaders co-lead, decisions are faster, adoption is smoother, and outcomes are more meaningful. It’s less about IT “serving the business” and more about leading the business together.

Becoming a Digital Vanguard: A Practical Path

So how can CIOs start moving in this direction? Here’s a roadmap:

1. Commit to co-ownership – Set up regular strategy sessions with business leaders. Make digital delivery a shared responsibility.
2. Reallocate budgets smartly – Invest in AI, cybersecurity, and integration while tapering spend on legacy systems.
3. Upskill beyond IT – Build digital literacy in every department to reduce dependency and increase resilience.
4. Adopt democratized platforms – Provide flexible, accessible tools so business teams can innovate independently.
5. Redefine success metrics – Measure transformation by business outcomes, not just IT deliverables.

Conclusion

The message is clear: the traditional IT-centric model isn’t enough. Digital transformation succeeds when CIOs move beyond ownership and embrace co-leadership.

The difference is stark: 48% success rate vs. 71% (Gartner). Digital Vanguards are proof that when the business shares responsibility, transformation accelerates and outcomes improve.

Becoming a Digital Vanguard isn’t about adopting every new technology – it’s about reshaping how IT and business work together. Co-own, co-lead, and co-create. That’s how CIOs can drive transformation that lasts.

At Cyferd, we help organizations remove the barriers to becoming Digital Vanguards. Our cloud platform empowers teams to build, integrate, and deploy adaptive applications without the usual complexity—bridging the gap between IT and business.