Hitachi’s Matthew Hardman: Sysadmins key to reaping full benefits of AI in Asia
by K Dorai Raja, Managing Editor, ET
24 July
Only 32% of AI models in Asia produce accurate results – and system administrators (sysadmins) are the key to improving that number, according to Hitachi Vantara’s Chief Technology Officer for APAC, Matthew Hardman. Hardman made this comment in conjunction with System Administrator Appreciation Day which falls on 25 July every year.
“Many enterprises are still working with unstructured or incomplete data, legacy infrastructure, and siloed systems – all of which limit the effectiveness of AI models, no matter how advanced the algorithms themselves may be,” Hardman said.
While data scientists and engineers often take the spotlight, it is sysadmins who are quietly doing the heavy lifting to make enterprise AI possible. Yet, sysadmins’ contributions are often overlooked. They maintain uptime, manage security, and ensure performance — the very conditions AI needs to function at scale.
“The infrastructure that supports these systems is assumed to ‘just work,” Hardman added. “Sysadmins work behind the scenes, focusing on uptime, security, and performance — all essential, but rarely celebrated.”
Matthew Hardman
Hitachi Vantara’s Chief Technology Officer for APAC.
Making AI work in the real world
System administrators are now pivotal in preparing enterprises to scale AI effectively. From configuring storage and compute environments to enabling fast, secure access to data, they are the foundation beneath every AI deployment.
“Sysadmins help organisations move from isolated pilots to AI systems that are sustainable, scalable, and business-critical,” says Hardman.
They also play a central role in maintaining organisational IT resilience – Sysadmins are indispensable to maintaining uptime, ensuring data protection, and supporting failover systems when things go wrong. This stability is essential for turning AI from a science project into an operational asset.
When infrastructure falls behind, AI slows down
Despite the growing momentum behind AI adoption in Asia, infrastructure hasn’t caught up. Hitachi Vantara’s research shows that only 30% of enterprise data is structured, and just 34% is readily accessible when needed.
“These gaps stem from fragmented systems, legacy architectures, and a lack of integrated observability tools across hybrid environments,” Hardman says. “When infrastructure isn’t designed for AI, even the smartest models will struggle to
deliver.”
Best practices for Sysadmins to drive AI ROI
Hardman outlines six key practices for sysadmins to unlock the full value of AI:
- Align infrastructure performance metrics with AI use cases and outcomes
- Collaborate with data engineering and security teams for end-to-end data readiness
- Use real-time monitoring and observability to identify and address system bottlenecks
- Strengthen data protection policies to secure AI workloads and ensure compliance
- Modernise systems to support hybrid or multi-cloud deployments
- Automate routine tasks to free time for strategic work and optimisation
With these strategies, sysadmins can move beyond traditional IT maintenance – and take centre stage in shaping an AI-ready, digitally resilient future.
