The Boardroom Mandate: AI Beyond the GPU-Buying Spree

In a landscape cluttered with fragmented cloud deployments and aggressive AI ambitions, the real bottleneck to innovation isn't the technology but alignment. In this fireside chat, Wendy Koh, vice president and general manager for Asia Pacific at Hitachi Vantara, sits down with CDOTrends’s Winston Thomas to discuss the fundamental shift in how the C-Suite views data infrastructure. She offers keen insights for leaders looking to transition from one-off AI projects to repeatable, scalable solutions that deliver profitable growth and operational excellence.

Key takeaways:

• Infrastructure as strategy: Over the next 12–24 months, data and AI are moving from “IT topics” to permanent fixtures on the boardroom agenda, shifting the perception of storage from a cost center to a strategic asset.
• The three-pillar alignment: Success depends on synchronizing three critical areas: Strategy, Operating Models, and Talent. Without this alignment, even the most advanced AI tech will fail to move the needle.
• Outcome-driven procurement: Moving beyond CapEx refresh cycles, Wendy emphasizes the need for flexible financial models (CapEx, OpEx, or As-a-Service) that prioritize business KPIs like revenue growth and customer experience.
• The power of co-creation: Learn why Hitachi Vantara’s long-term regional strategy focuses on ecosystem partnerships to deliver vertically specialized solutions that address the specific nuances of the APAC market.