For more than a decade, cloud was the foundation of digital transformation.

Now AI is forcing CIOs to revisit some of their biggest assumptions about infrastructure, economics, governance and talent. As organisations move from experimentation to enterprise-scale AI, new questions are emerging around workload placement, data sovereignty, cost control, accountability and autonomous decision-making.

What happens when four CIOs sit down to assess whether enterprise technology is actually ready for AI? This whitepaper is the result. Drawing on insights from our Advisory Board Members, it examines how organisations are navigating the shift from cloud-first to AI-ready, and what CIOs must do to scale AI without losing control of risk, spend or governance.

The discussion uncovered several critical realities:

• Cloud remains essential, but it is no longer enough
• AI is reshaping build-versus-buy decisions and redefining organisational "crown jewels"
• Many enterprises still lack the governance models required for agentic AI
• Shadow AI is becoming a business challenge, not just a technology challenge
• The biggest barrier to AI readiness may be operating model and talent, not technology

The message is clear: AI readiness is not about deploying more AI. It is about building the foundations that allow AI to scale safely, economically and responsibly.

Featuring perspectives from:

• Bruno Costa, Director of Cloud Innovation Office, Saint-Gobain Group Digital & IT
• Sumita Dutta, Global IT and Digital Head & CIO, Shell
• Brian McGeough, Chief Information Officer, Creditsafe Group
• Steve Crombie, Chief Information Officer, ING

Download the whitepaper to discover how leading CIOs are preparing their organisations for the next phase of enterprise AI.