As leadership transitions reshape Canada’s public sector, CIOs face increasing pressure to sustain IT performance, ensure continuity, and align with new mandates. Info-Tech Research Group’s latest blueprint, Navigate IT Priorities Through Leadership Shifts, offers a structured approach to help government technology leaders manage change with clarity and confidence. The research provides practical tools and frameworks to anticipate priorities, strengthen governance, and build organizational resilience during transition.
TORONTO, Dec. 5, 2025 /CNW/ – As public sector organizations across Canada experience increasing leadership transitions and policy shifts, government CIOs are being called upon to adapt IT strategies that align with evolving mandates, fiscal realities, and citizen expectations. To support this transition, Info-Tech Research Group, a global IT research and advisory firm, has published a new blueprint titled Navigate IT Priorities Through Leadership Shifts, offering Canadian government IT leaders a practical roadmap to manage change while maintaining operational stability and strategic focus.
The firm’s research insights reveal that leadership transitions, whether triggered by elections, departmental restructuring, or shifts in policy direction, can disrupt IT alignment, introduce security and compliance risks, and delay modernization initiatives. Info-Tech’s recent findings emphasize that proactive preparation, strategic foresight, and structured incremental action can enable CIOs to turn these periods of uncertainty into opportunities to strengthen governance, rebuild trust, and realign technology priorities with emerging leadership goals.
“Government IT leaders operate in environments where leadership changes are frequent and politically driven,” says Andy Best, research director at Info-Tech Research Group. “These changes can also result in major strategic shifts like the recent Canadian move towards strongly emphasizing digital sovereignty, impacting IT strategies across the enterprise. Rather than treating leadership turnover as a disruption, CIOs can use these moments to reaffirm the value of IT as a strategic enabler of public service delivery, resilience, and transparency.”
Key Challenges for Government CIOs During Leadership Transitions
Leadership changes can create significant instability across Canadian public sector IT environments. Info-Tech’s blueprint highlights several recurring challenges that CIOs must address:
- Misaligned priorities as new mandates shift focus away from existing IT strategies and investments.
- Budget and workforce uncertainty complicates long-term planning and undermines service continuity.
- Heightened security and compliance risks as strained resources and outdated controls create vulnerabilities.
These challenges underscore the need for CIOs to anticipate change early, strengthen operational resilience, and maintain clarity of purpose throughout the transition cycle.
Info-Tech Research Group Outlines Core Priorities CIOs Need During Leadership Change
Leadership transitions can serve as a catalyst for strategic renewal when CIOs apply the right capabilities to anticipate change and maintain stability. Info-Tech’s newly published blueprint explains that, in addition to following the structured pre-transition, transition, and post-transition phases, government CIOs must draw on the following six essential capabilities to navigate uncertainty, strengthen alignment, and position IT as a trusted partner across the public sector:
- Strategic foresight
Identifies trends, weak signals, and shifts in policy, technology, and citizen expectations to strengthen the CIO’s ability to anticipate change, reduce surprises, and position IT to lead rather than react. - Exponential IT
Defines a forward-looking approach to modernization by moving beyond incremental upgrades to transformative platforms such as cloud infrastructure, automation, and artificial intelligence that accelerate innovation and improve service delivery. - CIO Playbook
Serves as the foundational guide for long-term IT leadership, providing structure for portfolio management, governance, innovation scaling, and enterprise-wide alignment with departmental and citizen outcomes. - CIO Transition Playbook
Outlines the essential steps for the first 100 days of a new mandate or leadership change, helping CIOs stabilize teams, realign strategic priorities, and deliver early wins that build credibility and momentum under new direction. - Logical incrementalism
Supports deliberate, steady progress by balancing risk and pace to maintain progress without overextending teams and by building stakeholder confidence through consistent, measurable execution. - Special teams
Delivers high-impact, situational responses through pilot projects, proofs of concept, and early automation or AI initiatives that create quick wins, validate innovation potential, and build resilience during transition.
By applying this strategic approach, Info-Tech advises that Canadian government CIOs can transform leadership transitions into catalysts for alignment, modernization, and accountable public service delivery. The firm emphasizes that clarity of vision, strong governance, and effective cross-departmental collaboration are key to ensuring IT remains resilient and strategically relevant during periods of change.
For exclusive and timely commentary from Andy Best, an expert in the Canadian Public Sector, and access to the complete Navigate IT Priorities Through Leadership Shifts blueprint, please contact [email protected].
About Info-Tech Research Group
Info-Tech Research Group is one of the world’s leading and fastest-growing research and advisory firms, serving over 30,000 IT, HR, and marketing professionals around the globe. As a trusted product and service leader, the company delivers unbiased, highly relevant research and industry-leading advisory support to help leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. For nearly 30 years, Info-Tech has partnered closely with teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to expert guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.
To learn more about Info-Tech’s HR research and advisory services, visit McLean & Company, and for data-driven software buying insights and vendor evaluations, visit the firm’s SoftwareReviews platform.
Media professionals can register for unrestricted access to research across IT, HR, and software, and hundreds of industry analysts through the firm’s Media Insiders program. To gain access, contact [email protected].
For information about Info-Tech Research Group or to access the latest research, visit infotech.com and connect via LinkedIn and X.
SOURCE Info-Tech Research Group
