GENERATIVE artificial intelligence (AI) has increasingly penetrated everyday life, reaching ubiquity across society, business and culture over the past three years.
Enterprises were quick to embrace this technology, says Diego Rojas, founder and chief executive officer of AI operating system startup Shieldbase AI.
“Companies want AI to help employees work faster, make better decisions, and improve productivity. However, enterprise AI adoption has also exposed some critical challenges,” he tells StarBiz 7.
One of the most common issues hindering businesses from fully utilising AI is cluttered, fragmented data.
With large amounts of company knowledge scattered across various emails, documents, shared drives, internal tools and software platforms, organisations often run into difficulties accessing the right information reliably and consistently through AI.
Another issue is the risk of “shadow AI” – the unsanctioned use of AI applications by employees without approval or oversight.
“When teams use public AI tools informally to get work done, sensitive data can be shared unintentionally, and the organisation loses visibility and control,” he explains.
Such problems are typically accompanied by a lack of clear rules around data privacy, access control, auditability and compliance when using external AI tools.
“To truly benefit from AI, whether the goal is increasing revenue, improving efficiency, or reducing costs, companies need the right tools and a secure framework that reduces risk in these areas,” he says.
The growing need for such a solution prompted the development of Shieldbase AI, an operating system platform which orchestrates data, systems, AI models, agents and workflows to allow organisations full control in safely adopting AI.
Through the platform, company information is centralised so that employees and AI systems work from a consistent, trusted source of information.
Employing interconnected capabilities such as workflow automation, chatbots, AI assistants, reporting and dashboards, it aims to bring order into a fragmented realm of AI tools.
For greater governance, the system enables controlled access to both public and private AI models, while giving companies the ability to configure their own rules and policies according to their specific needs and risk profiles.
“We help organisations move from ad-hoc AI experimentation to secure, scalable, enterprise-grade AI adoption, using features suited to real-world business use,” he says.
Rojas, a software engineer by training and entrepreneur from Argentina, launched Shieldbase AI in 2024 alongside co-founders Jeffrey Tjendra and Jeany Tan.
An initial version of the product, originally developed by Rojas, was mainly focused on governance and API (application programming interface) for information masking and redaction while using large language models.
“Through iteration and customer feedback, we identified a need for an entire ecosystem of AI features managed under a trusted platform that could be deployed in a safe environment for customers, on-premises if needed,” he says.
Within the centralised, governed ecosystem, companies are able to efficiently map and see their teams’ hierarchies, roles, permissions and policies.
Meanwhile, users can connect their systems of record like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace to easily find information, build slides, and create reports.
Moreover, the interconnected system of work data, applications, and AI tools also enables staff to build complex workflows and agents via prompting or in a no-code interface.
“For instance, non-technical teams like HR (human resources), sales, operations and finance can automate tedious processes by combining multiple AI-executed steps with access to company data. This can be applied to procurement processes, employee onboarding, finance reports or queries,” he adds.
As a ready-to-go platform, Shieldbase’s goal is to provide a simplified path for companies to become AI-ready organisations.
“It’s a highly adaptable solution that removes the need to make massive investments in AI adoption or aggressive hiring for non-core expertise,” he says.
According to Rojas, the company’s business model is kept simple to ensure enterprises have predictability in their AI adoption journey.
Customers are charged a yearly licensing fee for the platform, priced based on the number of users accessing it.
Additionally, Shieldbase also offers HRD Corp claimable workshops and training to further aid in companies’ AI transformations.
A large portion of its clients are from industries with strict compliance and regulatory rules such as finance, healthcare, government agencies, legal services, and insurance providers.
“For them, having solid, secure, and auditable communication and knowledge management is critical,” he says.
“Our sweet spot is mid-sized organisations, which often require the security and sophistication level of a large enterprise solution, but also the flexibility and scaling power that fits their current growth.”
He adds that the focus for 2026 is on scaling enterprise adoption in Malaysia, as well as expanding Shieldbase’s presence across Asia-Pacific.
“We are actively working with major distributors and resellers across the region, and have a strong pipeline of enterprise opportunities,” Rojas shares.
The company also plans to develop new products catering to small and medium businesses, as well as broaden its reach through white-label deployments and flexible architecture that can adapt to various customer needs.
Still, the founders are well aware of the highly competitive nature of the market they’re in, and the challenges of growing a business-to-business AI startup in the region, from securing capital to long sales cycles.
“Funding and market opportunities are scarce in this part of the world. However, the more we stay true to our goals and are disciplined to a customer-centric approach, the more we’ll be able to drive growth and unlock opportunities while navigating the market.”
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