How IT Teams Drive Secure AI Orchestration: Critical Insights from New Forrester Research for Houston Businesses

Artificial intelligence investments are accelerating across every industry, but a concerning pattern has emerged. Organizations are discovering that their AI initiatives remain disconnected, difficult to manage, and nearly impossible to scale effectively. A comprehensive Forrester Consulting study commissioned by Tines surveyed 417 enterprise IT decision-makers across North America and Europe between June and August 2025, revealing critical insights about the current state of AI adoption and the pivotal role IT teams must play in orchestrating these efforts.

The research defines orchestration as the coordinated execution of IT automation tasks or processes across systems and applications to ensure proper sequencing of deployments, configurations, and other actions. Without this coordinated approach, AI projects become siloed within individual departments, creating security vulnerabilities, compliance risks, and operational inefficiencies that undermine the entire investment. For Houston businesses searching for managed IT support and cybersecurity solutions, understanding these orchestration challenges has become essential for competitive survival and growth.

 The Compliance-First Approach to AI Implementation

IT teams across enterprises are adopting a cautious yet strategic approach to AI deployment, placing governance and compliance at the absolute core of their initiatives. The research findings paint a clear picture of current priorities:

Top Business Priorities for the Next 12 Months:

• 54% of IT leaders identified ensuring AI solutions comply with privacy and governance regulations as their critical priority, reflecting growing awareness of risks associated with unchecked AI adoption
• 44% prioritize improving IT capabilities to enhance employee experience while ensuring data privacy, recognizing that technology must serve people effectively
• 42% aim to cut IT costs while maintaining regulatory compliance, demonstrating the pressure to deliver efficiency without sacrificing security
• 40% focus on reducing IT risk exposure, particularly related to data security and AI deployments
• 39% want to improve the reliability and resilience of IT systems to handle AI-driven changes
• 34% seek to increase IT delivery speed while maintaining governance standards

This data signals a fundamental shift toward responsible innovation, balancing efficiency and effectiveness with the imperative to protect data and uphold trust in an increasingly complex regulatory environment. Gaps in governance expose organizations to risks ranging from algorithmic bias and ethical breaches to shadow AI deployments, privacy failures, regulatory penalties, and severe reputational damage. For managed services providers supporting small business IT needs, these priorities underscore the critical importance of building AI programs on a foundation of strong governance frameworks.

(Source: Forrester Unlocking AI’s Full Value Report)

 The Recognition Gap: IT’s Underestimated Strategic Value

Despite AI’s growing importance, many organizations continue to undervalue IT’s broader strategic potential beyond traditional infrastructure management. The research reveals a troubling disconnect between IT capabilities and organizational recognition:

Barriers Preventing IT’s Board-Level Impact:

• 40% of respondents pointed to lack of business visibility into IT contributions at the board level as the primary challenge
• 40% cited a reactive focus on troubleshooting and uptime rather than strategic innovation
• 38% noted over-dependence on legacy systems that prevent transformation
• 37% identified a disconnect between IT vision and executive priorities
• 36% reported lack of investment in innovation initiatives

Perhaps most concerning, 38% of respondents said their organizations frequently or occasionally underestimate IT’s potential entirely. This visibility gap prevents leadership from aligning technology initiatives with broader business goals, leaving IT teams stuck in reactive mode rather than driving proactive innovation. Without clear communication of IT’s impact and contributions, organizations miss opportunities to position technology as a driver of strategic value rather than merely a cost center.

(Source: Forrester Unlocking AI’s Full Value Report)

 Security and Trust: The Fundamental Barriers to AI Scaling

The research identified multiple interconnected barriers preventing organizations from scaling AI effectively. Security and governance concerns topped the list of obstacles:

Primary Barriers to Scaling AI Initiatives:

• 38% cited security or governance concerns as the most significant barrier, stemming from complexities of safeguarding sensitive data and ensuring compliance with evolving regulations
• 35% face difficulties securing executive sponsorship and adequate budget, leaving AI projects without the momentum needed for widespread adoption
• 34% struggle with inability to demonstrate clear ROI, creating hesitation for further investment
• 33% report fragmented ownership across departments with no clear accountability
• 32% find tool complexity overwhelming and difficult to manage
• 32% cite insufficient resources or expertise to implement and maintain AI systems
• 28% see siloed AI initiatives that don’t connect across the organization
• 28% encounter unclear use cases that fail to deliver measurable business value

Beyond these structural barriers, trust remains a critical challenge. 40% of respondents reported that employees don’t fully trust AI-generated outcomes, creating resistance to adoption even when systems are implemented. This trust deficit requires transparency and visibility to overcome. 73% of IT leaders emphasized the need for end-to-end visibility across AI workflows and systems to build confidence, monitor performance, ensure ethical use, and quickly address issues that arise.

For businesses evaluating IT support for small businesses, these findings emphasize that successful AI implementation requires far more than technical expertise. It demands a managed services provider who understands governance, can build executive support, demonstrates clear business value, and creates the transparency needed to build organizational trust.

(Source: Forrester Unlocking AI’s Full Value Report)

 Breaking Down Internal Silos and Disconnected Tools

Internal organizational barriers compound the external challenges, creating additional friction that slows AI orchestration efforts. The research revealed troubling patterns of misalignment:

Organizational Barriers to Effective AI and Automation Orchestration:

• 49% identified competing priorities between IT, data, and business teams as a top barrier
• 49% cited lack of a clear orchestration strategy to guide implementation
• 46% reported overreliance on developers or specialists, creating bottlenecks that limit scalability
• 43% struggle with siloed budgets and tooling decisions made independently by different departments
• 43% face too many disconnected platforms that don’t integrate effectively
• 41% see business units deploying tools independently without coordination

These internal silos create fragmented execution across teams, preventing organizations from realizing AI’s full potential. When different departments operate independently with separate budgets, tools, and priorities, even the most sophisticated AI technologies fail to deliver coordinated business outcomes. Addressing these barriers requires stronger collaboration, unified strategies, and sustainable resource models that don’t create excessive dependence on specialized technical staff.

(Source: Forrester Unlocking AI’s Full Value Report)

 IT’s Unique Position to Lead AI Orchestration

Despite the challenges, IT teams believe they can play a pivotal role as champions of AI orchestration. The research shows strong conviction about IT’s strategic positioning:

Views on IT’s Role in AI Orchestration:

• 38% of respondents believe IT should own and lead AI orchestration entirely
• 28% see IT as the coordination hub between different business functions
• 27% view IT’s role as supporting and enabling AI initiatives led by other departments
• 88% agree that without orchestration, AI adoption remains fragmented and difficult to scale across the organization
• 86% believe IT is uniquely positioned to orchestrate AI across workflows, systems, and teams
• 84% say aligning AI initiatives with enterprise strategy is a top priority for their IT function

These findings reveal that IT leaders recognize both the necessity of orchestration and their department’s unique qualifications to provide it. IT teams possess the cross-functional visibility, technical expertise, and systems knowledge required to coordinate AI efforts effectively. However, they need executive support, adequate resources, and the right tools to fulfill this potential.

The research also identified specific enablers that IT teams need to succeed in this leadership role:

Critical Enablers for IT Leadership in AI Orchestration:

• 51% need greater visibility into AI efforts across departments
• 48% require integrated data and workflow platforms to connect disparate systems
• 45% must secure executive sponsorship for AI and orchestration initiatives
• 38% need cross-functional collaboration models to break down silos
• 35% want no-code or accessible orchestration tools that reduce dependence on specialists

The right managed services provider brings not only technical expertise but also the frameworks, tools, and executive communication skills needed to establish IT’s leadership role in AI orchestration.

(Source: Forrester Unlocking AI’s Full Value Report)

 The Strategic Value of Cross-Functional Collaboration

When orchestration and automation work effectively, they unlock powerful opportunities for organizational improvement. The research identified where automation delivers the greatest strategic value:

Top Opportunity Areas for Automation Through Orchestration:

• 22% identified enhancing collaboration between IT, security, and other business units as automation’s greatest potential benefit
• 12% see enabling faster ongoing digital transformation as the key opportunity
• 11% prioritize improving employee productivity across the organization
• 10% focus on reducing human error in critical processes
• 9% aim to reduce IT workload and burnout
• 8% want to improve security posture through automated controls
• 8% seek to reduce operational costs
• 8% hope to better serve customers through improved responsiveness

The prominence of cross-functional collaboration as the top opportunity reinforces a central theme: AI’s value comes not from isolated departmental implementations but from coordinated efforts that connect teams, break down silos, and create cohesive workflows across the entire organization. This finding validates the orchestration approach and highlights why IT’s coordination role is so critical.

Effective cybersecurity in an AI-enabled environment requires orchestrated approaches that coordinate security controls across all systems, teams, and workflows.

(Source: Forrester Unlocking AI’s Full Value Report)

 What Organizations Need from Technology Partners

As the AI solution marketplace expands, choosing the right technology partner has become critical to driving successful outcomes. IT leaders identified specific requirements when selecting vendors:

Key Requirements for AI Orchestration Partners:

• 56% prioritize partners with demonstrated expertise in aligning technology solutions with business objectives
• 49% need partners who can provide end-to-end centralized solutions from data aggregation to insight and recommendation
• 49% want partners able to leverage all available data to optimize customer journeys
• 48% require partners who can deliver secure data sharing across multiple platforms
• 45% seek partners able to improve compliance with regulations
• 44% value breadth of products and services to meet all user needs within a single portfolio

These requirements reveal that IT leaders seek partners offering not just technical capabilities but strategic alignment, comprehensive solutions, strong security, and regulatory expertise. The emphasis on end-to-end solutions reflects frustration with fragmented toolsets that create integration challenges. Organizations want partners who can provide holistic approaches rather than requiring assembly of multiple disconnected products.

 How CinchOps Can Help Your Organization

CinchOps understands that Houston businesses need far more than traditional IT support. After three decades of delivering complex IT systems across diverse industries, we’ve developed deep expertise in the exact challenges this Forrester research highlights. We know that successful AI implementation requires orchestrating people, processes, and technologies across your entire organization while maintaining uncompromising security and compliance standards.

Our comprehensive managed IT services provide the foundation your organization needs to implement AI effectively:

• AI Governance and Compliance Frameworks: We establish robust governance structures that ensure your AI initiatives comply with privacy regulations and industry standards, directly addressing the top priority of 54% of IT leaders in the research. Our frameworks provide the visibility, controls, and documentation needed to implement AI responsibly while managing risk effectively.
• Comprehensive Cybersecurity Integration: Our cybersecurity solutions create the secure foundation required for AI deployments, addressing the security concerns that prevent 38% of organizations from scaling AI. We implement defense-in-depth strategies that protect data as it moves between systems, teams, and AI applications, ensuring your innovation doesn’t create vulnerabilities.
• Network Security and SD-WAN Infrastructure: We design and implement the networking infrastructure required for seamless, secure data flow across AI systems. Our SD-WAN solutions connect distributed locations while maintaining security and performance, breaking down the disconnected platforms that hinder 43% of organizations.
• Strategic IT Planning and Executive Communication: We work alongside your leadership team to align AI initiatives with business objectives, bridging the gap between IT capabilities and executive vision that challenges 37% of organizations. Our strategic planning services help position IT as a driver of business value rather than a cost center.
• End-to-End Visibility and Monitoring: We provide comprehensive visibility across your IT environment that 73% of leaders identified as critical for successful AI orchestration. Our monitoring and management platforms give you clear insights into how AI systems perform, where risks exist, and what opportunities emerge.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration Facilitation: As your managed IT partner, we act as a coordination hub between departments, enabling the interdepartmental collaboration that 22% of leaders identified as automation’s greatest opportunity. We break down silos by implementing shared platforms, common standards, and collaborative workflows.
• VoIP and Unified Communications: Our VoIP solutions integrate seamlessly with AI-enhanced customer service platforms, enabling your team to leverage AI insights during customer interactions while maintaining the human touch that builds relationships and trust.
• Managed IT Support and Help Desk Services: Our responsive support team ensures your AI systems remain operational and effective, reducing the reactive troubleshooting burden that prevents 40% of IT teams from focusing on strategic innovation. We handle day-to-day issues so your internal IT team can focus on orchestrating AI initiatives.

CinchOps brings the comprehensive capabilities, strategic perspective, and proven expertise that Houston businesses need to implement AI successfully. We understand that effective AI orchestration requires technical excellence, strategic vision, strong security, regulatory compliance, and the ability to bring diverse teams together around common goals.

Don’t let your AI investments remain fragmented, insecure, or difficult to manage. Partner with CinchOps to transform your AI initiatives from isolated experiments into coordinated programs that deliver measurable business value while maintaining the security, compliance, and governance standards your organization requires.

Contact CinchOps today to discover how our managed IT services can help your Houston business orchestrate AI for sustainable competitive advantage.

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For Additional Information on this topic: Forrester Study Shows IT’s Pivotal Role in AI Orchestration

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