Informatica CEO Amit Walia talks ROI on AI usage

Data management sits at the core of the AI revolution. Without reliable data for agents to access, the capabilities of AI are rendered null and void (garbage in, garbage out), and yes, you can forget about your precious return on investment.

One company at the heart of the mission to provide that solid foundation is AI-powered MDM (master data management) platform Informatica—and it’s had a busy few years. First came its big transition to the cloud (no easy feat as a public company), and then an acquisition by Salesforce which was completed at the end of November. “The foundation of AI ROI is robust data quality and governance,” said Informatica CEO Amit Walia via email. “This has evolved from an operational concern to a strategic boardroom priority, as enterprises cannot afford the business risk of unvalidated AI outputs.”

Informatica strives to help businesses receive ROI on AI usage through products like Claire, an AI-powered data management assistant, which is used by companies including Holiday Inn, Citizens Bank, and Subaru.

Walia says best practices in AI usage begin with “targeted use cases that deliver measurable productivity gains.”

So what does he see coming down the pike in 2026? Walia sees AI transforming in several ways:

• Fundamental disruption of the tech stack: “Traditional monolithic applications will decompose into distributed agent architectures,” he said.
• Consumerization of enterprise IT through AGI (artificial general intelligence): Walia thinks conversational interfaces will become the standard for “mission-critical operations” within the next two to four years.
• Elevated strategic importance of the data layer: “As autonomous agents execute business processes, questions of data provenance, governance frameworks, and trustworthiness become paramount,” he said. “This represents a transformative decade for our industry. Success will require deliberate transformation strategies, and market leadership will be redefined.”