We have a problem

More specifically, it’s likely that you have a problem.

Mulesoft, a Salesforce subsidiary, recently published their 2024 Connectivity Benchmark Report which surveys over 1,000 IT decision-makers and the findings are alarming. Consider that 98% of IT leaders report digital transformation challenges holding their companies back. Of those leaders, 81% state that data silos are key shortcomings of the transformation. 

We are one year into the era of Generative AI – an era predicated on the trust and truth of data – and yet almost every technology leader is unable to unlock digital value for their companies because of their inability to manage and harness data. Sound familiar?

Big data was a thing more than a decade ago. Amazon, Microsoft, and Google brought us to the cloud in 2006. Research firm Gartner forecasts that IT budgets will grow nearly 7% in FY2024  as business departments must rely on automation to innovate. Here’s our problem: most IT leaders have not solved the fundamental problem of using data to drive transformation. If your systems and applications are still being built in ways that perpetuate silos, increase rework, or require bespoke teams to enable use by the business, something’s wrong.

It is staggering to think that 98% of technology leaders struggle with digital transformation. It is equally concerning that data are a constraint in 2024. There are two questions to ask: why haven’t companies liberated their data (created processes and standards that facilitate data), and since these silos persist, how are those companies going to leverage AI (without creating yet another silo)?

Here’s the good news.

Breaking the data silos enables all of these ambitions. It’s the most impactful “two-fer” that you can give your company. Companies leading the marketplace in digital transformation, revenue growth, and now the GenAI horizon are analytic competitors – “firms that compete on the basis of their mathematical, statistical, and data management prowess.” IT leaders seem to have glossed over the nuanced definition given by Tom Davenport and Jeanne Harris seven years ago. It is those three components taken together – enabling data management, doing the math, and acting on the statistics that create value and win.

So when it comes to enabling transformation are you in the 2%? If not, we should talk.