The most important strategic technology for 2025 and beyond is agentic AI, according to the latest forecast by tech analyst Gartner.
"Agentic AI systems autonomously plan and take actions to meet user-defined goals," said Gene Alvarez, distinguished VP analyst at Gartner, as he revealed the Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2025 at Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo 2024 last week.
Spending on AI will help drive a healthy increase in IT expenditure. Gartner said worldwide IT spending is expected to total $5.74 trillion in 2025, an increase of 9.3% from 2024.
2025 Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends - Gartner
"It is clear that no matter where we go, we cannot avoid the impact of AI," said Daryl Plummer, distinguished VP Analyst, chief of research, and Gartner Fellow.
Gartner predicts that spending on software will increase 14% to reach $1.23 trillion in 2025, up from 11.7% growth in 2024. Meanwhile, spending on IT services is expected to grow 9.4% to $1.73 trillion in 2025, up from 5.6% in 2024.
Here are Gartner's top 10 strategic technology trends for 2025, led by agentic AI:
CIOs and IT leaders were reminded of the importance of agentic AI during Gartner's Symposium. It was suggested the CIO role must expand to include responsibilities of the chief AI officer.
In an age of artificial intelligence (AI), chief information officers (CIO) must help stakeholders turbocharge their output.
The role of the CIO now is much more than delivering access to trustworthy, relevant, timely, and impactful information -- these are table-stakes requirements.
Recent Salesforce research, based on a survey of 150 CIOs of companies with more than 1,000 employees, also found that companies are looking for their CIOs to be AI experts.
Almost two-thirds (61%) of CIOs feel they're expected to know more about AI than they do, and their peers at other companies are their top sources of information.
CIOs are now in the business of manufacturing intelligence and autonomous work. They are responsible for creating a work environment where humans and AI agents can collaborate and co-create stakeholder value.
Digital leaders must design, own, and deliver the roadmap to the autonomous enterprise. Maximizing enterprise performance with generative AI (gen AI) requires modernizing data foundations and measuring business outcomes.
Gartner's top strategic predictions for 2025 and beyond led with predictions focused on generative AI and agentic AI. Here are the analyst's key predictions for AI-specific future trends:
Agentic AI will be the most important strategic technology for the next few years. Welcome to the age of agentic AI, where companies that grow and thrive will focus on the most important business currencies of trust, speed, scale, and personalization, while also dealing with the balance between automation and meaningful work.