Tracking the Evolving Role of the CIO with Experis

48% of IT Leaders Say Aligning Tech and Business Is Now the CIO’s Top Priority

Experis, the IT professional resourcing and services brand of ManpowerGroup, commissioned investigative research to understand how the role of the CIO is evolving across global markets:  examining how IT leaders are aligning technology with business strategy, the changing IT workforce in the age of AI, mounting cybersecurity and digital sovereignty pressures, and levels of AI investment and return. The study now runs as an annual tracker to explore year-on-year changes in the priorities, challenges and ambitions of CIOs and senior IT leaders.

Annual Thought Leadership & Trend Tracker

In 2025, Experis ran a successful “Focus on the CIO” campaign built on research with CIOs and IT leaders. In 2026, the Experis European team engaged Reputation Leaders to extend the programme into more markets. Reputation Leaders conducted a 10-minute survey of 1,930 respondents across 12 markets: Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States between 28 January and 4 March 2026.

All respondents were CIOs, CTOs and CISOs, or other senior IT leaders such as Heads of IT and EVP/SVP/VPs of Technology, working at organizations with 50 or more employees and holding decision-making power over technology solutions and IT hiring. To add depth to the data, the Experis country teams also conducted in-depth interviews with five CIOs across France, Spain and Norway, whose perspectives appear alongside the survey findings. As an annual tracker, the research also measures how the CIO agenda has shifted year on year since 2025.

Results revealing the shifting CIO mandate

The 2026 research found that the CIO’s role is being redefined in real time. Aligning IT strategy with business objectives is now seen as the single most important thing a CIO can do, named by 48% of IT professionals. This is up sharply from 34% in 2025, overtaking cybersecurity as the top priority. Yet companies are no more aligned on IT strategy and business objectives than a year ago (77% vs. 80% in 2025), showing that CIOs must work harder simply to keep technology and business goals from diverging.

A key driver is the accelerating pace of technology. 44% of IT professionals now cite keeping up with rapid technological change as the top barrier facing CIOs, up from 34% in 2025. And as the role grows more strategic, 61% of CIOs say senior leaders don’t know enough about their role, up from 49% the year before.

Key findings at a glance

• AI is a necessary investment, not a silver bullet: 66% of companies are increasing AI investment and 54% already report a positive return, yet only 17% rank delivering AI among the CIO’s top responsibilities and 31% think leaders are overinvesting in it.
• Roles are evolving, not disappearing: 53% of companies are embedding AI skills into existing roles, while fewer are cutting roles to save costs (9% vs. 15% in 2025) – a sign that AI needs more human oversight than expected.
• Security and sovereignty top the budget: cybersecurity (78%) and digital sovereignty (69%) lead planned 2026 investment increases, and 81% of IT professionals call digital sovereignty a high or critical priority.
• The US leads on AI returns: 79% of US IT professionals already see a positive return on their AI investment, far ahead of the 54% global average.

Positioning Experis at the centre of the CIO conversation

Together, the findings paint a clear picture of a CIO role under pressure to bridge technology and business as the pace of change accelerates. By tracking these shifts year on year, the research positions Experis as a thought leader on the evolving CIO agenda and provides senior IT leaders with a benchmark for their own priorities, investments and talent strategies heading into 2026.