{"id":170525,"date":"2026-07-29T07:51:50","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T06:51:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/?p=170525"},"modified":"2026-07-29T07:51:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T06:51:51","slug":"infrastructure-readiness-will-determine-ai-success-at-enterprise-scale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/2026\/07\/29\/infrastructure-readiness-will-determine-ai-success-at-enterprise-scale\/","title":{"rendered":"Infrastructure readiness will determine AI success at enterprise scale"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Q&A with Rob Lay, CTO & Solutions Engineering Director, Cisco UK & Ireland, on why infrastructure readiness will define AI at scale.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many organisations have successfully piloted AI, yet relatively few have scaled it across the enterprise. What’s happening on the ground for IT leaders?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AI is quickly moving from a buzzword to a real driver of Digital Transformation. But as the hype gives way to actual deployments, a lot of IT leaders are still wrestling with the big question: how do we scale AI and see genuine business results?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there are some early adopters out there, these organisations have pinpointed clear use cases and are already seeing measurable returns from their AI investments. But for most companies, the path isn\u2019t quite as clear. They\u2019re still learning, experimenting and navigating the complexities that come with integrating AI into their existing systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To move beyond isolated AI pilots and truly transform how a business operates, leaders need to focus on three key areas: infrastructure, trust and data. These are the building blocks that allow organisations to scale AI confidently and consistently, rather than just running one-off projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Infrastructure has become a major talking point in enterprise AI. Why is it becoming such an important differentiator?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Infrastructure is fundamental to the growth of technology. Without the right infrastructure, you can\u2019t support the demands of AI at scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not long ago, ‘cloud-first’ was the default, everything just went straight to the cloud, no questions asked. However, things are changing. Now, IT and business leaders are taking a much more thoughtful approach, really asking: What does this AI workload need to do, and where should it live?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of sticking to a one-size-fits-all model, organisations are embracing a true hybrid setup. That means some workloads stay in the cloud, others remain on-premises and some might even move between the two depending on what\u2019s needed. This flexibility allows businesses to optimise for performance, maintain control and meet compliance requirements, all while making sure the right resources are in the right place at the right time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, if you want your AI strategy to truly boost productivity and support teams, your infrastructure has to be ready to handle dynamic, ever-changing workloads, wherever they need to run, and that requires planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As organisations introduce AI agents and increasingly autonomous systems, how important are trust and governance to successful AI adoption?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trust and governance are perhaps more essential now than ever. If people don\u2019t trust the technology, they won\u2019t use it. And data is the fuel that powers everything. When you get these foundations right, you set your business up to move past experimentation and really embed AI into the fabric of your operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reality is AI brings a level of complexity and speed that traditional security measures just weren\u2019t built for. In fact, our research shows that 61% of organisations are holding back on scaling their AI projects because they don\u2019t yet feel confident in their security setup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To move forward, security and governance can\u2019t be an afterthought. They need to be woven into every layer, from the infrastructure and applications right through to the AI models and the agents themselves. IT leaders have to keep a close eye on these autonomous systems, making sure they\u2019re operating safely and staying within the organisation\u2019s boundaries. The tricky part? Setting up the right guardrails for every kind of AI tool a business might use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s not just about technology. Building trust also means using AI ethically, transparently and responsibly, in line with global standards. When people know that AI is being managed with care and integrity, they\u2019re much more likely to get on board. Without that foundation of trust and strong governance, it\u2019s tough for AI to reach its full potential and truly transform the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AI is often described as a data challenge, but you’re also talking about networks. How are those two areas becoming increasingly connected?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While data is at the heart of AI, it\u2019s only part of the story. For AI to deliver real value, it\u2019s not just about having high-quality, accessible data, it\u2019s also about how quickly that data can move and be processed. IT teams need to do more than just manage and secure data. They have to make sure their systems can operate at machine speed, so insights and decisions happen in real time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But here\u2019s where networks come in: AI agents don\u2019t act like humans. They are always on, constantly exchanging information and making decisions, which puts a whole new level of demand on network infrastructure. This shift means organisations need to rethink how they design for capacity, resilience and overall network performance. Moreover, this needs to consider the entire network, not just the data centre, which is where most people think about AI being relevant. With AI agents, the impact on campus and branch networks will be just as significant, so they need to be part of the planning as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re already seeing the impact. Industry forecasts suggest data traffic will triple in the next three years, and many enterprises are expected to hit their network capacity limits much sooner than that. As agentic AI changes traffic patterns, businesses will need to transform their operations to keep up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So leaders need to look at the bigger picture and ensure their networks can handle the always-on nature of AI. As AI becomes more deeply woven into the fabric of the organisation, both data and networks will need to scale together to support this new reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking ahead, what’s the most important advice you would give organisations that want to move from AI pilots to enterprise-scale success?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My advice would be don\u2019t treat AI as just another tech upgrade. To move from pilot to enterprise scale, you need a strong foundation, modern infrastructure, robust trust and governance and agile data management. Think long-term and plan strategically across the whole business. Organisations that invest in these areas now will be ready to scale AI confidently, stay secure and unlock its full potential.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Q&A with Rob Lay, CTO & Solutions Engineering Director, Cisco UK & Ireland, on why infrastructure readiness will define AI at scale. Many organisations have successfully piloted AI, yet relatively few have scaled it across the enterprise. What’s happening on the ground for IT leaders? AI is quickly moving from a buzzword to a real […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":170526,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22774,9442,93],"tags":[158,21655,19517,577,178,69,76,20475,7976,367,20236,123,26360,54,15679],"class_list":["post-170525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence","category-digital-transformation","category-top-stories","tag-ai","tag-ai-agents","tag-ai-infrastructure","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-cisco","tag-data","tag-digital-transformation","tag-enterprise-ai","tag-governance","tag-hybrid-cloud","tag-it-leaders","tag-networking","tag-rob-lay","tag-security","tag-uk-and-ireland"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170525"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":170527,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170525\/revisions\/170527"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}