Erwan Menard on Scaling Enterprise AI with Google Cloud through Governance, Intentionality, and AI Agents | Cloud Wars Minute

Erwan Menard is the director of product management for Google
Cloud’s Cloud AI division, where he helps lead innovation at the
intersection of AI agents, enterprise systems, and business
outcomes. In part two of our series, Google Cloud and the AI
Revolution, Erwan joins Bob Evans to discuss how governance,
intentionality, and rapid scaling are critical to AI agent
success, share insights on Google Cloud’s Agentspace and Agent
Builder tools, and explore how multi-agent collaboration is
reshaping the future of enterprise technology.


Purpose Driven AI Innovation


The Big Themes:



Intentionality Drives Impact: Menard advises
organizations not to jump into AI agent development for
novelty’s sake, but to begin with a clearly defined problem and
desired business outcome. However, once value is proven, it's
crucial to scale intentionally. He shares the example of a
customer rolling out 40,000 licenses of Agentspace only after
deeply considering what kind of first experience they wanted
their employees to have.


Organizational Culture Shapes AI Adoption:
There's no universal model for who should “own” AI governance.
It depends on the company’s culture. Some companies may create
centralized AI governance teams; others may embed
responsibilities within existing business units or IT teams.
The key is cultural acknowledgment: governance must be
understood as a shared responsibility, not just an operational
afterthought.


Anchor in Business Value: With so many tools,
models, and frameworks emerging, it’s easy for companies to
fall into what he calls “optionality evaluation.” That is,
spending so much time chasing the latest innovations that they
lose sight of why they started exploring AI in the first place.
Instead, he urges leaders to ask: What are we trying to
improve? Whether it’s speeding up contract workflows, freeing
up data scientists from routine tasks, or enhancing customer
service, the goal should be clear.



The Big Quote: "If you find yourself in a constant evaluation
loop for the new shiny object, maybe it's worth taking a pause
and saying, 'Why are we doing this again?'"


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