Why AI-Ready Governance is the new competitive advantage

How can organizations move fast with AI without compromising responsible data practices? Integrating privacy, consent, data, and AI oversight into a unified program rather than treating them as isolated disciplines empowers organizations to gain a comprehensive understanding of risk. This integrated approach enables businesses to innovate with greater speed and confidence, providing a robust foundation for responsible growth. As AI adoption accelerates, the challenge becomes more urgent: organizations must both govern well and move fast. That’s why we’re proud that the 2025 IDC MarketScape for Data Privacy Compliance Software has named OneTrust a Leader.

OneTrust was recognized for its continuous innovation, unified platform, deep AI governance and automation, strong total cost of ownership, and proven consent management

We believe this recognition captures the essence of what the market demands:

• Continuous innovation that helps organizations adapt to change
• Unified governance platform across privacy, consent, data, and AI
• Practical approach to AI governance that supports both innovation and accountability
• Compelling total cost of ownership that delivers efficiency and lasting business value
• Consent management across customer journeys to build durable first-party data sets

AI-ready governance: Govern well and move fast

Artificial Intelligence is rapidly expanding the art of the possible for technology and business, but these advancements can be challenging to manage responsibly. 

According to the 2025 OneTrust AI-Ready Governance Report, which surveyed 1,250 IT leaders across North America and Europe, 71% believe the speed of AI conflicts with their organization’s ability to enforce governance, and 82% say AI risks have accelerated the need to modernize governance processes.

The swift pace of AI adoption places organizations under increasing pressure to leverage its capabilities or risk falling behind competitors. However, neglecting governance can result in significant consequences, especially when AI is applied to personal information. Irresponsible AI use can lead to irreparable harm for customers, making compromise unacceptable. Organizations must both govern well AND move fast.

Over time, organizations will recognize that effective governance is essential for speed. In other words, they will govern well SO they can move fast. Drawing an analogy to software development: discovering and fixing bugs early in the development process is less costly and disruptive than addressing issues after release. 

Similarly, “AI-ready governance” shifts oversight from a reactive gatekeeping function to an enabling force, automating and unifying governance activities to drive efficiency and keep pace with technological innovation.

The governance value equation

Organizations often debate how to measure the value of a privacy program. Is it in the fines avoided by complying with regulations? The trust earned by managing customer data responsibly? The costs saved by automating manual processes? The answer is all of the above. 

Yet, the strategic value of privacy and governance programs lies in unlocking data. For example, strong consent management creates durable, first-party data that improves customer engagement and, as the IDC MarketScape notes, “OneTrust's consent management capabilities allow customers to unlock data and derive marketing value from it safely. OneTrust also allows customers to leverage GPC signals and manage consent in accordance with major privacy regulations.” 

AI further amplifies the value of privacy programs. If privacy by design is neglected during AI development, particularly in selecting training data, problems become difficult to remedy. Remediation often requires rolling back models or discontinuing systems, both of which can harm business operations. Privacy cannot be retrofitted into AI systems that have mishandled personal data; thus, AI innovation is a key driver of privacy program ROI.

The expert ecosystem

Privacy is a data discipline, and most organizations have fragmented data estates. Driving customer adoption and success requires an expert ecosystem built on extensive technology integrations and experienced delivery partners. 

The IDC MarketScape highlights the link between OneTrust’s broad integration capabilities and organizational agility: “This breadth [of the OneTrust platform], combined with nearly 500 global integrations, enables organizations to respond nimbly to fast-changing regulatory and business demands.” 

Recent OneTrust collaborations with Microsoft to help organizations gain visibility into fragmented data estates and to streamline privacy risk assessments with AI agents illustrate the value of such integrations.

We believe OneTrust’s recognition in Snowflake’s 2026 Modern Marketing Data Stack further demonstrates how privacy and consent are now foundational to modern data systems. 

The IDC MarketScape also highlighted the strengths of OneTrust’s program for delivery partners, noting, “Customer adoption and success is a major follow-on benefit of the program.”

Next steps for privacy leadership

We believe the IDC MarketScape’s findings reinforce a trend seen across industries: privacy is evolving into a strategic enabler of both trust and responsible innovation. 

AI-ready governance fosters collaboration among legal, IT, AI, data, and product teams, replacing fragmented processes and reinforcing accountability. This approach transforms compliance from a reactive obligation into a proactive driver of responsible growth, enabling organizations to innovate without taking on unacceptable risk.

Most importantly, AI-ready governance also enables a new form of business agility—the ability to rapidly adopt new technologies without compromising their long-term value.

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