As enterprises move toward more autonomous AI, traditional measures of data quality may no longer be enough.

That question brought data and AI leaders together on August 27 for a CDO Magazine Executive Boardroom Dinner in Dallas, where the conversation focused on “Lead the Agentic Enterprise with AI-Ready Data: Trusted Context for Agents.” The evening was held following the CDO Magazine Dallas AI in the Enterprise Forum and sponsored by Informatica, a Salesforce company.

The roundtable was moderated by Wesley Matthews, Senior Manager, Data Governance & Data Quality Sales at Informatica, who brought leaders into a discussion about what changes when enterprise data is no longer informing only people and analytics, but increasingly autonomous AI agents.

Wesley Matthews, Senior Manager, Data Governance & Data Quality Sales at Salesforce, moderates the discussion on “Lead the Agentic Enterprise with AI-Ready Data: Trusted Context for Agents.”

When Data Quality Meets Decision Quality

For years, organizations have measured data readiness through familiar dimensions such as accuracy, completeness, and freshness. The rise of agentic AI introduces another consideration: whether that data provides enough context for an agent to make a sound decision.

Leaders were invited to explore where their organizations currently sit between having a data strategy and using data to fuel autonomous agents, how confident they are in decisions made by AI, and what that confidence is based on. The discussion also examined the role people should continue to play when AI agents act on enterprise data.

Murali Kallem, Head of Data and AI at BOX, shares a perspective during the roundtable discussion on AI-ready data and trusted decision-making.

Murali Kallem, Head of Data and AI at BOX, reflected on the discussion:

“In the sessions, we discussed several topics related to data and AI. Here are my takeaways: AI-ready data isn’t just about accuracy, completeness, and freshness anymore—it’s about whether it gives agents the right context to make well-informed decisions. As enterprises move toward more autonomous agents, the real challenge is designing the right intersection of trusted content, decision quality, and human judgment.”

That intersection between data quality, context, and human judgment also informed questions around organizational responsibility. As new AI use cases emerge, leaders considered who should determine whether data is appropriate for a model and how legal, compliance, business, data, and AI teams factor into those decisions.

Data and AI leaders exchange perspectives on data readiness, decision quality, governance, and the role of human judgment as AI agents take on greater responsibility.

Special thanks to Informatica, a Salesforce company, for supporting the Executive Boardroom Dinner.

Executives attending the CDO Magazine Dallas Executive Boardroom Dinner included:

• Andrew Brooks, Director of Business Intelligence, Raising Cane’s
• David Burton, Director, Solutions Architecture, DTCC
• Malcolm Hicks, former CDO, Bank OZK
• Karthikeyan Ilangovan, Vice President, Data Analytics & AI/ML, Mode Global*
• Murali Kallem, Head of Data and AI, BOX
• Shrikanth Kannan, Senior Director, NASCO
• Kishor Mehra, Director, Data & Analytics, PenFed Credit Union
• Rajat Mehrotra, Director of Networking, Data Science and AI Platform, Cisco
• Justin J. Nguyen, Technology Director, Enterprise Data and Analytics, The Home Depot
• Mona Pinjani, Senior Manager, Cloud and AI Platform, American Airlines
• Sai Sandeep Pulavarthy, Director, Product Management, Walmart Global Tech
• Priya Reddy, former Vice President, Technology, Reprise Financial*
• Alissa Schneider, Executive Director, Enterprise Data & Insights, Sinclair Broadcast Group
• Arjun Srinivasan, SVP, AI & Data Science, ShipStation Global
• Naveen Venkata, Senior Director of Data Engineering, NMC2
• Reginald Youngblood, AVP, AT&T
• Wesley Matthews, Senior Manager, Data Governance & Data Quality Sales at Informatica, a Salesforce company
• Marie Paolantonio, Data Governance & Privacy at Informatica, a Salesforce company
• David Ramirez, Data Integration Account Executive at Informatica, a Salesforce company
• Jenna George, Community Director, CDO Magazine
• Anthony Losanno, Managing Director, CDO Magazine
• Corey Maxner, Sr. Director of Community & Operations, CDO Magazine

*Karthikeyan Ilangovan and Priya Reddy is a member of the CDO Magazine Global Board.