Geopolitical tension, supply chain disruption, and changing regulations are changing what it takes to run IT at a global company. CIOs are being pushed to manage AI demand, vendor risk, cross-border compliance, and distributed infrastructure at the same time, according to Forrester and multiple IT leaders cited in the source article.
The shift is being driven by more than one issue. The article points to the war involving Iran as one example, citing drone strikes that damaged AWS data centers in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, along with higher cyberattack risk and concern about semiconductor shortages. S. Yah Kalash, a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, wrote that the conflict is not just about missiles and militias, but about “networks, supply chains, and systems that power the modern world.”
Forrester says the pressure is also financial. In a recent report, the company said rising energy costs, persistent inflation, and weakness in the global economy will affect tech budgets, even as many companies are trying to fund AI initiatives. The firm said CIOs will need to focus on spend management, prioritization, targeted cost cutting, and tighter vendor management, while defending AI and security investments to skeptical executives.
Mark Moccia, vice president and research director at Forrester, said CIOs need to stay closely connected to the rest of the C-suite and understand how volatility is affecting the business. He warned that profit and loss pressure could lead to short-term budget cuts.
That challenge is especially visible in aviation. Tadas Tamošaitis, CTO of Vilnius, Lithuania-based FL Technics, said the aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul sector sits at the intersection of regulation, geopolitics, and supply chain pressure. He said airlines expect planes back in service quickly, so any disruption to digital systems has immediate consequences on the ground.
Tamošaitis said post-pandemic demand has strained aerospace supply chains and pushed component lead times to record lengths. He also said export controls, airspace restrictions, and inconsistent digital and data rules across aviation authorities add complexity for a company operating in multiple jurisdictions.
Cybersecurity remains a major concern in that environment. Tamošaitis said MRO companies hold sensitive engineering data such as aircraft configurations, maintenance histories, and logistics records, which makes them attractive targets. He said a successful cyberattack can ground aircraft, so systems must be both resilient and able to support 24/7 global coordination.
FL Technics recently completed its acquisition of Job Air Technic, and Tamošaitis said that created a large systems integration job. The company had to consolidate legacy infrastructure, data warehouses, and operational procedures without interrupting maintenance work that runs around the clock.
Supply chain risk is also changing how other CIOs judge vendors and architecture. Moe Rosenfeld, CIO of New York-based eCopier Solutions, said lead times, component availability, and vendor stability are now part of routine technology decisions. He said he now asks where vendors are headquartered, where servers are physically located, and what happens to client data if trade disruption or sanctions affect a supplier’s country of origin.
Victoria Ma, head of services and digital innovation USA and Canada at supply chain consulting company Miebach, said companies can no longer optimize for one centralized model. She said organizations now need systems that work across multiple regions, regulatory environments, and operating models, while also integrating external partners that may use different platforms and standards.
AI is adding another layer of complexity. Remi Alli, CIO of Black Wallet, said “agent sprawl” - the uncontrolled growth of autonomous AI tools across business units - is a global headache. He said regional regulations, including new AI transparency laws, make one-size-fits-all infrastructure unrealistic.
Black Wallet is responding by creating AI Councils to vet use cases, check data compliance, and prevent fragmented systems, Alli said. The company is also moving from annual planning to quarterly tech-business co-creation workshops to make sure AI projects produce measurable return on investment.
Rosenfeld said the regulatory environment for AI is changing quickly. He cited the EU AI Act, the lack of a settled federal approach in the US, and differing rules in states and other countries. For cross-border data workflows, he said AI-embedded tools now carry regulatory weight that did not exist two years ago.
Elijah Fernandez, co-founder and CTO of virtual behavioral health platform Cerevity Health, said distributed workforces and cross-border data rules are making traditional perimeter security less useful. He said companies are no longer securing one office building, but hundreds of endpoints on different local networks, often under overlapping privacy laws.
Several leaders said flexibility is now the safest design principle. Tamošaitis said FL Technics is using unified ERP and logistics platforms, hybrid and multicloud architectures where allowed, and on-premises systems where regulations require local hosting, including EU data centers for GDPR and US-based systems for FAA requirements.
Fernandez said his company standardized its electronic health record system to Pacific Standard Time so audit logs and clinical records remain consistent across geographies. He also said the company moved to zero trust architecture, which assumes every local network may be compromised.
The leaders interviewed for the article also emphasized planning, training, and retention. Tamošaitis said companies should build modular systems, prepare board-level resiliency conversations, reduce supplier concentration risk, and plan for 12 to 18 months of parallel systems during acquisitions. He said organizations also need specialized talent who understand aviation regulation, export controls, or data sovereignty, not just general IT.
Forrester’s Moccia said leaders should make decision-making more streamlined, keep employees informed, and manage their own stress. The article’s central message is that CIOs are now being asked to run IT in a world where politics, regulation, and supply chains can change the design of technology itself.
