NOVEMBER 2022

2023 INDUSTRY SURVEY

THE AI, DATA AND ANALYTICS NETWORK

TRENDS
& SPENDS
REPORT
Contents 2

PAGE 2 Executive Summary

PAGE 4 Organizational Data Strategy

PAGE 6 Analytics

PAGE 13 Investment

PAGE 14 Datasets

PAGE 15 Regulation

PAGE 16 Automation

PAGE 17 Data Monetization

PAGE 19 Artificial Intelligence

PAGE 20 Interview with

Executive Summary
The ways in which we do business are more complex than
ever before.
Even without the ongoing disruption brought upon by recent
geopolitical and economic unrest, enterprises have been
grappling with technological change at a pace not seen
since the industrial revolution for some time now.
The speed in which technologies are transforming business is
truly something to behold. Supply chains have been rerouted
beyond recognition, new revenue streams have emerged
in times of intense pressure, and even entire industries have
been created through data. Understandably, business
leaders are concerned and looking for answers to the myriad
of problems spawned from this increasingly complex and
perplexing landscape. Yet, at the same time, enterprises are
exploring the new opportunities unleashed during this period
of rapid technological change.
That is because, despite ongoing geopolitical
earthquakes, progress has been made in terms of
technology to stunning effect. This year, the internet was
inundated with AI-generated imagery courtesy of natural
language processing (NLP), a breakthrough that not
only now accounts for the creation of an endless supply
of media and art but which also allows the refinement
and enrichment of mass amounts of data in the form of
intelligent document processing (IDP). As always, the cross-
pollinating and cumulative nature of these technologies is
clear enough for all to see.

The AI, Data and Analytics Network Trends & Spends Report
Executive Summary
It is now clear that tucked away within the masses of data
that now comprises our world are the solutions to our ever-
growing list of problems. The latest analysis suggests that
we will produce 94 zettabytes of data in 2022, 30 zettabytes
more than in 2020. For any readers unaware of what a
zettabyte is, it is a trillion gigabytes: an unfathomably large
number that would fill up the pages of this report a billion
times over if it were ever typed out.
We now live in a world that is both abundant in data but
also in problems. But how do they interact with one another?
And how can enterprises capitalize on this vast and ever-
growing resource? That is the crux of this year’s AI, Data, and
Analytics Spend & Trends Report, in which we have surveyed
hundreds of data leaders about their organizations and how
their organizations are transforming data into business value
using the latest tools, technologies, and techniques.
This year’s survey takes a holistic view of the wider data
prospects of enterprises across the world, analyzing their
budgetary demands, changes, and data sources. Some of
The AI, Data and Analytics Network Trends & Spends Report
3
these spends are to be expected, following trends recorded
in our reports year on year.
However, some of the spends and trends this year are
more reactionary in nature, with 2022 being the year in
which data regulation really reached ubiquity around
the globe and caused enterprises to ensure that their
data governance was in order and met increasingly
stringent legal demands. Elsewhere, explainability
was found to be of increasing importance, as was the
facilitation of data-driven cultures in allowing data-
sourced insights to not go unignored.
In addition, it’s clear from our research that the road to
advanced applications of data analytics is paved with
numerous challenges and that, with the world being in
flux, enterprises are still searching for answers. However,
if one thing is certain it is that by benchmarking your own
enterprise against the hundreds featured below, you will be
better placed to navigate the times ahead.
Organizational Data Strategy 4

When asked whether or not they had an organizational
data strategy in place, almost three quarters (73.35%) of
respondents stated that they already did so, with the only
other remaining substantial bloc of respondents admitting
that whilst they did not currently have one in place, they
planned to within the next year (15.03%).
Ultimately, a proper data strategy ensures efficient use
of data. It will achieve the organizational objective by
creating effective methods and practices to manage shared
information across the enterprise. Therefore, companies
that have not yet established a robust data strategy and
management need to adopt them as soon as possible.

This is a marked increase from last year’s survey, which

found that only half (52.72%) of those asked the same
question had such a plan in place, with a further 22.03%
stating that they planned to implement an enterprise data
strategy by this year.

Data strategies enable innovation and value creation in line

with current and future market trends and support long-
term business goals. Enterprises which fail today often do
so due to an inadequate data strategy in place to support
accurate decision-making, a problem that is characterized
by uncertainty around technological adoption and a lack of
emphasis on data and analytics.

Do you currently have an organizational data strategy in place?

3% 2%
7%

Yes
15%

No, but plan to within the next year

No, but plan to within the next five years
No, establishing a strategy is not a priority for us
Not sure

73%

The AI, Data and Analytics Network Trends & Spends Report
Organizational Data Strategy 5

What types of internal data does your organization use for decision-making?

23% 43% 33% 37% 29% 20% 20% 15% 14% 16% 15% 1%
45%

Finance & accounting

Customer & CRM data
Main Data
IT
Employee Data (HR)
IoT
Product
R&D
Manufactucturing
Supply Chain & Logistics
Sales & Marketing
Other 0%

When asked which types of internal data their organizations
used for decision-making, most (42.47%) respondents stated
that they used customer and CRM data more so than any
other data type listed. Such a shift is likely the result of an
increased emphasis on CX by enterprises over recent years,
together with heightened pressure to personalize products
via techniques such as data wrapping. At the same time,
enterprises, large, medium, and small have been using
chatbot technology for some time now, and with advances
in natural language processing coming in abundance, it has
led to greater amounts of this data type being generated.
Additionally, almost a third of respondents stated that they
used HR data internally. Known more widely as people
analytics, HR data broadly refers to the collection and
analysis of data linked to evaluating talent and measuring
employee satisfaction. The use of people analytics became
popular during the pandemic and subsequent rise of working
from home, but it is seeing further adoption as enterprises
harness this technology to seek out the right talent during
the ongoing talent shortage.
As with almost every process today, advances in
algorithms and data analysis software are driving
the explosion in people analytics, with many of the
same data-driven developments that revolutionized
sales and marketing departments now happening in
human resources.
However, comparative to last year’s findings, sales and
marketing data dropped down from 41.94% to 14.84% in terms
of importance about decision-making. Once again, this
could be because much of the data gained over previous
years may no longer be reflecting reality due to ongoing
market chaos.
The risk for businesses which neglect such data, however,
is large. Sales and marketing analytics are essential to
unlocking commercially relevant insights, increasing revenue
and profitability, and improving brand perception. With the
help of the right analytics, enterprises can uncover new
markets, new audience niches, areas for future development
and much more.

The AI, Data and Analytics Network Trends & Spends Report
Advanced Analytics 6

Last year, analytics was dominated by the need to increase
operational efficiency and productivity. However, a year
later and the answers were much more evenly spread,
with the improved financial performance taking slight
precedence at 44.16%.
The most dramatic change, however, comes from those
who are now using analytics to identify and generate new
revenue streams. Last year, this was the case for only 8.86%
of respondents, whilst this year it sat firmly in second place
at 42.56%, followed by the need to increase operational
efficiency and productivity (40.50%).

How is your organization currently using or Looking forward over the next 5 years, where
actioning analytics? do you see data and analytics delivering the
most value?

Increase operational efficiency & productivity By increasing operational efficiency & productivity

40% 27%

Identify & generate new revenue streams Identifying & generating new revenue streams

43% 19%

Improve financial performance Improving financial performance

44% 14%

Enable digital transformation Enabling digital transformation

31% 12%

Enhance customer experience Enhancing customer experience

34% 7%

Boost overall competitive advantage Boosting overall competitive advantage

23% 9%

Elevate the employee experience Elevating the employee experience

19% 4%

Facilitate improved decision making across the entire enterprise Facilitating improved decision making across the entire enterprise

23% 4%

Enable AI, ML and/or predictive analytics Enabling AI, ML and/or predictive analytics

16% 5%

Boost sales & marketing efforts Boosting sales & marketing efforts

11% 1%

Other Other

1%

0% 45% 0% 45%

The AI, Data and Analytics Network Trends & Spends Report
Advanced Analytics
As consumers, businesses and governments continue to feel
the squeeze in response to global crisis after global crisis,
it makes sense that many would be searching for ways to
diversify their incomes in order to protect themselves from
further turmoil.
Recently, Walmart did just that. For years, the retail giant
provided its manufacturers with data about sales and
brand performance for free, however recently it announced
the first offering from its latest new business arm, Walmart
Data Ventures (WDV). WDV differs from what came before
in that the data is more detailed and will be accompanied
by prepackaged analytical insights. WDV’s first offering,
Walmart Luminate, provides CPG suppliers and internal
Walmart merchants with detailed information about what
customers are buying, where they’re shopping, and even
why they are buying it.
The AI, Data and Analytics Network Trends & Spends Report
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But companies using data to identify new revenue streams
is not necessarily new – Tesla has been monetizing its billions
of miles of driver data for years at this point. In any case,
it seems that it is now heading towards a state of near
ubiquity, with enterprises understanding that the data they
are in control of (and have increasingly enriched over recent
years) is more useful than they might have initially thought.
The five-year outlook for where respondents saw data
and analytics delivering the most value reflected the wider
needs of actioning analytics explored above. Just over
a quarter (26.53%) saw increasing operational efficiency
and productivity as where the most value would be found,
with both identifying and generating new revenue streams
(18.85%) and improving financial performance (13.61%) once
more taking second and third place.
Advanced Analytics 8

What are your biggest inhibitors when it comes to actioning data and analytics?

49% 43% 41%

Insufficient IT infrastructure Lack of leadership buy-in Lack of skilled talent

In terms of what the biggest inhibitors were when it came In it, we asked hundreds of enterprises about the trials
to actioning data and analytics, three main points of and tribulations in the world of data talent acquisition and
contention arose. retention today. The results spanned different practices,
working solutions, and tools but in general what we
First, insufficient IT infrastructure was cited by almost half discovered was that across the industry there was (and
(48.61%) of respondents, which comes down to complications very much still is) a shortage of data talent. Once again, it
stemming from legacy or outdated technology. seems that this problem is pernicious, and enterprises will
have to consider such shortages in actioning any plans
The two other main sources of concern were lack of going forward.
leadership buy-in (43.25%) and lack of skilled talent (40.51%).
Lack of leadership-buy-in is indicative of a wider problem
of data confidence across all sectors today. While data
confidence is critical for organizations to be able to make
informed business decisions it is often lacking thanks to
inherent problems within AI and data systems such as low
quality data, weak data governance and poor business/
IT alignment. These problems can take the form of a lack
of interpretability (also known as explainability), or the
aforementioned infrastructural problems. Incidentally, this
disallows correct analysis and therefore disrupts trust.

As we learned in our previous report, ‘Bridging the Data Talent

Gap’, we have known for some time that the world of data,
more so than most industries, is engaged in a battle for the
right talent that can execute organizational data strategies.

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Advanced Analytics
In last year’s survey, over a third of respondents (32.5%)
stated that under 10% of their company had access to
using or actioning data & analytics. A year later this figure
had dropped to 11.34%, with a marked improvement across
all other cohorts.
What percentage of your company has access
to using or actioning data & analytics?
Under 10%
11%
11-25%
40%
26-50%
38%
51-75%
10%
Over 76%
1%
0% 40%
Almost three quarters (73.56%) of respondents stated
that they planned to spend more on their final,
approved data and analytics budget over the next year.
Approximately a fifth (20.63%) stated that their investment
would stay the same and less than 1% stated it would in fact
be decreasing.
The rise of the digital economy has pushed data and
analytics to the forefront of business strategy. One could
even say that, these days, every business is in the data
business. Research the past decade has repeatedly found
that those businesses which invest in data and analytics
are more successful than their peers.
The AI, Data and Analytics Network Trends & Spends Report
9
This reflects the wider reality of an increase in data literacy
across many enterprises around the world. In the wake of
an increasing need and demand for the adoption of these
technologies, companies are improving their ability to read,
write and communicate data in context as well as show an
understanding of data sources and constructs, analytical
methods and techniques applied.
Do you expect your final, approved data and
analytics budget to increase over the next year?
Yes we plan to spend more
73%
No, our investment will stay the same
21%
Not sure
6%
No, I expect it to decrease
1%
0% 75%
The 2014 study by McKinsey Global Institute for example
reported that data-driven organizations were 23 times
more likely to outperform their competitors in customer
acquisition, enjoy much stronger customer loyalty and,
therefore, were 6.5 times as likely to retain acquired
customers. Finally, these organizations were 19 times as
likely to be.
A more recent research by Forrester report suggests that,
“Every company wants to be insights-driven. Insights-driven
businesses grow on average more than 30% annually and
are on track to earn $1.8 trillion by 2021.”
Advanced Analytics 10

What types of analytics are you currently leveraging?

Currently Plan to implemement in

Leveraging the next 12 months

72% Big Data Analytics 28%

55% Complex Event Processing (CEP) 45%

63% Computer Vision 37%

62% Data Mining 38%

62% Descriptive Analytics 38%

62% Diagnostic Analytics 38%

58% Edge AI 42%

63% High Performance Computing Analytics 37%

62% IoT Analytics 38%

66% Machine Learning 34%

63% Predictive Analytics 38%

63% Prescriptive Analytics 34%

65% Real-time Analytics 36%

60% Simulation & Digital Twin 40%

64% Streaming Analytics 36%

64% Text Mining + NLP 36%

63% Video Analytics 37%

When asked what type of analytics they were currently
leveraging, companies were quick to list a range of different
means. Broader answers such as machine learning (65.95%)
and big data analytics (71.96%) took the top spots. In spite of
this fact, almost all formats of analytics were found to have
high adoption rates, with not a single cohort dropping below
the 50% benchmark.
However, when the results were listed next to those who
plan to implement these technologies within the next
twelve months, the weighted average produced from the
two figures showed that certain analytical methods were
becoming increasingly more important than current statistics
might suggest.
When taken into account for later adoption, more niche
analytical types came to the fore. Complex event processing
(CEP) for instance, which is only leveraged by 54.68% of
respondents currently (the lowest surveyed) was found to be
the highest in terms of expected adoption within the next
twelve months (45.32%). CEP is a technology for aggregating,
processing, and analyzing massive streams of data in

The AI, Data and Analytics Network Trends & Spends Report
Advanced Analytics 11

order to gain real-time insights from events as they occur. expectations. This proves that organizations are successfully
In this sense, CEP is a good candidate to extract valuable maturing their advanced analytics capabilities not only by
information from multiple IoT real-time data sources. embracing enabling technology, but increasing investments
in fundamental elements such as data literacy, governance
In the same vein, edge computing also scored highly in terms and change management.
of weighted average, which fits into the wider trend observed
in reducing costs and improving the infrastructure gap
enterprises had previously cited as one of the main hindrances
to AI adoption. Edge computing is a solution to both problems
in that it allows companies to save on infrastructure costs by
deploying computing resources and applications near users,
which means companies reduce the amount of infrastructure
they need to maintain saving money in the long run.

Overall, out of the enterprises surveyed 51% of respondents

believed that only 26-50% of their advanced analytics
initiatives had met or exceeded expectations, with 18.54%
stating that this figure was even lower at less than a quarter
of initiatives.

While this figure is low, it is nothing compared to last year

when 53.52% of respondents believed that less than 25%
of their analytical initiatives were meeting or exceeding

What percentage of your organization’s 2%

advanced analytics initiatives have met or 19%
exceeded expectations?

28%

Less than 25%

26-50%
51-75%
Over 75%

51%

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Advanced Analytics 12

Data quality is potentially still a culprit this year, and, as Do you expect your final, approved budget
previous responses have hinted toward, it could be that for advanced analytics to change over the
much of the data these analytical systems are based next year?
upon is not as robust and rigorous as they should be. In
fact, Experion estimates that 29% of organizational data is I expect it to increase
inaccurate, highlighting a mammoth problem for enterprises. I expect it to decrease
No, I expect it to stay the same
Alternatively, as analytics convert internal and external I don’t know

data into predictions, some of the insights from past

data may have failed to respond effectively to the rapidly 1%
8%
changing circumstances that enterprises the world over are
facing currently.

In any case, nearly a third (28.38%) of those surveyed stated

that between 51-75% of their advanced analytics initiatives
met or exceeded expectations, with a further 2.06% believing
this number to be over 75%. 52%

39%
52.74% of respondents expected their final analytics
budgets to increase this year, whilst 38.81% stated that it
would in fact likely decrease. This is a marked change from
last year’s results which saw only 5.92% of respondents
expecting their budgets to decrease and is likely because
of recent global events causing budgets across all
industries and departments being slashed.

The AI, Data and Analytics Network Trends & Spends Report
Investment 13

In which of the following have you invested in the last 12 or intend to invest in the next 12 months?

Already Implemented Plan to implemement

67% AI/ML Development Tools 33%

60% AI/ML Monitoring solutions 40%

67% Cloud Data Warehouse Solutions 33%

68% Data Acquisition Solutions 32%

63% Data Democratization & Literacy 37%

71% Data Governance Solutions 29%

67% Data Integration Solutions 33%

67% Data Labeling 33%

62% Data Lakes 38%

66% Data Mining Solutions 34%

54% Data Quality & Enrichment Solutions 46%

69% Deep Learning Frameworks 31%

64% Enterprise Data Catalogue Solutions 36%

65% Enterprise Data Pipeline Solutions 35%

63% Enterprise Data Platforms 37%

68% Enterprise Information Management Solutions 32%

64% External/Alternative Data Sources 36%

64% Main [Master] Data Solutions 36%

60% Operational Database Management Solutions 40%

72% Predictive & Prescriptive Analytics Solutions 28%

67% Workflow Analytics 33%

Here we asked respondents to list the implementation of tools
and techniques enterprises have invested in over the past
twelve months. Only one of the methods listed — data and
enrichment solutions — failed to reach the two-third threshold
that all other listed opens reached. This in part explains why,
when asked which tools and techniques their enterprises
would be investing in over the next twelve months, data and
enrichment solutions was the top choice at 45.99%.
Customer and business data enrichment lets you tap
into reliable data resources to enhance your existing
data with additional information. Without this, once
again businesses will find that trust in their data solutions
decreases, as the datasets and algorithms they are trained
upon lack the necessary clarity and purpose that data and
enrichment solutions bring.

The AI, Data and Analytics Network Trends & Spends Report
Datasets
What types of external/alternative/synthetic
data does your company leverage for
decision making?
Shared data from vendors & partners Government & Public Data
Open Source Data from research institutions & NGOS
Other open source data (i.e. social media, company websites)
Data purchased from 3rd party vendors
Other
Unsurprisingly, when asked about what types of data their
company was leveraging for decision making, a majority of
respondents cited three main sources: open-source data
from research institutions and NGOs (58.77%), other open
source data (31.66%) and shared data from vendors and
partners/government and public (58.54%).
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14
59% 59% 32% 22% 1%
60%
0%
While for quite some time companies were often reluctant
to share their data, organizations are now frequently using
open APIs and other applications to share data in internal
and external ecosystems. Sharing data allows organizations
to benefit from network effects — where a product or service
becomes more valuable as it is used by more people. This
is revolutionizing markets including social media, electric
vehicles, and health care.
Schneider Electric for example is experimenting with
“power couples,” a program in which data projects are
co-owned by business-process and IT leaders, whilst
retail companies are creating experiential platforms which
allow companies not only to create communities of loyal
customers, but also provide the companies with data
about customers.
This is a shift in mindset regarding data, with
businesses shifting from the normal traditional pipeline
value creation and into one which prioritizes ecosystem
value creation, underpinned by the understanding that a
rising tide lifts all boats.
Regulation 15

A clear majority (83.41%) of those surveyed stated Are you aware of any data regulation coming
that they were aware of data regulation coming into into effect in your business region over the next
effect in their business region over the next 12 months. 12 months?
This reflects a global shift in how digital information is
utilized and policed around the world, with the number Yes

of laws, regulations and government policies requiring 83%

digital information to be stored in a specific country No
more than doubling to 144 from 2017 to 2021.
12%

This is a trend that in many ways began in the I don’t know

European Union when it enacted the General Data 4%

Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018 that prohibited
0% 85%
the misuse of personal data. The trend is expected to
continue, with countries all over the world beginning
to view data as a national resource that is to be What, if any, percentage of your data
protected. In the US, the Biden administration is analytics budget all be allocated to adhering
circulating an executive order to stop rivals such as to new regulation over the next 12 months?
China gaining access to American data, whilst in India,
0%
restrictions are being put into law that will limit what
data can leave the nation of almost 1.4 billion people. 2%

Indeed, from Kenya to Kazakhstan, new regulations Less than 5%

that stipulate personal data of any kind must be kept 18%
within their borders.
5-10%

The tidal wave of regulation means that, 24%

understandably, enterprise budgets will be affected 11-35%
as businesses adapt. In fact, 97.73% of respondents
23%
stated that they expect their budgets to be affected,
with almost 1 in 10 (9.32%) saying that 56-75% of their 36-55%

entire data budget would be used to adhere to 21%

incoming regulation. 56-75%

9%

Over 76%

2%

0% 25%

The AI, Data and Analytics Network Trends & Spends Report
Analytics Automation 16

Is your organization currently leveraging Do you expect your final, approved budget
automated data analytics solutions? for data analytics automation to change over
the next year?

Yes I expect it to increase

68% 55%

No, but we will be implementing over the next 12 months I expect it to decrease

28% 34%

No, no plans for implementation I expect it to stay the same

4% 11%

No budget

1%

0% 70% 0% 60%

In terms of automation, 68% stated that they already had

solutions in place and a further 28% stated they planned
to do so over the next 12 months. By automating analytics,
businesses can build systems that automate either a
part of or the entire data pipeline, which brings a data
product to life — from automating business intelligence
dashboards to data-driven self-governing machine
learning models.

From improving processes to accelerating analytics and

cutting costs, if an enterprise has adopted a data strategy,
it is crucial that it is in some way automated in order to add
scale, performance improvement as well as raise overall
cost efficiency.

Once again, in terms of budgeting, mixed results were

given by respondents about expectations of approved
budgets for data analytics automation over the next year
with 55.02% believing it to increase and 33.56% expecting it
to decrease. Only 11.19% expected it to remain at the same
value, showing that, if anything, automated analytics is
currently in flux with some enterprises further down their
necessary adoption curves than others.

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Data Monetization 17

Has your organization developed and/or actioned a data ROI & monetization strategy?

54% 28% 9% 7% 2% 1%
55%

Yes, we’ve successfully launched multiple data monetization/ROI initiatives

Yes, we’ve successfully implemented one data monetization/ROI initiative
No, but we’re in the process of prototyping/piloting our first
No, but we plan to launch our first initiative within the next 24 months
No, but monetizing data is a long-term goal
No, not a priority

0%

Multiple data ROI and monetization strategies had
been successfully launched by 53.78% of respondents,
with a further 28.38% stating that they had managed to
implement at least one data monetization/ROI initiative.
Such results reflect the wider power of data that, when
used in the correct manner, enables enterprises to build
new revenue streams and enhance services.
Less than 1% of respondents stated that initiating a data
monetization/ROI initiative wasn’t a priority, with all
other respondents already in the process of prototyping
(8.92%) or planning such strategies in the future. Installing
a strong data monetization strategy requires a holistic
data governance framework, and it can take time for
enterprises to adopt the correct tools and techniques to
implement them effectively.

If yes, what type of data monetization/ROI initiatives is your company currently running?

51% 69% 59% 32% 7%

70%

The use of data to develop new products, services & customers

Data Wrapping - we’ve embedded customer analytics into our products
The use of data to optimize business performance & operational efficiency
Direct sale of data to third parties
N/A

0%

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Data Monetization 18

Do you expect your final, approved budget for

data ROI & monetization to increase next year? 1%
8%

10%

Yes
No, I expect it to stay the same
No, I expect it to decrease
16%
We are not investing in data monetization/ROI now or next year
I don’t know

66%

When it came to different forms of data monetization 66.06% of respondents said they expected their budgets
that they are currently running, data wrapping was the for data monetization/ROI initiatives to increase next
most common response, with 68.51% of those surveyed year, showing us that not only are those strategies in
stating they had embedded customer analytics into their place working and therefore likely to be renewed, but
products. By labeling and organizing data, businesses that there is also room to further capitalize on data in
can make it easier to find the information they or their the future as companies continue to collect new data or
customers need quickly. This can help businesses make enrich older legacy data. Alternatively, this could also hint
more informed decisions and improve their operations, as at a wider acknowledgment across enterprises that data
well as offer better services to the end user. monetization/ROI initiatives are increasingly seen as a
solution to business challenges.
Just over a third of respondents stated that their strategy
involved the direct sale of data to third parties, making
it the lowest out of responses. This is likely due to the
inherent compliance and reputational risks of selling
company data to third parties. Furthermore, whilst
companies can be sure of their own processes and
procedures for complying with regulations, they may
not always be able to be sure that third party data
aggregators are (and vice-versa).

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Artificial Intelligence 19

Where does your organization fall on the Artificial Intelligence Maturity Curve?

42% 31% 18% 5% 3%

Awareness: Exploration: Operational: Systemic: Transformational:

We’re excited about AI We’re experimenting We’ve adopted machine
but haven’t used it yet with AI but haven’t learning into our day-
deployed any large- to-day functions. Initial
scale projects yet ML infrastructure is set
up, we’re creating
data pipelines and
versioning data
We’re using ML/AI in a ML/AI is built into the
novel way to disrupt DNA of our business.
business models We rely on AI to do
significant heavy lifting
for the business and as
a value generator for
our customers.

Do you expect your final, approved budget for AI development to change over the next year?

I expect it
I don’t know to decrease

2% 57% 33% 7%

I expect it No, I expect it

to increase to stay the same

When asked where their enterprise stood on the Artificial
Intelligence Maturity Curve, only 3.2% of respondents stated
that they were at the transformational stage (that ML/AI is
built into the DNA of our business). Most respondents said
that they were at either the excited (42.46%) or exploration
(30.82%) stages, with under a fifth surveyed at the
operational level.
What this shows is that there is still a large area (and
appetite) for growth in terms of AI in enterprise. However,
the data may also show the ongoing debate about where
standard computing ends and artificial intelligence begins,
and so some respondents may be reluctant to not label
their systems as such. In any case, we should expect these
findings to shift over the coming years, as competition
energized by adoption of AI across all industries increases,
and the explorers of the technology become the ones who
implement it at operational, systemic, or transformational
levels and the early adopters start reaping tangible rewards.
Indeed, with nearly two-thirds (57.70%) of respondents
stating that they expected their AI development budgets to
change over the next year, enterprises are still clearly seeing
data and analytics as the keys to preparing for the turbulent
times ahead.

The AI, Data and Analytics Network Trends & Spends Report
 Interview with SAP
Daniel Yu, Senior Vice President Solution Management and Product Marketing,
SAP Data and Analytics
What does it mean for a company to be data-driven?
Great question - from my experience what it means to be
“data-driven” is something that is often misunderstood.
Perhaps it would be easier to first explain what a data-
driven strategy isn’t.
A data-driven strategy isn’t simply about having a data
warehouse, data lake/lakehouse or having the latest
technologies that can be collectively described as Artificial
Intelligence (AI). Procuring technology, or assembling the
most experienced data engineering or data science team
doesn’t guarantee that an organization will be data-driven
– at least not the entire organization.
Nor should it be confused with marketing-speak about
being “insights-driven” — a concept that is overused and
The AI, Data and Analytics Network Trends & Spends Report
20
rarely achieved. Rare because radically good decisions that
are truly insight-driven are few and far between - pretending
otherwise would be disingenuous.
What is a data-driven strategy then?
A data-driven strategy is one that prioritizes the context
and meaning within all your data that is curated and then
served to the entire business through technology to help
make better decisions. I say prioritization because most
organizations default to jumping into purchasing the latest
technology without asking what business questions need
to be answered and decisions need to be made. Or what
business context resides in my data that will be lost and have
to be reconstructed if it is extracted and moved to another
system. Companies that are data-driven think of data first,
and technology second.
Interview with SAP
Daniel Yu, Senior Vice President Solution Management and Product Marketing, SAP Data and Analytics
Why do we get this wrong today?
I think we’ve had the sequence wrong for far too long. For the
past few decades, we’ve tried to bring data to technology —
using the latest technologies for their own sake — rather than
bringing the technology to the data that already exists and
where the business value is. This is a profound difference in
what it means to have a data-driven strategy because the
questions you ask are fundamentally different.
If you are only looking at your data through a technology
lens, you will be asking questions like how will you extract
and massage your data and move it into a database,
or how will you present it on a dashboard. But this is all
peripheral to the actual business objectives that your
enterprise is aiming to solve. Having a data strategy is
about asking the right questions and understanding that
technology is the supporting element in the relationship,
not the other way around.
A lot of those who I speak with mention a disconnect
between the corporate side of the business and the
more data-science-led side. One CDO mentioned how
he believed this disconnect should be broached at a
university level, whilst others believed that some sort of
osmosis via placements around their company. Is this
part of the problem behind failing to facilitate a data-
driven culture?
The bridge can be crossed from either side (data science or
corporate teams) because knowledge can be distributed
by people across organizations like osmosis in cells. When
done correctly, knowledge diffuses via different parts of
the company, and this is an excellent way to facilitate
knowledge transfer. However, I think there are typically two
barriers that prevent this from happening.
First, it’s very difficult to understand who has what data
or what the data actually means. And it’s never because
organizations have too little data, in most cases it’s the
opposite. This is where developing common business
The AI, Data and Analytics Network Trends & Spends Report
21
semantics between the corporate and data science world
is so critical. They’re developing their Rosetta Stone. They’re
data-driven.
Second, you need to bridge the gap and relationship
between the data, which can also be addressed with
business semantics. For example, in supply chains you
need to understand the relationship between a customer
buying signal, to an order, to final customer delivery.
Often this is not a linear problem that can be solved in a
spreadsheet or common database. Therefore, business
semantics also need to capture the complex relationship
(or what I call a knowledge graph) to understand the
relationship between data.
Over the years, we just moved data into a big, expensive
database or the cheapest storage in the cloud to answer
maybe a handful of questions. At the same time, we got
really good at computing things at scale and collecting
masses of data, but our understanding of the data has not
grown at the same exponential rate.
So, the cross-placement of people around teams can help
but the two sides of the business need to find common
ground on business semantics for the osmosis to work.
Our reports show an increased level of data spending from
last year, what are your thoughts on this?
Spending on analytics has increased every year since I’ve
been in this industry.
But for 2023, there is both good news and bad news here.
The bad news is that pretty much every country and industry
will experience an economic downturn. The good news is
that if we look at the history of analytics over the past three
decades, the greatest level of innovation and adoption
coincides with a major economic downturn or crisis. In these
harsh environments, businesses are forced to be nimble and
make critical decisions for the company. Companies tend to
transform much more rapidly when they are forced to. We
Interview with SAP
Daniel Yu, Senior Vice President Solution Management and Product Marketing, SAP Data and Analytics
saw this for example with the accelerated move the Cloud
during the COVID crisis.
Being more data-savvy, and facilitating a data-driven
strategy based on quality rather than sheer quantity, is
a good opportunity for the smaller companies looking to
catch up with the giants, right?
I think any company can do this, big or small. In fact, it is
already happening everywhere: from public sector verticals
to private small businesses in countries you’ve never even
heard of.
I grew up in South America – a region that hasn’t necessarily
led the world in technology investments, yet over the last few
years I’ve seen a lot of great breakthrough innovation in the
region because many organizations there are data-driven;
not because they’ve collected more data or spent more in
technology that other regions.
Are there any businesses that wouldn’t benefit from an
increase in the budgets for data strategy?
I think most organizations benefit from data however, not
all organizations have a data-driven strategy. But do I think
that everybody will benefit from increased data and analytic
spending? I would say that out of all the companies I
converse with, companies that have already spent time and
money on collecting masses of data without a lot of return
on an investment will probably benefit from questioning
where they’re making investments
Ultimately then how can a business go about creating a
successful data-driven culture?
Well, I think two things need to happen. First the direction
needs to come from leadership. I don’t mean the CEO,
but anybody that has influence in the organization should
spend more time ensuring that everybody understands the
organization’s priority and strategic direction. Define the
things you will be doing and the things that you won’t. When
The AI, Data and Analytics Network Trends & Spends Report
22
you have those business goals clear, you can then establish
what impact everyone will add to those goals.
Many of the things I mentioned come from the Japanese
methodology Kaizen. One exercise which stemmed from
this philosophy is called value stream mapping. Every
single organization is a living organism, and you have to
understand the input and output of your organization. The
output is the value you produce. But to deliver value, you
have to make better decisions.
So, with that in mind, for me, it’s about working backward,
ensuring everyone has a clear understanding of what the
goals are so that they can actually understand what value
they are going to produce. This works regardless of whether
or not you are in HR, marketing, sales, product, operations,
or delivery. Wherever you are in the organization, you should
have a clear understanding of how to deliver value for the
entire company.
Finally, you need to educate people on the iterative nature
of inquiring, interpreting, and deciding based on the data.
Companies must understand that the latest technologies
and access to data alone won’t change decision-making.
Technology on its own is not going to solve the problems —
but if you manage to set up a real data-driven strategy, it
just might.
 23

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