AI Appreciation Day: Scaling AI starts with governance – and strengthens with leadership
By Vini Cardoso (pictured), Chief Technology Officer, Cloudera Australia & New Zealand
As technology leaders, AI Appreciation Day is a timely moment to reflect – not just on how far Artificial Intelligence (AI) has come, but on what it takes to keep scaling it responsibly and sustainably. Because at the heart of successful AI adoption are two non-negotiables: strong governance and strategic leadership.
Today, the conversation is no longer about what AI can do, but how we direct it – with focus, purpose and integrity to achieve real results.
We are now in the era of Agentic AI. These are not just systems that react to commands – they act. They’re designed to proactively pursue goals, make autonomous, context-aware decisions, and turn insight into outcomes.
According to Gartner, by 2027, half of all business decisions will be augmented or automated by AI agents. But to operate at this level, Agentic AI needs more than compute power or cutting-edge models. It requires trust – in the data, the governance, and the leadership guiding its use.
AI That Acts, Not Just Reacts
Over the past few years, ANZ organisations have laid the groundwork – modernising infrastructure, breaking down data silos, and using AI to enhance everything from customer support to fraud detection and personalised marketing.
Now, the ambition is growing. Businesses are deploying AI that enables real-time action, not just analysis.
We’re already seeing this across key industries here. Telcos like Telstra are reducing churn and solving customer issues faster with AI insights. Financial institutions, including Commonwealth Bank (CBA) and ANZ Bank, are using AI to boost productivity and detect fraud more proactively. In healthcare, AI is enhancing diagnostics, discharge forecasting, and triage workflows, empowering clinicians with timely, trusted data.
Agentic AI builds on this momentum – imagine teams of digital specialists managing infrastructure, spotting anomalies, optimising logistics, or maintaining compliance, all in alignment with business goals.
The Governance Gap – The Biggest Risk to Your AI Strategy
But moving from experimentation to scale isn’t easy. Cloudera’s latest global survey of IT leaders shows that while 97% of ANZ enterprises plan to scale agentic AI in the next year, many are confronting real barriers: bias (69%), data privacy (54%), and skills gaps (38%) top the list.
These risks often stem from a common problem – unverified or poorly governed data. Adding to the complexity, Gartner warns that, “By 2027, 60% of data and analytics leaders will face critical failures in managing synthetic data, risking AI governance, model accuracy, and compliance.”
Synthetic data is now essential for training AI and protecting privacy, but without clear governance, it can introduce serious risk. That is why knowing where data comes from, how it’s used, and who’s accountable is critical. In regulated industries like finance, healthcare and government, data lineage and transparency are no longer nice-to-haves – they’re non-negotiables.
The Solution: A Foundation of Trusted, Hybrid Data
AI must be built on secure, well-governed data foundations. Without it, we can’t trust the models, let alone scale them safely.
In Australia, the stakes are rising. Whether it’s meeting evolving data sovereignty mandates or improving real-time disaster response – as recommended by the Royal Commission into bushfire management – the same truth applies: AI is only as effective as the data and infrastructure it runs on.
This is where platforms like Cloudera are key enablers. By bringing AI to the data – wherever it resides, across on-prem, cloud and edge – organisations can innovate without compromising on governance or security.
Beyond the Prompt: The Leadership Imperative
The final ingredient? People. As agentic AI grows in power and complexity, leadership is the differentiator.
ANZ’s most successful data leaders aren’t just deploying technology – they’re strategically aligning AI with business goals, championing transparency, and embedding governance into every layer of their data strategy. They understand that trusted data powers trusted AI – and that trusted AI delivers real-world impact.
So this AI Appreciation Day, let’s not just celebrate the technology. Let’s recognise the leadership and discipline that ensures AI delivers on its promise – responsibly, securely, and at scale.
