4 insights from Dell’s AI Leadership Symposium: Cost and control reshape enterprise AI deployment strategy

What happened

“No one is asking whether to adopt AI; that’s pretty much a done deal,” said John Furrier , executive analyst at theCUBE Research. Getting artificial intelligence into production has become the real test for enterprises.

As the proof-of-concept phase ends, harder questions about cost, data and control are taking its place. That shift is rewriting enterprise AI deployment strategy as the conversation moves beyond models and GPUs to the infrastructure, data and operating models underneath.

UPDATED 14:47 EDT / SEPTEMBER 29 2026 AI 4 insights from Dell’s AI Leadership Symposium: Cost and control reshape enterprise AI deployment strategy by Cheryl Knight Getting artificial intelligence into production has become the real test for enterprises. Token bills are pushing workloads back on-premises and autonomous agents are forcing governance to track runtime behavior.

are raising money to build governance layers for AI agents (AI that carries out multi-step tasks rather than answering one question) . Furrier spoke with industry experts during the Dell Technologies AI Leadership Symposium in San Jose. (* Disclosure below.) Here are four standout insights from the event: 1.