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Enterprise data leaders: Our AI ambitions are stalling out on silos

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December 17, 2024 Reltio

Enterprise data leaders face a harsh reality: despite AI’s meteoric rise, the foundations beneath it—enterprise data—remain fractured.

Reltio recently hired an independent third party to conduct a random survey of over 200 IT and data leaders to learn more about their challenges with enterprise data and the impact on AI initiatives. An overwhelming majority of those who responded reported persistent struggles with data silos, leaving their AI initiatives stalled and the potential for operational efficiencies grounded.

Data silos are a growing concern for data leaders

A data silo is a collection of information stored within a specific application, department, or system that isn’t easily accessible or shared across an organization. Silos often emerge as companies adopt specialized tools to solve specific business challenges, each generating and storing its own data. As businesses scale and add more applications, these isolated repositories multiply, creating fragmented data landscapes. The problem worsens because modern enterprises increasingly rely on a growing array of third-party platforms, each contributing to data sprawl. Without a unified data strategy, these silos prevent organizations from gaining a complete, accurate view of their operations, making it challenging to harness data for AI-powered insights, efficient decision-making, and seamless customer experiences.

Our survey aimed to explore the current state of data management, focusing on the challenges of data silos, data quality and the impact on AI initiatives. The findings shed light on both the opportunities and obstacles companies face as they attempt to harness the power of AI through improved data practices.

Key survey findings:

  1. Data silos are pervasive:
    • 82% of respondents reported that more than 40% of their organization’s data is derived from over 50 different applications, highlighting the extent of data silos across businesses.
    • 88% use more than 20 applications for customer data, and over 80% manage product and supplier data from similarly fragmented sources.
  2. Data silos are negatively impacting AI initiatives:
    • 91% believe that breaking down these silos would lead to large or very large improvements in their AI initiatives.
    • Only 21% report that over half of their AI initiatives have fully met expectations.
    • Data quality, trust and explainability, and integration issues were the top three barriers to AI adoption.
  3. Leaders are focused on Customer 360 and upgrading data architecture next year:
    • Customer-centric initiatives remain a priority, with 94% of organizations focusing on Customer 360 views to enhance customer experiences and operational efficiencies. The top real-time use case for these initiatives is customer service.
    • 89% said their company plans to upgrade data architecture within the next 12 months to improve the unification and management of data across their enterprise.

Stuck in neutral

Despite ambitious AI aspirations, enterprises often find themselves stuck in neutral, stalled by fragmented and inconsistent data. Our survey underscores a glaring paradox: while businesses pursue AI-driven transformation, many remain entangled in a web of disconnected data, jeopardizing their success. Even organizations with mature data governance frameworks face persistent data silos that hinder their AI initiatives.

As enterprises continue adding more applications, the data silo problem intensifies, scattering valuable information across increasingly fragmented sources. Modern data unification tools are essential, enabling businesses to consolidate data and deliver trusted, timely insights wherever they’re needed. Additionally, the very definition of a profile or record has evolved, encompassing a broader range of information that was previously inaccessible. In this rapidly changing landscape, only deeper, more integrated data unification can unlock AI’s full potential and empower businesses to thrive.

Click here to read an eBook highlighting the 2024 Reltio survey of enterprise data and IT leaders.

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At Reltio, we believe data should fuel companies’ success, not hold them back. Our first-of-its-kind, cloud-native SaaS platform unifies multi-source, complex data into a single source of trusted information. Agile enough to fit any company’s needs, it can flex at will – for accelerated data value creation, and ongoing effectiveness. It’s also fully compliant and secure, so data can be acted upon with confidence. Our diverse set of customers—from start-ups to large enterprises in more than 140 countries spanning multiple industries—rely on our award-winning platform to fuel their success.