Gartner, the technological research and consulting giant, has identified the top data and analytics (D&A) trends for 2024 that firms must navigate and incorporate—with artificial intelligence, unsurprisingly, featuring heavily.

“The power of AI, and the increasing importance of GenAI are changing the way people work, teams collaborate, and processes operate,” said Ramke Ramakrishnan, VP analyst at Gartner.

“Amidst this technological revolution, organisations that fail to make the transition and effectively leverage D&A, in general, and AI, in particular, will not be successful.”

This year, the top trends include having a “bet-the-business” skill set on AI, effectively managing complexity, having trust both within organisations and in data, and empowering workforces to use AI in D&A.

1. D&A 2024 Trend #1: Betting the Business

As AI continues to revolutionise industries on a strategic level, the research firm advocated for D&A leaders to demonstrate a “bet-the-business” skill set on AI, and earn trust to lead the AI strategy within the enterprise.

On this, Ramakrishnan said: “D&A leaders must demonstrate their value to the organisation by linking the capabilities they are developing and the work they do to achieve the business outcomes required by the organisation.”

“If this is not done, issues such as misallocation of resources and underutilised investments will continue to escalate, and D&A will not be entrusted with leading the AI strategy within the organisation.”

With AI changing the way businesses are run, enterprises are heading towards a cost avalanche, the firm said. In light of this, it’s suggested that D&A leaders should act by implementing a FinOps practice to establish and enforce standards and decrease expenses.

Gartner predicts that, by 2026, chief data and analytics officers (CDAOs) that become trusted advisors to, and partners with, the CFO in delivering business value will have elevated D&A to a strategic growth driver for the organisation.

2. D&A 2024 Trend #2: Managed Complexity

Many D&A systems are delicate, and their redundancies can cause chaos and added costs, the firm highlighted. The second notable D&A trend, then, concerns pivoting from chaos to a state of managed complexity.

“Leading organisations are working to turn this chaos into something they can manage — complexity,” Ramakrishnan noted. “Complexity is, by definition, not an easy place to be, but acknowledging it gives a realistic understanding of the dynamic environment and helps the D&A teams in taking appropriate actions.”

D&A leaders should embrace complexity by using AI-enabled tools to automate and improve productivity, recommends Gartner. This includes investing in augmented data management, decision automation, and analytics capabilities like natural language processing.

Gartner predicts that CDAOs will have adopted data fabric as a driving factor in successfully addressing data management complexity, thereby enabling them to focus on value-adding digital business priorities by 2025.

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3. D&A 2024 Trend #3: Be Trusted

With the increasing accessibility and efficiency of GenAI, there’s a challenge in navigating a world where data reliability is constantly questioned, the research firm stipulated, with a lack of trust within organisations, concerns about the value and quality of data, and regulations around AI leading to a “deluge of distrust.”

On this, and how D&A leaders and teams can respond, Ramakrishnan stated: “If data is not trusted, it may not be used correctly to make decisions,” and that “D&A leaders should use decision intelligence practices to build trust in data and monitor decision-making processes and outcomes.

“Additionally, implementing effective AI governance and responsible AI practices is crucial in establishing trust among stakeholders. It includes making data AI-ready which means it is ethically governed, secure and free from bias and is enriched to ensure more accurate responses.”

4. D&A 2024 Trend #4: Empowered Workforce

“It is important that employees feel empowered through the use of AI in D&A, rather than causing them to feel threatened or frustrated by it,” said Ramakrishnan, concerning the fourth prominent data and analytics trend for this year.

To tackle this, the research firm advocates organisations to invest in developing AI literacy among employees, use adaptive governance practices for effective governance, and implement a trust-based approach to managing information assets.

“AI training is not just about quantity; it also requires a different approach. Recognise that the skill sets required for expert AI users will be very different from other users,” noted Ramakrishnan.

“Gartner predicts, by 2027, more than half of CDAOs will secure funding for data literacy and AI literacy programmes, fuelled by enterprise failure to realise expected value from generative AI,” he added.