APJ executives point to AI gains and governance gaps

Senior leaders from Nutanix, SugarAI and Workiva say AI is becoming central to commercial performance, compliance and reporting across Asia Pacific and Japan. Nutanix said 75% of APJ organisations have already deployed agentic AI in at least some initiatives, but warned that rapid rollout is exposing gaps in infrastructure, governance and data management.

Jay Tuseth of Nutanix highlighted shadow AI, sovereignty and legacy systems as major constraints, noting that 79% of global organisations already have AI applications or agents running outside IT’s knowledge and 80% now call data sovereignty a high infrastructure priority. He argued that enterprises need platforms that can run AI consistently across environments while keeping sensitive data and models under their control.

SugarAI’s Adam Frank said organisations should focus less on visible uses such as chatbots and more on commercial outcomes. He pointed to manufacturing and aged care as sectors where AI can connect fragmented data, improve decision-making and streamline customer or patient pathways.

Workiva’s Kristen Pimpini said AI is already embedded in finance, sustainability, audit and risk workflows. Its 2026 Executive Benchmark Survey found 64 per cent of Australian organisations were applying AI to parts of quarterly and annual disclosures this year, while 55 per cent now rely on AI heavily throughout the reporting cycle.