Organisations across

EMEA( Europe, Middle East and Africa) are rapidly adopting AI agents to automate workflows and improve operational efficiency, but many are struggling to put the right governance and security controls in place.

Matt Ellard, General Manager, EMEA, Okta, tells us why identity is becoming the foundation for trusted AI adoption, helping organisations balance innovation with the visibility, oversight and accountability needed to manage AI agents securely at scale. kta’ s Businesses at Work report

For organisations in EMEA, that creates opportunity, but also a new challenge. As AI agents become part of day-to-day operations, leaders need to know what these systems can access, what they are doing and how to govern them properly. Organisations across EMEA do not want to choose between innovation and control. They need both.

That is why AI readiness increasingly comes down to identity.

The governance gap is real

Across EMEA, AI agents are being adopted faster than the governance models needed to manage them. This year’ s findings show that while 91 % of organisations report they are already using AI agents, only 10 % say they have a well-developed strategy in place to manage them.

The concern is clearly understood: 58 % of organisations rank AI agent governance and oversight as their top security issue. But the controls have not kept pace.

That matters particularly in EMEA, where many organisations, especially in regulated sectors, are working to a higher bar on trust, transparency, privacy and accountability.

AI agents are already being used to automate routine tasks, support customer service and improve internal workflows, all of which require access to systems, applications and data. Yet only 32 % of organisations say they secure AI agents with the same rigour they apply to human employees.

For leaders across EMEA, the challenge now is to make sure governance catches up with adoption.

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INTELLIGENT CIO MIDDLE EAST www. intelligentcio. com