How AI can help optimize IT departments

The middle market is looking to artificial intelligence to drive innovation and efficiency. Results from the RSM Middle Market AI Survey 2025: U.S. and Canada show that AI adoption is nearly universal across the middle market, with organizations moving rapidly toward full integration of AI into their operations, including the information technology function. IT leaders face increasing demands—from maintaining complex infrastructure and ensuring cybersecurity to facilitating and driving innovation across the business.

To meet these challenges, many IT leaders are turning to AI as a key tool for optimization. AI technologies can significantly enhance the capabilities of IT departments, enabling them to operate faster, more securely and with greater foresight.

Automating routine tasks

One of AI’s most immediate benefits is the automation of repetitive, time-consuming tasks. AI-driven tools can handle activities such as system monitoring, password resets, software updates and incident ticket management without human intervention. According to Gartner, organizations that invest in AI-based automation can reduce operational costs by up to 30% within three years. This can free IT staff to focus on higher-value projects requiring strategic thinking and creative problem-solving.

Enhancing cybersecurity

Cyberthreats are constantly evolving, and traditional security measures often struggle to keep pace. AI enhances cybersecurity by detecting anomalies and potential breaches faster than human analysts could. Forrester Research reports that AI-powered security tools can cut the average time to detect and contain a breach by up to 70% compared to traditional methods. Machine learning algorithms can analyze network traffic in real time, recognize suspicious patterns and even predict vulnerabilities before they are exploited.

Improving predictive maintenance

IT departments manage a vast array of hardware and software systems that require maintenance to function. AI can predict when systems are likely to fail based on historical data and real-time monitoring. According to Gartner’s predictive analytics forecast, organizations that implement predictive maintenance powered by AI can decrease equipment downtime by up to 50%, leading to significant savings and increased reliability.

Streamlining IT service management

AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants are transforming how IT service desks operate. Forrester Research reports that AI-enabled service desks can handle up to 80% of Tier 1 support requests without human intervention, reducing both response times and operational costs.

Enhancing decision making with data insights

IT departments collect vast amounts of data from their operations, but making sense of it can be overwhelming. AI excels at analyzing large data sets, uncovering hidden patterns and providing actionable insights. A recent Gartner survey found that 79% of corporate strategists see AI as critical to their success in making faster, better-informed decisions that directly affect business outcomes.

Supporting software development

In software development and operations, AI helps streamline workflows, predict deployment issues and automate testing and integration tasks. According to Forrester Research, AI-driven software development tools can accelerate deployment cycles by up to 50% while improving release quality through smarter testing and continuous integration enhancements.

Facilitating knowledge management

As IT environments become more complex, retaining and sharing institutional knowledge becomes critical. AI can help knowledge management by organizing and retrieving documentation, past solutions and expert recommendations.

Accelerating code development

AI is revolutionizing how software is built. AI-powered tools, such as GitHub Copilot, Blitzy, and Tabnine, automatically generate code snippets, suggest improvements or even build entire application components. Forrester Research forecasts that AI-driven coding assistants could improve developer productivity by 25% to 45% over traditional development methods, speeding up time to market for digital initiatives.

Prioritizing ethical and responsible AI use

As organizations embrace AI to optimize IT operations, it is important to prioritize the ethical implications of its use. Responsible AI practices ensure that AI systems are transparent, secure, fair and aligned with organizational values. Gartner predicts that by 2026, organizations prioritizing AI transparency and ethics will see their AI models achieve 50% higher adoption rates compared to those that do not. Establishing strong governance frameworks and adhering to responsible AI principles are best practices.

The takeaway

AI offers transformative potential for IT departments striving to become more agile, efficient and strategic. By automating repetitive tasks, enhancing service management, strengthening cybersecurity, enhancing decision making, supporting development practices, generating code automatically and prioritizing ethical use, AI empowers IT teams to shift from being reactive troubleshooters to proactive business enablers.