CEO Outlook 2025

World Wide Technology Co-Founder and CEO Jim Kavanaugh took part in CRN's annual CEO Outlook; read his insights below.

CRN: What is the biggest market opportunity your company will tackle in 2025?

Kavanaugh: Over the last several years, organizations have embraced generative AI (GenAI) to varying degrees. For 2025, the most significant market opportunity we see continues to lie in empowering our customers to unlock the full potential of AI. AI technology can be impactful and transformational, but adoption is complex and demands seamless integration. The more advanced an organization's IT infrastructure and digital transformation strategy becomes, the greater the need for a seamless data and cloud strategy, and the greater the need for a proactive and comprehensive approach to cybersecurity. Our commitment to our customers and the industry extends beyond merely offering AI solutions - we focus on a comprehensive approach made possible through our Advanced Technology Center (ATC), which we have invested over $1 billion in during the past decade and serves as a testbed for innovation and seamless integration with the hardware and software required for AI, digital, cloud, infrastructure and cyber solutions. Additionally, we recently entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Softchoice, a Canadian software and cloud-focused IT solutions provider, which will enhance our portfolio, strengthen our Microsoft partnership, and increase our access to commercial, small and medium business segments while expanding WWT's position in the U.S., Canada, and around the world - enabling us to create even greater value for our customers. Supporting our customers on their AI and digital transformation journeys has been a large focus of ours for the past several years and will continue to be a priority in 2025.

What are the key technology investments you plan to make in 2025?

In 2025, we are committed to strengthening our portfolio of offerings to create even stronger end-to-end IT solutions that drive real business value for our customers. This commitment is backed by our three-year, $500 million investment in technology, infrastructure, and talent to support global AI adoption. This includes the AI Proving Ground, housed within our ATC, a first-of-its-kind lab environment where organizations try, test and validate AI applications and accelerate the adoption of AI solutions across their organizations. Over the last year, these labs have helped IT leaders across finance, healthcare, human resources, e-commerce and other sectors build and validate custom AI solutions resulting in significant business outcomes, and we plan to continue expanding these efforts in 2025 to help our customers continue leveraging AI to its fullest potential.

What impact do you expect AI to have on your business in 2025?

We expect AI to continue to positively shape the future of WWT and enhance how we deliver unparalleled solutions to our customers. Building on our experiences from 2024 and over the last several years, we have leveraged lessons learned from WWT's own AI transformation journey, particularly with WWT's Atom AI, the GPT powering innovation at WWT, and our RFP assistant, an internal AI tool created to improve proposal response speed and efficiency. These initiatives have demonstrated tangible improvements in productivity, decision-making, and the quality of our solutions. In 2025, we anticipate AI to unlock entirely new business models and strategies, not just improve existing ones.