Why Data-Ready Companies Are Winning at AI

What separates companies succeeding with AI from those struggling to see results? The answer isn't the AI itself-it's the data foundation underneath it. In this episode, we explore why the companies winning with AI today are the ones that spent years cleaning, structuring, and curating their data. Our guest is Mike Hutchinson, Chief Operating Officer at Teradata, bringing 35 years of customer experience expertise across three software companies. Mike breaks down the critical gap between structured and unstructured data, why vector stores and context engines are game-changers, and how real AI use cases come from solving business problems-not from hackathons. He shares examples from banking, airlines, and Teradata's own operations, including their fully autonomous account planning system. We also look ahead to 2026 and Mike's bold prediction: this will be the year companies build agents at scale - autonomous systems that monitor, decide, and act without human intervention. Chapters 00:00:00 Meet Mike Hutchinson, 35 Year CX Veteran 00:09:22 The Unstructured Data Problem 00:12:07 Marrying Structured & Unstructured Data 00:16:15 Why AI Use Cases Fail 00:19:32 Banking NPS Transformation Story 00:25:18 Security & Hallucination Concerns 00:30:32 Getting Started with Data Organization 00:37:33 Predictive Analytics & Weather Patterns Example 00:42:21 CX Skills for the Next Decade 00:48:52 The Expertise Debate in an AI World 00:56:49 2026 Prediction: The Year of Agents Watch Next: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enBE_5PQOb4 Experts of Experience is produced by the team at Mission.org.