AI Shifts from Pilots to Production—and Data Readiness Is the New Bottleneck

Organizations are moving beyond "Should we use AI?" to "What breaks when it's embedded in workflows?" The focus at Ragan's AI Horizons conference centered on data hygiene, cross-departmental agent systems, and proving ROI—not whether to adopt AI at all.

Comms leaders are now expected to think like data engineers, understanding how data flows across systems and departments as AI agents begin talking to each other. Clean data in, clean data out is the new mandate, and messy CRM systems or siloed datasets will stall progress.

Companies pulling ahead are dedicating full-time AI roles and governance resources—Lockheed Martin just added a second AI-focused comms role. The key shift: stop framing AI as "efficiency" (code for layoffs) and start positioning it as enabling "better" outcomes, judgment, and strategy.