As artificial intelligence (AI) assumes more of the internal workload and serves up more predictive and prescient insights, organizations are recognizing its value. The rise of AI has in turn put a spotlight on today’s data architecture – the fuel that ignites the intelligence.
With customers gravitating to online sites, mobile apps and smart devices that are more convenient, informative and engaging, data is central for businesses seeking to deliver a differentiated experience. Data and intelligence can not only enhance the customer experience, they can improve process efficiency, automate tedious tasks, and quickly uncover previously hidden insights. AI-ready data architectures have helped transform organizations and industries.
However, many companies are straining under the weight of an unprepared data foundation that has thus far limited the technology’s achievements. Between 60% and 73% of all data in an enterprise goes unused for analytics, according to Forrester Research.
In these early days of AI adoption, many organizations are finding the true potential – and ROI – to be elusive. Many projects and programs are failing to meet high expectations, delivering incremental benefits rather than exponential improvements.
Laying the foundation with a modern data architecture
We advise organizations to more fully embrace AI, which includes making data-driven decisions internally and throughout their ecosystem. Specifically, they should adopt a modern data architecture as the first step toward becoming more adaptive to the continuously changing customer and economy. This means having a scalable data and analytics foundation, so businesses can treat data as an asset and support AI deep learning to deliver insights, operate with precision, and achieve the outcomes that drive competitiveness.
Here are some ways AI and the critical role of a modern data foundation help create a more adaptive, prescient organization: