IT Executives Rethink Data Strategies as Enterprises Push AI Adoption

Dive Brief:

• Enterprises are rushing to rethink data strategy as executives push for generative AI adoption, according to a Gartner survey of nearly 500 chief data and analytics officers conducted in September, October and November.
• More than 3 in 5 organizations beefed up data operating models in response to disruptive AI technologies last year, the analyst firm found. More than one-third of respondents said their company’s architecture will be overhauled in the next 12 to 18 months.
• The focus on data operations has elevated the chief data and analytics officer role, Gartner Distinguished VP Analyst Alan Duncan said in a release. “While the management of their organization’s D&A operating model is increasing year over year, no other role than the CDAO has the responsibility of many of the key enablers of AI,” Duncan said.

Dive Insight:

Organizations are discovering that there is no AI strategy in the absence of a robust and agile data foundation. In response, companies like American Honda have promoted data to the top of the IT organization, the automobile manufacturer’s VP of IT Bob Brizendine said during a March CIO Dive event.

Chief AI officers have become more common, too. The number of organizations with an AI leadership role has more than tripled in five years, according to a LinkedIn survey.

JPMorgan Chase became one of the more visible companies to put a data chief in charge of AI last summer. The financial services giant appointed Teresa Heitsenrether to be its CDAO in June, placing her at the helm of enterprise AI implementation.

Enterprises are leaning on IT to ramp up data and analytics operations, Gartner found. The drive to deepen the data talent bench and strengthen governance accelerated as the number of respondents tasked with scaling data and analytics operations rose 40 percentage points year over year.

Shawna Cartwright, business information officer and SVP of enterprise technology at Cushman & Wakefield, said the commercial real estate firm created a dedicated data team within IT to support AI operations in the last year. Cartwright, also speaking during the CIO Dive panel, has focused her attention on bolstering data capabilities across finance, legal and other business functions.

Growth in the CDAO role reflects the challenging nature of harnessing data siloed in increasingly complex IT ecosystems.

Corralling enterprise data is a full-time job, Alon Amit, VP of product, analytics, AI and data at Intuit, said during the CIO Dive panel. The fintech company brought Amit and his team on board five years ago specifically to handle data operations and AI implementation.

While funding constraints topped the list of pain points for data chiefs, nearly two-thirds saw their budgets increase last year, Gartner found.

Tying cost to value has helped loosen the corporate purse strings. Nearly half of respondents said they’ve created performance metrics to demonstrate the business upside to data investments.

This article was written by Matt Ashare from CIO Dive and was legally licensed through the DiveMarketplace by Industry Dive. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.