AI at scale: are your foundations ready?

Oct 13, 2026

What does it take to move from AI experimentation to real-world adoption, and where does sovereign AI fit into the picture?

In Episode 2 of Season 2 of Perspectives from the Edge, Andrew Dutton,Enterprise Sales & Marketing Director at SCC, joins Pulsant’s Wendy Shearer to explore the challenges businesses are facing as AI moves from experimentation into production and scale.

As AI adoption continues to move at speed, businesses are having to think beyond the technology itself. Data foundations, workload placement, hybrid infrastructure, security, resilience and sovereignty are all becoming increasingly important.

In this episode, Andrew and Wendy explore:

  • Why businesses are still working out what AI means for them
  • The challenge of moving AI from experimentation and pilots into production and scale
  • How data residency, data governance and data protection are shaping the conversation around sovereign AI
  • Why hybrid infrastructure is becoming increasingly important
  • Why AI is both a board-level opportunity and a board-level risk
  • How businesses can assess their AI readiness and prepare for investment
  • The infrastructure behind AI and the role of data centres
  • Common misconceptions around data centres, energy use and sustainability
  • As AI moves into production, what do businesses need to get right to turn investment into meaningful business value?
  • Watch the full episode to hear Andrew and Wendy discuss the infrastructure, data and organisational considerations shaping the future of AI and sovereign AI.

Timestamps

00:11 Introductions

02:14 AI adoption and the enterprise challenge

03:31 Simplifying complexity and working back from business outcomes

04:23 AI adoption across industries

05:53 Hybrid by design and workload placement

07:29 Data, governance and the role of sovereignty

08:22 Are businesses AI-ready?

11:32 Preparing for AI investment

13:11 What's coming next in AI?

16:00 The infrastructure behind AI

16:33 AI as a board-level opportunity and risk

17:42 Sovereignty, resilience and protecting data

18:40 Data centre myth busting

20:31 Data centre efficiency and sustainability

22:28 Closing thoughts

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