The inaugural CTO Hotline survey, released in July 2025, gave us an important baseline for understanding how not-for-profit senior living and aging services providers were approaching technology. This year’s CTO Hotline report, developed by LeadingAge Center for Aging Services Technologies (CAST) and Ziegler Link•age Funds, offers something even more valuable: the ability to see whether the field is actually moving forward.

Created through a joint initiative that pairs the strengths of CAST and Ziegler Link•age Funds, which invest in companies with technology, tech-enabled services, and emerging care delivery models in the post-acute and aging markets, the CTO Hotline survey tracks how not-for-profit senior living and care organizations are approaching technology strategy, adoption, governance, and innovation. The data in this year’s CTO Hotline, released in July, comes from responses by over 100 professionals in diverse not-for-profit senior living and care organizations, and the results help identify trends.

In addition to benchmarking technology use for aging services providers, the survey offers investors insights on technology adoption in the market; the Ziegler Link•age Funds were the first dedicated venture capital platform investing in the future of aging, beginning in 2012. Ziegler is a LeadingAge Gold Partner with CAST Focus.

Increased Artificial Intelligence Literacy Is Encouraging

From my perspective, the most encouraging change is the rise in artificial intelligence (AI) literacy. In 2025, only 13% of respondents reported having teams or individuals with meaningful AI capabilities. This year, that figure increased to 55%, while the percentage reporting only basic or very limited AI competence fell from 79% to 38%. No respondents yet believe they have extensive AI capabilities across the entire enterprise, but the year-over-year movement is significant.

This reflects what I have heard through conversations with LeadingAge members. A year ago, many organization leaders were still trying to understand how to approach generative AI and whether employees should be using it. Today, the questions are more practical: Which use cases should we prioritize? What information can employees safely enter into an AI tool? How should we train different departments? How do we move from individual experimentation to responsible organizational adoption?

LeadingAge has been working to help move the needle through interactive AI literacy training. Our upcoming Putting AI to Work in Aging Services workshop gives participants an opportunity to work directly with generative AI tools, develop and refine prompts, and explore, with peers, realistic aging services use cases. The goal is not simply to explain AI, but to help professionals build the confidence and judgment needed to apply it responsibly in their daily work.

That distinction is important because AI literacy is about more than learning how to write a good prompt. Employees also need to understand privacy, accuracy, bias, appropriate human oversight, and when AI should not be used. Organizations will not become AI-ready by purchasing a license alone; leaders need to invest in their people.

Data Governance Is Moving in the Right Direction

I was also encouraged by the continued progress around data governance. Nearly three-quarters of respondents now report having some type of data governance program. Thirty-four percent have a defined team or committee charged with data governance oversight using documented policies, while another 40% have an informal or ad hoc structure. The percentage still developing a program declined from 28% last year to 18% this year.

Last year, I described data governance as a missing link for realizing the long-term value of technology, and that remains true. However, this year’s findings suggest more organizations are recognizing the need to address it and are putting structures in place.

AI, analytics, and automation all depend on trusted, accessible, and well-managed data. Organizations need clarity around who owns data, how it is defined, where it can be shared, and what information may be used with AI tools. Informal governance is a reasonable starting point, but the next step should be moving toward documented policies, clear accountability, and cross-functional decision-making.

The Best Opportunities May Be Behind the Scenes

The report also provides a useful view into where organizations believe AI can have the greatest impact. Operational efficiency ranked first, followed by integrating data across systems and predictive analytics, while resident-facing applications ranked lower.

I see that as a positive and appropriately cautious approach. In aging services, some of the most valuable near-term uses of AI may be behind the scenes, such as summarizing information, reducing duplicative documentation, organizing referrals, preparing reports, identifying trends, and supporting administrative workflows.

The objective should not be to remove people from the resident experience. It should be to remove unnecessary work that keeps employees from being able to engage with residents, clients, and families. The report captures this well with the idea of being, as one respondent put it, “technology-focused in the back of the house and human-centered in the front of the house.”

We Still Need to Measure What Works

One finding that continues to concern me is the gap between defining success and actually measuring it. Most respondents (over 80%) establish success measures before implementing technology, but fewer than half (43%) regularly return to those measures to determine whether the investment achieved its intended results. This is especially important at a time when funding remains one of the greatest barriers to technology adoption.

Not every investment needs to produce a traditional financial return. Success may mean time returned to staff, fewer errors, faster response times, improved employee adoption, reduced documentation burden, or a better resident experience. What matters is that organizations identify the intended result and continue evaluating it after implementation.

Overall, this year’s findings show a field becoming more intentional. AI literacy is rising, data governance is strengthening, and organizations are focusing on technologies that support employees while preserving the human relationships at the center of aging services. While there is still considerable work ahead, the needle is moving in the right direction.