Well-meaning AI initiatives frequently falter due to a crucial oversight: a half-baked data strategy.  The effectiveness and trustworthiness of AI are inextricably linked to the quality and governance of its underlying data. Businesses must, therefore, devise strategies to overcome data silos, harness the potential of distributed data, and lay a solid foundation for building high-quality AI models.  

Speaker: Scott Buckles

Scott Buckles is currently the Worldwide Business Unit Executive for IBM’s Data and AI solutions. Scott has over 20 years of industry experience and remains focused on helping customers achieve their business goals by leveraging technology, process optimization, and people within an organization. Scott’s passion for customers and technology has helped deliver results from the early e-commerce days to today’s burgeoning world of advanced analytics and artificial intelligence.

In his current role, Scott is responsible for customer satisfaction around the globe, where he leads a team of Data and AI specialists and subject matter experts. Scott and his team have a deep focus on helping customers transform their raw data into business-ready data that drives more revenue, competitively differentiates themselves, reduces costs, and ensures compliance. In addition, Scott helps companies glean insights from all their data, no matter where it resides, and engage with AI to transform their business. Ultimately, staying committed to delivering meaningful and sustained business value to his clients and partners.

Scott lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his family. He spends his spare time coaching his boys, golfing, skiing, and playing hockey.

Speaker: Midhat Shahid

Midhat Shahid is a Vice President at IBM, leading Product Management for Data Fabric. He brings deep expertise in enterprise data intelligence and integration, helping organizations effectively govern and manage their data to harness the transformative potential of AI. Currently, he focuses on bridging structured and unstructured data for enterprise AI applications, empowering businesses to unlock actionable insights and drive innovation at scale through the IBM Data Fabric capabilities.