Achieving trustworthy, AI-ready data requires moving governance from a retrospective audit to a foundational design principle. Actian, the data and AI division of HCLSoftware, has been recognized for its innovative approach, being named the winner in the Data Management: Governance category of the Foundry's InfoWorld 2025 Technology of the Year Awards. The award highlights the Actian Data Intelligence Platform's ability to transform data governance from a compliance bottleneck into a strategic enabler for AI and analytics.
Quick Intel
Actian wins the Data Management: Governance category in InfoWorld's 2025 Technology of the Year Awards.
The Actian Data Intelligence Platform embeds governance early via data contracts and a federated model.
It centralizes enterprise metadata into a single searchable catalog for discovery and compliance.
The platform includes a knowledge graph and intelligent search for contextually relevant results.
Combined with Data Observability, it provides AI-powered anomaly detection for real-time oversight.
This award adds to recent accolades from Constellation Research, CIO Review, and others.
Embedding Governance by Design
Traditional governance models often create friction by acting as a late-stage checkpoint. Actian addresses this by integrating governance directly into the data lifecycle from the outset. "AI ambitions cannot be realized without absolute trust in data so the pressure to deliver high-quality data is immense, but traditional governance models are failing," said Jennifer Jackson, CMO at Actian. The platform utilizes data contracts—formal agreements that define specifications, quality, and terms upfront—and a federated governance model. This allows individual business domains to own their data while adhering to enterprise standards, enabling governance to scale without creating central bottlenecks.
Enabling Discovery, Compliance, and Observability
The platform fosters trust by creating a centralized, searchable catalog of all enterprise metadata, serving as a single source of truth. This facilitates effective data discovery and utilization while supporting compliance with regulations like GDPR and CCPA. A powerful knowledge graph and intelligent search engine deliver deeper insights by understanding the relationships between data concepts. Furthermore, when integrated with Actian Data Observability, the solution provides end-to-end visibility into data health. AI-powered anomaly detection offers real-time governance oversight, identifying and addressing data issues at their source before they impact downstream systems and AI models.
Industry Recognition for Innovation
The InfoWorld award is the latest in a series of recent honors for Actian, underscoring industry validation of its approach. "Artificial intelligence is reshaping products across the technology landscape, often in surprising ways," said Doug Dineley, executive editor at InfoWorld. "Our 2025 Technology of the Year Award winners are the products at the leading edge of innovation." Recent accolades include a Constellation Research SuperNova Award, being named a CIO Review Top Data Intelligence Platform, and receiving an Honorable Mention in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems. This recognition highlights the platform's role in helping enterprises confidently manage and govern data at scale to accelerate AI initiatives.
About the Technology of the Year list
InfoWorld, the go–to destination for technology enthusiasts, visionary architects, and forward–thinking business leaders driving the evolution of next–generation projects on cloud platforms, has announced the finalists for the 2025 Technology of the Year Awards. The judges have cast their votes, and the results are in. Behold the winners for the 2025 Technology of the Year Awards, the most innovative software development, devops, data management, and AI/ML products on the information technology landscape.
About InfoWorld
InfoWorld delivers insights on software development, cloud computing, data analytics, and machine learning for IT professionals—from CTOs and architects to developers and data scientists. Over the past decade, open-source software and cloud computing have reshaped how businesses build and run technology. Today, software drives nearly every operation, with most applications developed using open-source code and hosted in the cloud. Through news, analysis, reviews, and expert guidance, InfoWorld helps IT leaders and practitioners navigate emerging technologies and build the next generation of business applications on modern cloud platforms.
About Actian
Actian empowers enterprises to confidently manage and govern data at scale. Actian data management and data intelligence solutions help streamline complex data environments and accelerate the delivery of AI-ready data. Designed to be flexible, Actian solutions integrate seamlessly and perform reliably across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments.
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