A new global study by the IBM Institute for Business Value reveals enterprise data strategies are rapidly evolving as organisations race to scale AI across their business.
The findings suggest that, while chief data officers (CDOs) are at the helm of this transformation, many say their data is still not ready to unlock AI’s full potential.
Based on insights from 1 700 CDOs worldwide, the study highlights a widening gap between AI ambition and readiness.
Although 81% of surveyed CDOs report their organisation’s data strategy is integrated with its technology roadmap and infrastructure investments – compared to 52% in 2023 – only 26% are confident their data can support new AI-enabled revenue streams.
In addition, barriers such as data accessibility, completeness, integrity, accuracy, and consistency are preventing organizations from fully leveraging enterprise data for AI.
“Enterprise AI at scale is within reach, but success depends on organisations powering it with the right data. For CDOs, this means establishing a seamlessly integrated enterprise data architecture that fuels innovation and unlocks business value,” says Ed Lovely, vice-president and CDO at IBM.
“Organisations that get this right won’t just improve their AI, they’ll transform how they operate, make faster decisions, adapt to change more quickly and gain a competitive edge.”
Key findings from the research include:
The CDO role is shifting from data custodian to business strategist as proving data’s value remains a challenge
- The majority (92%) of CDOs surveyed say they must focus on business outcomes to succeed in their role.
- Yet, only one-third of respondents strongly agree they can clearly convey how data facilitates business results, and just 29% have clear measures to determine the value of data-driven business outcomes.
- Deploying data for competitive advantage is now the top priority for CDOs, ahead of governance and security as core responsibilities.
- 84% of CDOs surveyed say their unique data products have already provided significant competitive advantages, and 78% cite leveraging proprietary data as a top strategic objective to differentiate their organisation in the market.
AI ambitions remain high amid AI-data gap
- 81% of CDOs surveyed prioritise investments that accelerate AI capabilities and initiatives.
- Yet, only 26% of CDOs surveyed are confident their organisation can use unstructured data in a way that delivers business value.
- To help close this gap, 81% of CDOs surveyed say they bring AI to data rather than centralizing it.
- While 80% of surveyed leaders have started developing diverse datasets to train AI agents, 79% admit being early in the process of defining how to scale and govern them.
- Despite these challenges, 83% of respondents believe the potential benefits of deploying AI agents outweigh the risks, and 77% are comfortable with their organisation relying on outcomes from AI agents.
A data-driven culture is viewed as essential, but talent gaps may slow progress
- 82% of CDOs surveyed say data is wasted if their organisation isn’t giving people access to it, and 80% say data democratization helps their organisation move faster.
- While 74% of respondents actively promote a culture of data stewardship among employees, fostering a data-driven culture remains a top strategic challenge for those surveyed.
- At the same time, 47% of CDOs surveyed now say attracting, developing and retaining talent with advanced data skills is a top challenge – up from 32% in 2023.
- 77% of surveyed leaders are struggling to fill key data roles, and only 53% say recruiting and retention efforts deliver the skills and experience needed – down from 75% in 2024.