The Big Data Conversation: Vandana Khanna, MetLife

Data quality isn't the most glamorous topic in enterprise AI — but it might be the most important one. In this episode, Sally Fletcher, Head of Thought Leadership & Community, Hypatos, sits down with Vandana Khanna, a global finance and technology leader at MetLife who is leading the company's Finance Modernization and Digital Transformation initiative. With experience spanning insurance, consumer goods, telecom, and retail, Vandana brings a rare blend of strategic vision and operational reality to one of AI's most underestimated challenges. We dig into what "AI-ready" actually means in practice, why bad data is so costly and so hard to catch, and how leaders can navigate the politics of data ownership inside large organizations. From the minimum data-quality bar for a successful AI implementation to the structural changes that would have the greatest downstream impact, this is a candid conversation about the unglamorous groundwork that determines whether AI succeeds or fails. If you're under pressure to move fast with AI, this episode is essential listening. If you want to learn more about how to implement Agentic AI, download our whitepaper here.