Organizations are constantly seeking ways to unlock the full potential of their data, analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI) portfolios.
Gartner, Inc., a global research and advisory firm, identified the top 10 trends shaping the Data and Analytics landscape in 2023 earlier this year.
.These trends not only provide a roadmap for organizations to create new sources of value but also emphasize the imperative for D&A leaders to articulate and optimize the value they deliver in business terms.
Bridging the Communication Gap
The first and foremost trend highlighted by Gartner is “Value Optimization.”
Many D&A leaders struggle to articulate the tangible value their initiatives bring to the organization in terms that resonate with business objectives.
Gareth Herschel, VP Analyst at Gartner, emphasizes the importance of building “value stories” that establish clear links between D&A initiatives and an organization’s mission-critical priorities.
Achieving value optimization requires a multifaceted approach, integrating competencies such as value storytelling, value stream analysis, investment prioritization, and the measurement of business outcomes.
Managing AI Risk: Beyond Compliance
As organizations increasingly embrace AI, they face new risks, including ethical concerns, data poisoning, and fraud detection circumvention.
“Managing AI Risk” is the second trend outlined by Gartner, highlighting the need for effective governance and responsible AI practices.
This goes beyond regulatory compliance, focusing on building trust among stakeholders and fostering the adoption of AI across the organization.
Observability: Unveiling System Behaviour
Another trend, “Observability,” emphasizes the importance of understanding and answering questions about the behaviour of D&A systems. .
This characteristic allows organizations to reduce the time it takes to identify performance-impacting issues and make timely, informed decisions.
Data and analytics leaders are encouraged to evaluate observability tools that align with the needs of primary users and fit into the overall enterprise ecosystem.
Creating a Data-Driven Ecosystem
Gartner’s fourth trend, “Data Sharing Is Essential,” underscores the significance of sharing data both internally and externally.
Organizations are encouraged to treat data as a product, preparing D&A assets as deliverables for internal and external use.
Collaborations in data sharing enhance value by incorporating reusable data assets, and the adoption of a data fabric design is recommended for creating a unified architecture for data sharing across diverse sources.
Nurturing Responsible Practices
“D&A Sustainability,” extends the responsibility of D&A leaders beyond providing insights for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) projects.
It urges leaders to optimize their own processes for sustainability, addressing concerns about the energy footprint of D&A and AI practices. This involves practices such as using renewable energy, energy-efficient hardware, and adopting small data and machine learning techniques.
Enhancing Data Management
“Practical Data Fabric,” introduces a data management design pattern leveraging metadata to observe, analyse, and recommend data management solutions. .
By enriching the semantics of underlying data and applying continuous analytics over metadata, data fabric generates actionable insights for both human and automated decision-making. It empowers business users to confidently consume data and enables less-skilled developers in the integration and modelling process.
Emergent AI
“Emergent AI,” heralds the transformative potential of AI technologies like ChatGPT and generative AI. As one AI researcher described it, “AI ‘Emergent Abilities’ Are A Mirage”. Per a paper presented in May at the Stanford Data Science 2023 Conference related to claims of emergent abilities in artificially intelligent large language models (LLMs) in particular and cited by Andréa Morris Contributor on Science, Robots & The Arts in Forbes.
This emerging trend however seemingly trivial, is expected to redefine how companies operate, offering scalability, versatility, and adaptability. As AI becomes more pervasive, it is poised to enable organizations to apply AI in novel situations, expanding its value across diverse business domains.
Gartner’s highlights another trend, “Converged and Composable Ecosystems,” and old topic from the start of the 2020s, it is focused on designing and deploying data ana analytics platforms that operate cohesively through seamless integrations, governance, and technical interoperability.
The trend advocates for modular, adaptable architectures that can dynamically scale to meet evolving business needs.
“Consumers as Creators,” is nothing particularly new, it envisions a shift from predefined dashboards to conversational, dynamic, and embedded user experiences as a ninth trend.
Werner Geyser described 20 Creator Economy Statistics That Will Blow You Away in 2023 in his Influencer marketing hub piece
A large percentage of consumers identify as creators. Over 200 Million People globally, consider themselves as “creators”.
Content Creators Can Earn Over $50k a Year and the global influencer market size has increased now to a potential revenue earner of $21 Billion In 2023.
Organizations are encouraged to empower content consumers by providing easy-to-use automated and embedded insights, fostering a culture where users can become content creators.
Humans remain the key decision makers and not every decision can or should be automated. Decision support and the human role in automated and augmented decision-making remain as critical considerations.
Organizations need to combine data and analytics with human decision-making in their data literacy programs. While indicators from marketing analysts like Gartner may serve as a compass, guiding leaders toward creating value, managing risks, and embracing innovations the imperative is to deliver provable value at scale underscores the strategic role of data and analytics leaders in shaping the future for their organizations.
As the data and analytics landscape continues to evolve, organizations that leverage the trends strategically will be well-positioned to turn extreme uncertainty into new business opportunities.