Sandy Ono, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer at OpenText.
Let’s be honest: AI is the new, shiny object. It’s a corporate obsession. CEOs wanted it yesterday. Boards expect a competitive advantage. In marketing, we long for hyper-personalization at scale, while sales teams crave predictive precision. Everyone wants AI. But almost no one is ready for it—at least, not safely.
The latest research from OpenText and the Ponemon Institute exposes the disconnect between AI ambition and AI readiness. While 57% of IT leaders cite AI as a top priority, more than half admit they’re flying blind when it comes to managing security, compliance and legal risks. Only 47% say their IT and security goals are aligned with their AI strategy.
We’re racing toward AI adoption with a blindfold on—as overzealous ambition takes the wheel—but many enterprises are unprepared, and as we marketers know, speed without direction results in accidents.
So, what’s the bottom line? It’s fairly simple. Information readiness is the power source of AI excellence.
Crack this and soar.
Let’s break it down.
CMOs: We’re sitting on fragile ground.
Marketers are among the heaviest adopters of AI. We deploy generative content, conversational bots and predictive analytics to engage customers and drive revenue. Yet, AI is only as effective and as secure as the data behind it. We’re asking AI to understand our customers, personalize their experiences and guide our go-to-market strategies. If that data is fragmented, unstructured or exposed, the risks extend far beyond a failed marketing campaign; we jeopardize eroding customer and shareholder trust as well as risking costly regulatory penalties.
Only 46% of organizations have a dedicated data security program for AI. Just 39% validate AI prompts and responses. That’s not innovation. That’s negligence.
CIOs aren’t blocking AI; they’re protecting the business.
It’s tempting to view CIOs as anti-AI, as gatekeepers slowing down innovation. But this isn’t accurate. They’re anti-breaches, protecting the enterprise from malicious intent. More than half of organizations have suffered data breaches in the past two years, with customer data, financial records and even source code compromised. And only 41% of organizations say they’re effective at balancing trust while reducing insider risk.
For marketers, this is a crisis. And in our business, trust is currency. Lose it, and we lose everything.
AI without governance is just expensive guesswork.
The most successful AI-driven organizations are focused on moving smarter, rather than faster. Their edge is built on secure information management principles, including:
• Classifying and controlling access to sensitive data to understand who controls where it lives and who can touch it.
• Enterprise-grade encryption across the AI life cycle, from data at rest to data in motion.
• Responsible AI practices, including prompt validation, bias checks and team training on responsible use.
Marketing, sales, legal, compliance—we all have skin in the AI game—and the principles above shouldn’t be seen as an isolated IT-led responsibility, but as a cross-functional mandate. AI is a team effort, and right now, most teams aren’t even on the field.
Beware of the ROI illusion.
As CMOs, we face constant pressure to prove ROI. AI promises it, but does so without secure, governed data. Without these elements, ROI is simply an illusion. More than half of organizations can’t track downstream business impact from AI, and this means organizations are investing in AI without knowing if it’s effectively working or whether it’s safe.
Information readiness is an essential foundation to embracing AI excellence and shouldn’t be treated as a box to tick. When understood thoroughly and then embedded into marketing processes (as well as wider business workflows) intelligently, AI has the power to gift limitless, next-generation innovation and finally deliver what it promises: smarter segmentation, real-time personalization, predictive content and go-to-market strategies that resonate.
This is a wake-up call for CMOs.
AI is rewriting the rules of engagement. But speed and ambition cannot come at the expense of security. CIOs understand the nuances that responsible deployment requires. CMOs must be invested equally. If we don’t treat information strategy as central to an AI strategy, marketing risks becoming a liability instead of a growth engine.
The future of marketing is set to be more than simply “AI-powered.” It’s information-secure, insight-driven and trust-built. As CMOs, this is our opportunity to champion responsible adoption and lead from the front, inspiring the leaders of tomorrow to be brave, forward-thinking innovators. Because the brands that win the AI race won’t be the ones who move the fastest. They’ll be the ones who move the smartest.
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