From Information Governance to Governed Intelligence: Happy Global IG Day 2026

Today is Global Information Governance Day — and this year, something is different.

Not just the conversations. Not just the urgency every legal and regulated organization feels when someone asks, "Is your data ready for AI?" What's different this year is that the Information Governance community has reached an inflection point — and the InfoGov Hot Seat is marking it with a new direction.

Welcome to IG-GI: Information Governance flips into Governed Intelligence.

What Is Governed Intelligence?

Since Global Information Governance Day was founded by Garth Landers, Tamir Sigal, and Barclay T., its purpose has been beautifully simple: raise awareness of information governance. Year after year, that mission has driven practitioners, consultants, solution providers, and organizations to pause, reflect, and recommit to getting their information house in order.

But something has changed in the environment around us.

AI is no longer a future-state conversation. It is in your tools, your documents, your DMS, your email, your collaboration platforms right now. And what every AI implementation has revealed — sometimes painfully — is that AI is only as good as the information it consumes. Garbage in, garbage out. Over-retained content in, amplified risk out. Misclassified data in, misclassified decisions out.

Governed Intelligence is the answer to that problem.

It means governance controls and evidence that make data safe and useful for modern AI. It is a focus on outcomes, not theory. And it is the reason that your IG program — the one that sometimes struggles to get a seat at the table — is now, without question, your organization's AI enablement strategy.

The Shift We've Been Building Toward

The InfoGov Hot Seat has a new tagline for 2026:

"The show where Information Governance flips into Governed Intelligence, and data becomes your AI advantage."

This isn't a rebrand for the sake of it. It reflects where the discipline actually is right now. Information Governance built the foundation — the policies, the retention schedules, the classification frameworks, the audit trails. Governed Intelligence is what you build on top of that foundation, and why it matters more now than it ever has.

For years, IG professionals have had to justify their work in terms of risk reduction and compliance. In 2026, they get to justify it in terms of competitive advantage. That's a conversation worth having.

Global IG Day 2026: Four Guests, Five Questions, Real Answers

To mark this year's Global Information Governance Day, the InfoGov Hot Seat hosted a special live event in partnership with ARMA International and ILTA. Four guests. The same five questions asked of each one. The goal: give the community a direct, comparable look at how leading organizations are approaching IG and AI readiness right now — no softballs, no vendor theater.

The conversations covered what organizations genuinely need to know: where investment is going in 2026, what real time-to-value looks like in the first 90 days, how defensibility is proven in an audit or dispute, where integration gaps still exist, and what it actually takes to enable trusted AI use without amplifying bad governance practices.

Huge thanks to our guests and partners who showed up and gave honest, substantive answers. That kind of candor is what makes this community worth celebrating.

See the live here

What Governed Intelligence Looks Like in Practice

Two themes run through every serious IG conversation in 2026, and this year's Global IG Day was no different.

Speed to value. Organizations don't have years to get IG right before AI arrives — AI is already there. The question is whether your governance program can demonstrate measurable progress quickly: policy coverage, data reduction, defensible disposal, matter readiness. If it can't show movement in 90 days, it's worth asking why.

On-demand defensibility. Governed Intelligence isn't a policy document. It's repeatable execution plus the evidence to prove it — logs, approval trails, exception handling, retention records — available on demand, not just when a regulator comes knocking. If you can't show consistent application and approvals on demand, you don't have Governed Intelligence yet.

My own takeaway is simple: treat your IG program as your AI enablement program. If you want AI advantage, you need policies you can enforce, data you can find, and proof you can produce.

Thank You to the IG Community

Global Information Governance Day exists because practitioners believed the world needed a dedicated moment to take this work seriously. Garth Landers, Tamir Sigal, and Barclay T. started something that has grown into an annual rallying point for a community that genuinely cares about doing information management right.

To everyone who joined today, watches the replay, attends an ARMA or ILTA event, or simply takes a moment to recommit to their IG program — thank you. You are the reason this day matters.

Happy Global Information Governance Day 2026.

Governed Intelligence. Your data, your AI advantage.