Takeaways from the Gartner Application Innovation & Business Solutions Summit 2025

This month, the Intercontinental O2 in London hosted hundreds of leaders for the Gartner Application Innovation & Business Solutions Summit 2025. With more than 50 solution providers, 30+ Gartner experts, and a packed agenda, the event brought together CIOs, architects, and innovators to address some of the biggest challenges in enterprise technology.

From the rise of agentic AI to the weight of legacy systems, one thing was clear… We’re already in the AI-Native era.

Rodrigo Stefani Domingues, our SVP of Engineering, AI Platform, took the stage to share how CI&T is helping clients turn AI into business value. Alongside him, Solange Sobral (Partner & EVP), Mike Young VP, Insurance Industry Growth), Nick Curran (Sales SVP for EMEA), and Matt Deegan (Senior Director, Retail and CPG) were at the event, taking in themes that dominated this year’s event.

AI at scale. More than just a productivity play?

AI is still predominantly being framed as a productivity tool. And it is - co-pilots, accelerators, assistants are all powerful. But, they’re scratching the surface.

In his session, “200,000 Hours Ahead – AI-Driven Results for Banking Transformation,” Rodrigo made the case for something much bigger. The real leap comes when we apply AI end-to-end across the software delivery lifecycle. We’re putting AI maturity at the heart of enterprise transformation. He shared a CI&T case study from a leading bank serving over 70 million clients. The results speak for themselves.

- 200,000+ hours unlocked in just nine months, reinvested into innovation.
- 95% fewer defects in delivery.
- Compliance adjustments completed in under an hour, instead of more than a month.
- Lead time reduced from 54 to 39 days.

For this bank, CI&T’s modernisation approach didn’t just save time. It accelerated investment by 5%, sped up wealth management by 50%, business banking by 30%, and open banking by 40%.
Rodrigo also discussed a compliance challenge. Updating over 2,800 files would normally require more than eight developers and a month. With CI&T FLOW, it was done in under an hour.

Our secret? Adaptive teams, AI-first processes, and AI agents.

The lesson is simple. Connect AI across every stage of delivery, from scope sizing and architecture to modernisation, testing, and deployment. This creates a compounding effect that goes far beyond incremental savings.

All of a sudden, the impact is exponential.

What did others have to say?

Legacy tech was a recurring theme of the summit. Many organisations still rely on outdated, underused, or fragile systems. As Solange Sobral reflected, it’s not about giving legacy systems a facelift. It’s about rethinking what applications deliver for customers and the business.

Agentic AI was another hot topic. Gartner forecasted that by 2028, one in three enterprise apps will include AI agents. At the same time, sessions on why GenAI projects fail reminded leaders that speed without strategy risks wasted investment.

Beyond this, developer productivity was a theme of note. The takeaway? Success depends on aligning delivery with real business value, not just shiny tools.

These themes being front and centre highlight why CI&T’s approach to modernisation and AI maturity matters more than ever.

Looking ahead to embrace legacy modernisation

Gartner’s summit captured the mood of the moment. AI is no longer a future possibility but a present reality. There is a great opportunity here, but waiting could mean the risks are even more substantial.

To fully leverage AI’s potential, organisations must address the foundational layer – legacy systems. At CI&T, we view legacy modernisation as a strategic opportunity to transform outdated systems into scalable, modern platforms, without disrupting core operations. Using GenAI alongside our CI&T FLOW platform, we accelerate transformation while reducing risk.

Organisations experience faster innovation, lower costs, improved stability, and reduced reliance on legacy expertise.

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