At Cloud & Infrastructure Edge, Rahul emphasises the necessity of having the right cloud infrastructure and engineering capabilities to support AI initiatives, articulating value-driven use cases and ensuring robust security measures.

He advocates for a balanced approach that tempers enthusiasm for AI with practical and secure implementation strategies. 

Sarah Carney highlights the importance of assessing the return on investment (ROI) for AI projects.

Organisations should allocate funds for experimentation while concentrating on high-value use cases to maximise potential benefits.

There are risks associated with the hype cycle of AI.

Without proper education, regulation and responsible AI frameworks, organisations might experience a trough of disillusionment where initial excitement turns into disappointment due to unmet expectations.

Strategic planning and data governance are critical factors for successful AI deployment. 

Craig Scroggie discussed the challenges of building the compute infrastructure necessary to support AI advancements, noting a significant shift from general-purpose to accelerated computing, which requires substantial capital and infrastructure investment.

He stresses the importance of scalable and sustainable data centres to support AI-driven growth and emphasises collaboration with cloud providers like Microsoft and Amazon.

Craig highlights the rapid increase in compute density and the need for robust infrastructure to meet future demands, ensuring that organisations are well-prepared to navigate the evolving AI landscape. 

 

Key takeaways: 

  • Balanced AI implementation: Robust cloud infrastructure and engineering capabilities are essential. Focus on a practical and secure approach to AI implementation. 
  • Strategic planning and ROI: Assessing ROI for AI projects is important as well as the need for strategic planning, proper education, and responsible frameworks to avoid the AI hype cycle’s pitfalls. 
  • Infrastructure and collaboration: There is the need for scalable, sustainable data centres and collaboration with cloud providers to meet future AI demands.
Contributors
Sarah Carney National CTO at Microsoft
With over 20 years of work experience across three continents and a multitude of industries, I am currently the Chief Technology Officer... More

With over 20 years of work experience across three continents and a multitude of industries, I am currently the Chief Technology Officer for Enterprise Commercial at Microsoft, where I lead the technical strategy, vision, and execution for our largest and most strategic customers. I have a strong background in business strategy, analysis and development and I am also a certified Prosci change practitioner.

I currently serve as the co-chair of the Military Employee Resource Group Board at Microsoft, where I support the recruitment, retention, and development of veterans and their allies. I am passionate about delivering innovative and impactful solutions that enable digital transformation, empower customers, and drive business growth. I am always looking for new opportunities to learn, collaborate, and contribute to the technology community and beyond.

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Rahul Arya Group Chief Architect at NAB
With over 25 years of experience in technology architecture and engineering in banking and financial services, I am a proven leader and... More

With over 25 years of experience in technology architecture and engineering in banking and financial services, I am a proven leader and innovator in my field. I have successfully led large-scale transformations, delivered cutting-edge solutions, and built high-performance teams across Wall Street, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

As the Group Chief Architect at NAB, I am responsible for our global technology strategy, product roadmap, architecture, and engineering acceleration. My mission is to redefine our products and platforms with a modern technology lens, and to create a customer-centric and agile culture. I leverage my expertise in cloud, data, AI and software development to enable our

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Craig Scroggie CEO & Managing Director at NEXTDC
With over 30 years of experience in the ICT industry, Craig Scroggie is the CEO and Managing Director of NEXTDC, an ASX... More

With over 30 years of experience in the ICT industry, Craig Scroggie is the CEO and Managing Director of NEXTDC, an ASX 100-listed technology company and Asia’s most innovative Data Centre-as-a-Service provider. He leads a team of experts in delivering the critical power, security, and connectivity for global cloud computing providers, enterprise, and government across Asia.

Craig is passionate about building the infrastructure platform for the digital economy, leveraging his knowledge and skills in business development, key account management, and process improvement. He has a strong focus on sustainability, security, networks and operational excellence, achieving global recognition for the design, construction, and operation of Australia’s only network of Uptime Institute certified Tier IV facilities. He also serves on the board of AUCloud, and is an Adjunct Professor and Chairman of the La Trobe University Business School Advisory Board. He holds an MBA, a Postgraduate Diploma in Management, and a Graduate Certificate in Information Technology.

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Peter Hind Principal Research Analyst at ADAPT
Peter Hind has spent the last 25 years as an analyst and commentator on the ICT industry. ​ His primary areas of interest... More

Peter Hind has spent the last 25 years as an analyst and commentator on the ICT industry. ​

His primary areas of interest are the potential of technology to transform the way organisations operate, the change management obstacles executives encounter in realising this potential, as well as the tactics and techniques leaders have deployed to overcome these difficulties.​

Peter now takes on multiple roles within ADAPT including the moderation of private events and roundtables, interviewing business executives about the strategies they are pursuing and assisting with the structuring of delegate surveys.​

He also interrogates and analyses ADAPT’s treasure trove of end-user and C-suite data.​

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