Solutions Development Program

AI success starts with the digital backbone. Sep 21, 2026 As organisations move from experimenting with generative AI to deploying agentic systems that can reason, act and interact with core business processes, the quality of the data and architecture beneath them is becoming a critical factor in whether AI creates meaningful business value or simply introduces another layer of complexity. This is according to Ali AbiRaad, MD: Middle East Africa and India at InterSystems, speaking at the company's Ready 2026 South Africa conference in Johannesburg. "AI is becoming pervasive, but the model itself is only one part of the equation," he says. "In the agentic era, organisations need good data, interoperability and governance if they want AI to operate with the context, reliability and control the business expects. That is why the digital backbone matters. It connects the information AI needs, makes that information usable across systems, and gives organisations a stronger foundation on which to build." AI needs more than a model Across the event, speakers returned to a common challenge: organisations are under pressure to move quickly on AI while still dealing with fragmented data, disconnected applications and integration environments that were never designed for autonomous systems. InterSystems argued that these issues become more important as AI shifts from generating content towards acting. Agentic systems need access to reliable, contextual information across the organisation, but they also need controls that determine what information can be accessed, what actions can be taken, and where human oversight remains necessary. The company's technology roadmap reflected this shift, with AI-ready data, agentic interoperability, trust and governance, and organisational context positioned as core requirements for operating in what InterSystems described as the agentic economy. Its roadmap also places human control alongside orchestration and agent networks, rather than treating autonomy as an end in itself. That same theme was reinforced by Jonathan Tullett, associate research director at IDC sub-Saharan Africa, whose keynote examined how organisations can extract greater value from technology investment as AI becomes embedded across the enterprise. Tullett emphasised the importance of strong data foundations, integration and governance, while also challenging organisations to be clearer about the business problem an AI project is intended to solve and the outcomes against which its success will be measured. "AI projects cannot exist simply because the technology is available," said Henry Adams, country manager: South Africa at InterSystems. "There has to be a strong business use case behind them and a clear understanding of the value the organisation expects to create. At the same time, governance cannot be separated from the data and architecture supporting those projects. As AI begins to take on more responsibility, knowing what it is doing, what information it is using and where accountability sits becomes fundamental." Building for the agentic era Healthcare, InterSystems' strongest market in Africa, provided one of the clearest examples of those requirements during the symposium. Dr Rami Riman, director of clinical and business improvements at InterSystems, examined why healthcare AI depends on connected, trusted data and interoperability, particularly as AI moves closer to clinical and operational workflows. Later sessions demonstrated how those principles can be applied in practice, including an ambient voice technology use case built around InterSystems IRIS for Health. The architecture showed how AI-generated clinical content can connect to existing healthcare workflows while retaining records of provenance, processing activity, and the models involved in producing an output. InterSystems also outlined continued investment across its broader data and AI portfolio, including InterSystems IRIS AI Hub, Data Studio AI Assistant, HealthShare AI Assistant and new capabilities designed to bring interoperability to AI applications and agents. The company said this investment builds on continued momentum in South Africa across healthcare, financial services and other sectors, as organisations look for ways to modernise while retaining the reliability and interoperability required by mission-critical environments. "For us, the digital backbone is not about telling an organisation to replace everything it already has," Adams added. "It is about making the systems and data it already depends on work together more effectively, while creating the foundation for what comes next. If organisations can get the data right, connect it properly, govern it and stay focused on the business outcome, they are in a far stronger position to turn AI from an interesting experiment into something that delivers lasting value."

Aegis Trace and InterSystems partner to strengthen AI decision traceability for regulated organisations. 16 Sep 2026 Partnership combines AI decision traceability with trusted data infrastructure to help organisations scale AI responsibly and demonstrate accountability BIRMINGHAM, UK, 16 September 2026 Announced today at the InterSystems UKI Data Summit in Birmingham, AI decision traceability solution Aegis Trace, developed by MSDK Labs, and creative data technology provider InterSystems have entered into a partnership to help regulated organisations strengthen trust, transparency, and accountability in AI-supported decision-making. The partnership combines Aegis Trace's decision-level traceability capabilities with InterSystems IRIS data platform to help organisations understand, evidence and govern AI-supported decisions. By combining verifiable records of how decisions are reached with trusted, enterprise-scale data and retrieval capabilities, the partnership enables organisations to adopt AI with greater transparency, accountability and confidence. As AI becomes embedded in business processes, organisations face growing pressure to demonstrate how AI-supported decisions are made, what information informed them, and what oversight was applied. Together, Aegis Trace and InterSystems enable organisations to connect decisions to the relevant regulatory and organisational context, enabling them to explain outcomes, strengthen governance, and respond more effectively to regulatory requirements. With AI playing a growing role in operational decision-making across regulated sectors, the ability to demonstrate accountability at an individual decision level is becoming increasingly important. Regulatory frameworks such as the EU AI Act place growing emphasis on record-keeping, transparency, and oversight for AI systems, creating new requirements for organisations to understand and evidence the role of AI in decision-making. Financial services is the initial focus of the partnership, reflecting the sector's requirements for governance, accountability, and customer outcomes. InterSystems has a long-established presence across the financial services industry, while Aegis Trace was recently selected to participate in the FCA's AI Supercharged Sandbox programme, where it is collaborating with the regulator as approaches to AI governance and accountability continue to evolve. Tony Kelly, Co-Founder and CTPO, Aegis Trace, said: "As regulated organisations adopt AI more widely, they need to be able to demonstrate how AI-supported decisions are made and what information informed them. Accountability can no longer be treated as a future consideration, yet many organisations still lack a clear way to evidence how decisions were reached. "We selected InterSystems because reliable retrieval, scalability and access to trusted information are fundamental to solving that challenge. Combining Aegis Trace's decision traceability capabilities with InterSystems technology gives organisations the foundation they need to adopt AI confidently, while maintaining the transparency, governance and accountability increasingly expected by regulators, customers and stakeholders." Clive Rumsey, Sales Director, InterSystems UKI, said: "Aegis Trace is addressing an important challenge that many organisations are only beginning to recognise. As AI moves from experimentation into operational use, organisations will need greater visibility into how decisions are made and how those decisions can be explained and governed. "We are delighted to work with Aegis Trace on this partnership. Their innovative approach to AI decision traceability complements InterSystems' long-standing experience supporting highly regulated industries such as financial services and healthcare. Together, we're helping organisations address a critical requirement before it becomes a much bigger challenge, enabling them to scale AI responsibly while maintaining trust and confidence in the outcomes it delivers." Independently verifiable evidence for every AI decision. Request early access to Aegis Trace and its technical documentation.