AI aspirations often falter due to weak data foundations

Jay Upchurch, EVP and CIO at SAS, on why data readiness remains the biggest challenge in AI implementations and why India is central to SAS's global innovation and growth strategy

- Jatinder Singh

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE has evolved from a buzzword toa boardroom strategy, yet many enterprises remain stuck between proof of concept and scaled deployment. Jay Upchurch, SAS's Executive Vice President (EVP) and Chief Information Officer (CIO), is at the intersection of internal transformation and customer enablement.

SAS, a US-based analytics and AI software company founded ina 1976, empowers data-driven industry decision-making. Jay leads the company's global IT organization and heads the SAS Managed Cloud Services business. This dual role positions him uniquely to witness—and shape—how organizations adopt and operationalize Al at scale.

In a recent interaction with Jatinder Singh, Executive Editor of CIO&Leader, at SAS's Pune, India office, Jay shared insights on why data readiness remains the biggest challenge in Al implementations and why India is central to SAS's global innovation and growth agenda. Excerpts from the interview:

CIO&Leader: Alis now at the centre stage. While most enterprises are exploring Al, very few feel confident about moving from pilot to production. Why do you think this is the case?

JAY UPCHURCH: Let me give you some context. I have two roles at SAS: I lead internal IT and oversee our hosted and SaaS offerings. So, I see both how we use our technology and how customers adopt it.

AI has existed as a concept since the 1950s. What has changed recently is public awareness, mainly due to Generative AI. While SAS has led the AI space for decades, GenAI has made it mainstream.

Many CIOs were drawn to GenAI because of its accessibility—it started at the consumer level; however, in enterprises, where accuracy, predictability, and accountability matter, using GenAI unthinkingly isn't viable. You need the proper AI technique for the right business problem.