Each year, the Informatica CDO Awards spotlight the most advanced leaders in enterprise data and AI. Now in its fourth year, the initiative presents what truly effective Chief Data Officers and Chief Data & Analytics Officers look like in practice. These leaders are not only modernizing data estates but also operationalizing AI with accountability, embedding trust into decision-making, and proving measurable business outcomes.

Part 1 of this series explored how the awards have evolved and why AI readiness begins with foundational data strategy. Part 2 examined what award-winning performance looks like inside real enterprises and how vision turns into measurable impact.

In this final conversation, Jim Kruger, Chief Marketing Officer at Informatica, joins Robert Lutton, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Sandhill Consultants, to examine the data foundations of trusted AI, the most common production-grade use cases emerging from award submissions, and what the next era of agentic AI may bring.

Trusted AI starts with relentless focus on data fundamentals

As enterprises accelerate generative and agentic AI adoption, Kruger emphasizes that success still rests on time-tested data disciplines. “The biggest thing is getting your data ready for AI. That is the same fundamentals that you have to drive analytics and BI, which include customer experience and loyalty programs and other initiatives,” he said.

Those fundamentals include “data quality assurance, privacy assurance, and master data as a single source of truth for all accuracy,” Kruger explains, adding that “all of those build confidence and trusted data for business outcomes.”

Across award submissions, it is clear that advanced AI is not replacing data governance but rather intensifying the need for it.

AI use cases move from pilots to production at enterprise scale

Looking across this year’s AI-focused award entries, Kruger points to a sharp shift from experimentation to enterprise production. “The first one is GenAI improving customer experience, which is clearly on everyone’s agenda,” he says. “Many have a chatbot and personalized tools for self-service, for selling and support, to deliver real-time engagement and improve stickiness that drives loyalty.”

Healthcare submissions stood out for their life-impacting outcomes. “We saw highly personalized medicine including early disease detection and helping accelerate new prevention research for our pharma customers. AI is truly helping to save lives,” he notes.

On the operational side, automation is now driving direct revenue impact. “We are seeing amazing metrics with end-to-end automation of data workflows that achieve multimillion-dollar incremental revenue by deploying AI-driven pricing recommendations and customer engagement models.”

In financial services, AI is reshaping core operations at speed. “One organization achieved 100% review of underwriting submissions, cut timelines from weeks to less than 24 hours, and achieved up to five times productivity increases,” Kruger reveals. Fraud prevention, churn reduction, and marketing automation continue to expand rapidly across industries.

Powering results with an integrated AI data platform

Kruger outlines how platform consolidation and cloud-first architecture are central to how winning CDOs scale these outcomes.

“We provide a comprehensive AI cloud-powered data management platform that helps to modernize from on-premises to integrating data, to managing and governing that data for trust and delivering that across the entire organization,” he says.

He mentions seven deeply integrated platform categories supported by Informatica’s embedded AI engine. “We have an AI solution that permeates throughout the entire platform called Claire, and we integrate natively with all the major cloud providers, data warehouses, and analytics tools,” Kruger explains.

That architecture gives organizations strategic flexibility. “Customers avoid vendor lock-in, avoid heavy cross-vendor integration work, and benefit from a full, comprehensive platform that delivers better ROI, simplifies operations, and helps companies scale with confidence.”

Culture is the hidden multiplier behind data and AI success

Technology alone does not create award winners. Cultural transformation is equally essential.

“The best leaders bring together diverse stakeholders across the organization, from data sources and owners to the line of business,” Kruger says. “They offer accelerated access to data with low friction while also maintaining responsible stewardship that meets legal and regulatory policies.”

That balance between speed and control, he added, “builds the foundation of a great data culture.”

3 lessons every aspiring CDO can apply

From observing dozens of top-performing organizations, Kruger summarizes three universal lessons from the winners.

First is enterprise integration. “Take a holistic view in integrating the organization to uncover sources of new value and risk. The best CDOs connect data sources and owners to business stakeholders with transparency to minimize unknowns.”

Second is non-negotiable trust. “Focus on the fundamentals of data trust, including quality, privacy, mastering data, and delivery. These are all critical for successful AI deployments.”

Third is operational efficiency and transparency. “You cannot govern what you do not understand. When you understand your data, you can better assess its risk and value potential.”

From generative to agentic

Looking ahead, Kruger sees the next evolution moving beyond isolated automation into coordinated AI systems.

“Things are moving extremely fast in the market, but the categories will still apply, even if the criteria shift,” he said. “I see a trend where agentic use cases are being stitched together to reimagine enterprise workflows. It is not just siloed use cases anymore. It is stitching those together.”

That convergence may soon reshape how future CDO Award categories are defined.