CIO First Look

May 22, 2025

As students at schools and universities across the country listen to commencement speeches and heave mortar boards into the air to mark the end of an era, we’re also seeing a leap into a new world of AI maturity. No doubt, many of those graduates will control the future of tech, but for now, measurable AI progress is being shaped in large part due to MCP, ACP, and Agent2Agent. If those aren’t entirely familiar, Grant Gross explains in today’s lead story how new protocols are showing promise on, among other things, standardizing how AI systems connect and helping IT leaders put an end to years of failed PoC projects. School may be out, but the learning continues.

Carl Friedmann, Executive Regional Editor, CIO

MCP, ACP, and Agent2Agent set standards for scalable AI results

Open protocols aimed at standardizing how AI systems connect, communicate, and absorb context are providing much needed maturity to an AI market that sees IT leaders anxious to pivot from experimentation to practical solutions.

Three protocols in particular — Model Context Protocol (MCP), Agent Communication Protocol (ACP), and Agent2Agent — show promise for helping IT leaders put two-plus years of failed proof-of-concept projects behind them, opening a new era of measurable AI progress, experts contend.

6 mins

Sponsored by Snapdragon

IT on the Go - David’s Unplugged Journey

Explore the seamless performance and multi-day battery life of PCs powered by Snapdragon as David, a 3000-employee company IT director, navigates his busy day, from secure transit to lag-free code crunching, without ever needing a charger.

SAP wants to make AI ubiquitous — just don’t ask about S/4HANA

CEO Christian Klein delivered a bold promise to open this year’s Sapphire conference in Orlando: “We are making AI tangible for businesses and driving digital transformation so our customers can succeed in an increasingly unpredictable world.”

As part of that mandate, the German software company presented enhancements to Joule, partnerships with other AI pioneers, and new features for its Business Data Cloud and Business Suite this week at the show.

7 mins

IBM’s massive SAP S/4HANA migration pays off

IBM is at SAP’s Sapphire conference in Orlando this week promoting its consulting services and wisdom gained from its multiyear transformation to SAP S/4HANA on IBM Power Virtual Server.

Ann Funai, CIO and vice president of IBM’s Business Platform Transformation, says Big Blue has achieved a 30% reduction in infrastructure-related operational costs since completing its migration to SAP’s cloud ERP platform last July.

7 mins

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10 mins

5 questions defining the CIO agenda today

AI, cybersecurity, IT modernization, skills gaps, and budget concerns remain top of mind for IT leaders, but how they’re thinking about each is changing as the IT landscape shifts in the AI era.

9 mins

Return-to-office mandates: Didn’t we already fight this war?

History tells us that facilitating the creation of business value is less about managing and even less about leading than most executives think.

5 mins

SAP goes all-in on agentic AI at SAP Sapphire

At its annual conference, SAP unveiled an AI operating system for SAP business AI, and a range of new AI agents including an omnipresent Joule copilot.

7 mins