Johannesburg, South Africa – September 29, 2025
Artificial intelligence is everywhere — but execution remains elusive. According to Gartner, nearly 80% of AI projects fail because they never make it out of the lab. That was the message from Tejas Mehta, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Qlik in the Middle East and Africa, during the Johannesburg leg of the Qlik AI Reality Tour 2025.
“The AI conversation has moved beyond hype,”
Mehta said.
“Now it’s about real-world execution — bridging the gap between strategy and measurable business outcomes.”
From AI Hype to Execution
Mehta outlined three critical shifts businesses must make to turn AI strategy into impact:
Get Out of the Lab
Too many organisations treat AI as an experiment. “Success means moving from pilots to production — embedding AI into the workflows where decisions are made.”
Embed Intelligence Where It Matters
With Qlik’s API-first architecture, AI and analytics can live inside the business systems people already use, not in isolated dashboards.
“AI must be where your decisions are,”
Mehta emphasised.
Build Trust and Governance
Without clean, governed data, AI simply accelerates mistakes.
“Trust is built into Qlik’s cloud platforms,”
Mehta explained,
“so teams can act with confidence.”
From Generative to Agentic AI
The next frontier, Mehta said, is agentic AI — intelligent systems that don’t just suggest actions but execute them using your data.
This evolution demands:
- Strong data quality foundations
- Tight alignment between AI and business strategy
- Empowered teams who understand and trust the tools they’re using
“You can’t scale AI on bad data,”
Mehta warned.
“Governance and trust are non-negotiable.”
Africa’s Opportunity
For African firms, the challenge isn’t just technology — it’s integration. Fragmented systems, legacy infrastructure, and skills gaps make execution harder.
Qlik’s hybrid, cloud-agnostic approach helps unify data and modernise architectures, giving businesses the ability to act on insights faster.
“We’re helping organisations move beyond experimentation,”
said Mehta.
“The winners will be those who embed intelligence directly into their decision-making.”
The Bottom Line
AI strategy is meaningless without execution.
To win, leaders must:
- Align AI goals with business strategy
- Invest in trusted data pipelines
- Empower teams with actionable intelligence
As Mehta concluded,
“This is the year of AI reality — moving from vision to value.”
