AI has reached a moment of intense pressure and high expectations. Board members want results. Business leaders want productivity gains. Teams want latitude to experiment. And CIOs are at the center of it all. They are expected to deliver value from AI and agentic technology while ensuring the business stays safe, compliant and stable.
Dispatch Integration’s recent CIO webinar featured technology leaders Eric Alfaro and Karl Mosgofian who each shared their point of view about how enterprises should be navigating this shift. Their discussion surfaced a clear reality. AI matters, but the systems that determine whether organizations succeed are not the models themselves. The real system of the agentic era is the integration fabric that connects data, workflows and applications across the business.
The CIO role is expanding again
Mosgofian framed AI as part of a long continuum. Technology has been democratizing for decades. We went from mainframes to personal computers to on-prem software to SaaS. At every step, IT became more strategic while the business gained more ability to move independently. AI accelerates that pattern. Anyone can sign up for a tool, test an agent or install a note taker without asking permission.
This complexity has changed what CIOs are responsible for. Alfaro described today’s CIO as a business leader with a technology specialization. CIOs often have the broadest view of business processes, compliance needs, customer data and operational flow. That puts them in a unique position to guide strategy rather than simply manage technical systems.
Cutting through the hype with first principles
One of the challenges CIOs face is the spread of extremes. Some leaders dismiss AI as a novelty. Others expect it to replace entire teams or transform productivity overnight. Both require grounding in deeply connected technology systems in order for them to succeed.
Mosgofian pointed out that AI is a powerful capability but it is not a magic solution. CIOs still need to anchor decisions on where agentic workflows fit and where they don’t. What problem are we solving. What is the business value? What is the realistic return on the investment of time, money and resources. Experimentation is encouraged, but major investments cannot rely on optimistic assumptions about efficiency that may not materialize. This is where CIOs must play the role of strategic advisor rather than technology evangelist. Clear ROI modeling and conservative expectations matter now more than ever.
Integrations are becoming the true system
The most important insight shared in the conversation was about the integration layer. Many organizations have fragmented data spread across multiple systems after years of acquisitions, custom workflows and legacy platforms. Alfaro described how one of his recent projects depended on building a GenAI experience that unified information across many disconnected repositories. That work was only possible because the integrations existed to move data into a coherent view.
Mosgofian explained that today’s data challenges are no longer about simple cleanup. They are about semantics and context. Different systems hold similar data under different labels and different teams interpret information in different ways. AI cannot resolve this on its own. It needs a clear, governed integration foundation.
This is why Mosgofian argued that the integration is now the system. A modern business process such as quote to cash does not live in a single system. It spans twenty or more applications. The process is defined by the way those systems are integrated. In the agentic era, this integration fabric becomes the critical operating layer that determines whether AI can work safely and reliably.
Governance and the rise of AI sprawl
The conversation also surfaced a growing reality. AI adoption in many companies has resembled the Wild West. Multiple AI note takers appear in the same meeting. Employees experiment with tools using personal accounts. Sensitive information may be shared without oversight.
CIOs are now entering a period of consolidation and governance. This includes setting corporate standards for AI tools, reviewing vendor security, establishing central administrators and creating clear usage policies. It also includes educating teams that have been slower to engage with AI and helping them understand where safe and meaningful use cases exist.
Alfaro offered a simple method for identifying AI use cases worth pursuing. Start with the platforms that already anchor the business. Systems like Workday, Salesforce, ServiceNow and other leading SaaS providers are investing heavily in embedded AI and agentic features. For many companies, these tools already securely contain the most important data and process definitions.
How CIOs can move forward
Alfaro and Mosgofian closed with practical guidance for CIOs facing competing pressures.
Start with the business plan. Anchor AI discussions in the outcomes the company is trying to achieve. Take account of ongoing AI experiments and identify which ones align with strategic priorities. Assess whether your integration architecture and data governance are strong enough to support agentic workflows that span multiple systems. Prioritize a small number of high value pilot projects that build on this foundation.
This is also the advice Dispatch Integration provides to its clients. Through a rapid AI readiness assessment, Dispatch identifies strengths, gaps and opportunities across governance, data quality, integrations and use cases. The result is a clear, practical agentic roadmap for IT leaders to move forward with confidence.
The agentic era will continue to elevate the role of the CIO. And, continued adoption of AI agents will continue to elevate the importance of rock solid integrations, disciplined governance to enable data foundations that support it. CIOs are the ones who will shape that foundation and guide the enterprise into the agentic wave of business transformation.
Hear more from Karl Mosgofian and Aric Alfaro in the on-demand recording “How These CIOs Are Approaching The Agentic Era.”
Jason Jones
Jason Jones is the Chief Revenue Officer of Dispatch Integration, bringing a proven track-record of aligning enterprise technology solutions with business-growth strategies. With a background in leading go-to-market teams, channel partnerships and customer-success functions across the services and software sectors, he has deep expertise in translating complex integration services into commercial value for clients.
