For enterprise knowledge groups, GenAI expectations are sky-high, and a brand new survey of knowledge and analytics executives by Wakefield Analysis on behalf of knowledge copilot firm Prophecy finds that administration typically leads the cost.
1 / 4 of executives (25 p.c) say their leaders will greenlight any undertaking “with AI as a core element,” whereas the biggest group (44 p.c) are a bit extra cautious, seeing the necessity for AI funding whereas placing not less than some guardrails on the method.
Excessive expectations are fueled by outcomes. The survey discovered that amongst knowledge groups utilizing GenAI, almost half (41 p.c) are seeing general knowledge supply productiveness development of 15-30 p.c, with 46 p.c reporting jumps of 31-50 p.c.
Given common GenAI productiveness beneficial properties of 25 p.c, in response to a study by Goldman Sachs final yr, these outcomes recommend knowledge groups stand to achieve not less than as a lot, or extra, from GenAI than different components of the enterprise.
Adoption is shifting quick. Total, 64 p.c of knowledge groups are already utilizing GenAI, and each group surveyed has, at minimal, plans to make use of GenAI sooner or later. A exceptional 23 p.c say their GenAI efforts are already “totally scaled.” The commonest use case is automated knowledge curation (58 p.c), with conversational analytics (51percent) and knowledge exams and high quality (51 p.c) operating a detailed second and third.
Regardless of GenAI enthusiasm, knowledge executives see obstacles to adoption as properly. The problem mostly cited (36 p.c) is the necessity for higher knowledge governance, whereas 24 p.c say quicker entry to knowledge is essentially the most important hurdle. A considerable minority (36 p.c) say all GenAI initiatives require evaluation at a company-wide stage, probably bottlenecking innovation and growth at these organizations.
Hiring is one other roadblock. Most organizations (67 p.c) have between 100 and 1,000 knowledge sources, and 60 p.c present knowledge to between 100 and 1,000 downstream customers. Hiring and coaching workers to wrangle all this knowledge is a continuing problem. Greater than half of organizations (53 p.c) wrestle to search out and rent extremely expert knowledge engineers, whereas 50 p.c say it’s a problem to onboard and ramp new workers, and 53 p.c to scale staff capabilities to satisfy rising knowledge calls for.
“GenAI has clearly landed in knowledge groups and organizations are already getting worth. Over the subsequent few years, GenAI will remodel knowledge operations high to backside — from knowledge administration to knowledge transformation to knowledge integration, and every part in between. It’s a secular shift within the business,” stated Prophecy CEO Raj Bains. “The problem is to seize the worth of GenAI whereas sustaining the very best requirements of safety, governance and reliability amid a worldwide scarcity of expertise. Moderately than attempt to construct every part from scratch, essentially the most profitable organizations will speed up their deployments by making sensible use of business knowledge options powered by GenAI and confirmed to work in Fortune 500-class environments.”
The survey was performed by Wakefield Research amongst 500 US knowledge and knowledge analytics executives with a minimal seniority of Director, at corporations with a minimal annual income of $1B USD, between November twenty second and December third, 2024, utilizing an e mail invitation and a web-based survey.
For a deep dive into the findings, be part of Prophecy’s session The Impression of GenAI on Knowledge Groups at Gartner Knowledge & Analytics Summit 2025 in Orlando, March 5, 2025. To obtain the total report, go to the Prophecy web site here.
