Access to talent hampers progress on data, AI initiatives

Further data investment

The lack of access to talent has been cited in the ISG report as one of the barriers to data and AI projects.

Additionally, the report found that 65% of leaders believe managing complexity prevents them from using data and AI more than a lack of innovation.

These barriers come despite growing investment in data initiatives, including getting business value from insights (55%) and productivity gains from data and AI (50%).

“Data is the growth area for IT, especially to support adoption of AI,” said Alex Bakker, ISG distinguished analyst and co-author of the study, in a statement. “Companies believe investments in data will ultimately enable better insights and efficiency through AI. But multiple technology and operational barriers are preventing many companies from reaching AI goals.”

However, organisations expect that the number of data users in the organisation (11.5%), as well as the number of data staff deployed (4.5%), will increase in the next two years.