CEOs are taking a new look at cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, according to a Gartner researcher as reported by Angus Loten in The Wall Street Journal. Traditionally, digital-enabled tools have been seen as boosting internal efficiency or cutting costs, but CEOs, with the help of CIOs, are now looking at the tools to drive revenue growth and generate profits.

Loten quotes Gartner researcher Mark Raskino as saying, “Digital business is deepening. For a generation of CEOs, digital business is going to be a career defining issue….”

“Infonomics,” or the economics of information, was a key topic at last week’s Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in Orlando. “Traditionally, information managers have had a limited view of how they can help business leaders generate value from information, mainly focusing on operational and analytical benefits,” said Gartner vice president Douglas Laney in a press statement. “Businesses that measure information’s productive utility can make more intelligent investments in information-related initiatives, among other benefits. Infonomics provides the framework business needs to value information, manage it and measure it as a real asset.” Laney has written a book on the topic.

Also at the symposium, Gartner highlighted strategic technology trends for 2018. They include AI systems that learn, adapt, and potentially act autonomously; intelligent apps and analytics; intelligent things, digital twins (digital representations of real-world entities or systems); edge computing; conversational platforms; immersive experiences; blockchain as a platform for digital transformation; and continuous adaptive risk and trust (CARTA) to securely enable digital business initiatives.