AI Agent & Copilot Podcast: Columbus' Michael Simms on Adoption, Governance, and Staying Ahead of Tech Cycles

Adoption approach: Successful adoption of AI requires not only technical implementation but also strong data governance, strategic initiatives, and enterprise-level practices, explains Simms. While there is great potential across business solutions, challenges like hallucinations and poor adoption highlight the need for structured approaches and diverse expertise.

Session selection: As a member of the Programming Committee Board, Simms explained his thinking behind evaluating session submissions. When reviewing session proposals, he looked for submissions that addressed essential issues for the data platform and went beyond technology alone to include governance, change management, and user adoption.

Adapating with new tech: Technology evolves in 2–3 year cycles, notes Simms, making continuous skill updates essential, but AI highlights underlying data and process issues that can no longer be hidden. Success requires a solid foundation, strategic vision, clear requirements, and fixing data quality at the source to ensure use cases deliver meaningful results.

Final thoughts: In closing, Simms expresses his excitement for the event and encourages attendees to participate in the Golf Invitational.