CyberMedia Awards Night 2026: Hemant Tiwari Highlights Trusted Data As A Foundation For AI Adoption

As enterprises accelerate Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption, the conversation is shifting from deploying AI models to building the digital foundations that make them reliable, secure, and scalable. Trusted data, resilient infrastructure, responsible AI, and leadership are emerging as the next priorities for organisations preparing for AI-led transformation. Speaking at CyberMedia Awards Night 2026, Hemant Tiwari, managing director and vice president, India and SAARC, Hitachi Vantara, said India's long-term AI competitiveness will depend on strengthening these foundational capabilities rather than focusing solely on AI adoption. According to Tiwari, the country's digital ecosystem has reached a stage where the quality of its infrastructure, governance, and leadership will increasingly determine the success of AI initiatives. AI Adoption Is Raising The Stakes For Trusted Data Tiwari argued that while data has long been described as the "new oil", the AI era demands a different perspective. The value of data, he said, lies not in its volume but in the trust organisations and citizens place in it. As AI becomes embedded in financial services, healthcare, public services, and enterprise operations, trusted data becomes essential for delivering reliable outcomes. Without it, AI systems risk amplifying misinformation, bias, and operational uncertainty instead of improving decision-making. He said this also elevates cybersecurity from an enterprise technology function to a strategic capability that underpins confidence in AI-enabled digital services. Infrastructure Is Becoming A Strategic AI Asset The rapid expansion of AI is also changing how organisations view digital infrastructure. According to Tiwari, infrastructure such as compute, storage, networking, and data centres should now be considered strategic assets alongside physical infrastructure. As AI workloads grow, organisations will need infrastructure that can scale while remaining resilient and energy efficient. He emphasised that resilience is becoming an equally important measure of digital maturity. "Great nations are measured when disruption is not seen by our people." For enterprises, that means ensuring business-critical services remain available even during disruptions, making resilience a business priority rather than an operational objective. Responsible AI Must Deliver Tangible Outcomes While AI capabilities continue to evolve, Tiwari said organisations should focus less on what AI can do and more on the problems it can solve. He pointed to applications such as earlier disease detection, improved public service delivery, better resource optimisation for farmers, and faster enterprise decision-making as examples of AI creating measurable value. However, he noted that these outcomes depend on public trust in both the underlying data and the decisions generated by AI systems. Responsible AI, therefore, extends beyond governance and compliance to ensuring technology remains transparent, reliable, and accountable. Leadership Will Shape India's AI Readiness Beyond technology, Tiwari identified leadership as the defining factor in India's digital transformation journey. He said organisations must balance innovation with ethics, growth with sustainability, and technological advancement with long-term societal impact. For business leaders, this means investing in capabilities while continuing to adapt as AI technologies evolve. Rather than viewing AI as another technology cycle, Tiwari positioned it as a broader shift that will influence how businesses operate, governments deliver services, and citizens interact with digital platforms. As AI adoption gathers pace across industries, the discussion is increasingly moving beyond algorithms and applications to the systems that support them. Tiwari's keynote suggested that India's next phase of digital transformation will be shaped not only by how quickly organisations deploy AI but also by how effectively they build trusted data ecosystems, resilient infrastructure, and responsible governance around it. Those foundations, he argued, will determine whether AI delivers long-term value for enterprises and society alike.