Virtual Roundtable
Why AI Governance Pays: From Risk Control to Value Creation
September 10, 2026 10:00 am PT / 1:00 pm ET
AI governance is no longer a compliance exercise. It is an enterprise capability for scaling AI with trust.
Colorado’s AI law takes effect on January 1, 2027, but it signals a broader shift: organizations must govern AI as an enterprise capability, not a one-off project. IDC research shows 83% of organizations are using or plan to adopt agentic AI within 12 months, yet only 14% have end-to-end AI guardrails, and 53% remain in the earliest stages of governance.
IDC, Arrow, and Salient will bring together technology leaders for a candid virtual roundtable featuring live executive polling and peer discussion on the realities of AI governance readiness.
For IT leaders, the question is no longer how to comply with a single regulation, but whether AI governance is mature enough to scale AI responsibly and stay ahead of emerging requirements.
AI Governance Platforms are already a distinct worldwide software submarket, worth roughly $1.3B in 2025 and growing at a 59.6% CAGR since 2021, the fastest-emerging governance layer of the AI stack. As agentic AI scales, the tooling to manage risk, transparency, and accountability, exactly what laws like Colorado’s ADMT require, is becoming a funded enterprise capability, not a compliance line item.
The signal for IT leaders is clear: governance is where sustainable AI value is protected and created, and the organizations investing early are turning oversight into an accelerant for production AI.
Source: IDC Semiannual Core AI Software Tracker, 2025H2
Discussion Themes
Four Conversations Every Senior IT Leader Should Be Having Right Now
Colorado's ADMT law, and why it's not just a Colorado issue
Colorado’s automated decision-making law takes effect January 1, 2027, adding transparency and accountability duties for AI in consequential decisions. Why it is the leading edge of a national shift, not just a Colorado issue.
Governing AI as an enterprise capability
The real shift is treating AI governance as an operating discipline, not a compliance project or an IT task. Which capabilities organizations are missing today, who should own governance, and how to move it from IT to an executive responsibility.
The AI Governance ROI Framework
Organizations invest in governance because it creates measurable value, not just to satisfy regulators. The four ROI pillars: penalties avoided, faster AI deployment, AI scale enablement, and operational efficiency.
Leading, not reacting
Colorado will not be the last AI regulation your organization faces. How leaders build governance readiness now so they scale AI with trust and are prepared for whatever comes next, rather than reacting law by law.
What To Expect
A live video meeting led by a skilled host/moderator
An intimate gathering of senior leaders from diverse industries, grappling with similar issues
A secure, private conversation open only to a carefully vetted group (no recording, no playback)
Your host
Kathy Lange
Research Director, AI, Data, and Automation Software
IDC
Read bio
Kathy Lange
Kathy Lange is Research Director for IDC’s AI, Data, and Automation Software practice, focused on Unified AI Platforms Life-Cycle Tools and Technologies. Ms. Lange’s core research explores the evolution and adoption of unified AI platforms that support the full life cycle of traditional, generative, and agentic AI. It analyzes tools, technologies, and platforms for building, training, tuning, and scaling AI solutions across their end-to-end life cycle. She focuses on how enterprises can leverage these platforms to scale AI responsibly, optimize AI software infrastructure for inferencing, and orchestrate composite AI applications. The goal is to provide actionable insights for suppliers and buyers to operationalize AI at scale.
Before joining IDC, Kathy spent over twenty years at SAS. She led Analytics Consulting, Analytics and Text Analytics PreSales, and Competitive Intelligence teams. Kathy’s expertise helped organizations gain value from analytics, data science, machine learning, and AI. She was a frequent speaker, presenter, and moderator at SAS’ Executive Briefing Center and at industry conferences. Her most recent role as Director of Competitive Insights examined key AI life-cycle competitors and market technologies. Competitive assets provided tactical and strategic insights for sales, marketing, and product management.
Partners
Sponsored By
Arrow
A global provider of electronic components and enterprise computing products, the company specializes in distribution and value-added services for original equipment manufacturers, value-added resellers, managed service providers, contract manufacturers and other commercial customers.
