The recently published Insights and Vision Report from NTT Data came to an interesting, yet important conclusion. AI cannot deliver its full value when layered onto broken processes; and organisations who win will apply AI where it can make a material difference and, crucially, embed governance from the outset.
One key statistic from the report found that almost three in five (59%) survey respondents said AI was either stuck in small pilots, or deployed in specific functions but not yet unified. The gap between experimentation and execution still exists – and getting governance right is a key thread which runs through many factors to consider.
“Most companies have many ideas, many pilots, but the real challenge is taking something that works with a small team in a controlled environment and making it work for every day, for thousands of users connected to real business processes,” says Jesus Ordonez Garcia, CEO, consulting, Benelux & France at NTT Data. “And you have to be aware that scaling requires the right data integration with existing systems, security, [and] governance.”
Jeroen van Hamersveld, NTT Data Netherlands country managing director, emphasises the importance of the personnel element in terms of governance. He notes that when he started as a CX consultant, you would train an employee on how to use a telephone set with five buttons on it. Today, employees may get near free rein on using complex AI tools with LLMs.
“I think training and getting your organisation ready in building those outcomes is extremely important,” says van Hamersveld. “Give people on the work floor the opportunity to experiment, because experimenting on the work floor is always good in my opinion – but then governance should take control in that those experiments turn into real business value.”
Data is another vital element of the foundation to get right. The oft-cited statistic that more than 80% of AI projects fail to deliver expected business value is frequently explained by an inadequate data foundation. If you have poor data, you will have a poor outcome. “A starting pitfall is just that you can start using it, and you don’t have any idea of the quality of your data,” says van Hamersveld. “And then the second question is: do you want to do it private, so contained in your own data environment, or do you allow it to be fully open? How do you build your sovereign capabilities?”
Where NTT Data comes in to help these larger organisations is through being an orchestration layer. The company was named a market leader by HFS Research in its HFS Horizons: Agentic Services 2026 report, for being a ‘powerful orchestrator of agentic AI… to unify complex enterprise landscapes and turn disconnected AI efforts into scalable, enterprise-wide impact.’
This is one of the key differentiating factors between AI and other digital transformation initiatives. It has to explore the whole strategy; rather than just replace, for instance, the network, technology is just a single part. For Ordonez Garcia, his role is more at the application consulting, strategic and advisory side, so these are familiar conversations.
“I think it’s very important to take advantage of these first conversations with a client to make sure they understand this transformation is not only about technology,” he says. “It’s very important to make sure that teams, other people, see AI as something that can help them do their jobs better, not simply as a threat.”
The next step is process redesign – Ordonez Garcia puts it neatly; if you apply AI to an inefficient process, it may only make that inefficient process faster – before, again, governance. “AI becomes more autonomous, more involved in business decisions,” he adds. “Companies need clear accountability and controls from the beginning.”
“You can build a lot of independent AI agents, but the real solution is that you make sure those agents are working together in an orchestrated way, so that you get the full value out of it,” adds van Hamersveld. “And what I love about the approach, what we’re doing more and more as NTT, we actually approach an agent as a valuable person in the process. What do you do with [people]? You take care of them.”
For NTT Data, who is participating at TechEx Europe, the company’s position is that of overseer, bringing expertise from a vertical, innovation, and infrastructure perspective. If you are musing over how to balance innovation with security, compliance and governance, then help is at hand.
“We need to help organisations understand that this is a great opportunity to transform their business, but [one] that you have to do responsibly,” adds van Hamersveld. “There is a lot of stuff to take care of to do it – not in an experimental way, but in a very effective [way] delivering business value.”
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