Most chief data officers (CDOs) (81 percent) are prioritizing investments that accelerate artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities and initiatives despite just 26 percent being confident their organization can use unstructured data in a way that delivers business value. To help close this gap, 81 percent of CDOs are bringing AI to data rather than centralizing it.
These are the key findings of a new global study by the IBM Institute for Business Value. It found that enterprise data strategies are rapidly evolving as organizations race to scale AI across their business. The findings suggest that while CDOs are at the helm of this transformation, many say their data is still not ready to unlock AI's full potential.
AI ambitions outpace readiness
Drawing on insights from 1,700 CDOs worldwide, the study reveals a widening gap between organizations’ AI ambitions and their readiness to execute.
While 81 percent of respondents say their data strategy is now aligned with their technology roadmap and infrastructure investments, only a quarter feel confident their data can support new AI-driven revenue streams. Persistent challenges around data accessibility, completeness, integrity, accuracy, and consistency continue to limit organizations’ ability to fully harness enterprise data for AI.
While 80 percent of surveyed leaders have started developing diverse datasets to train AI agents, 79 percent admit being early in the process of defining how to scale and govern them. Despite these challenges, 83 percent of respondents believe the potential benefits of deploying AI agents outweigh the risks and 77 percent are comfortable with their organization relying on outcomes from AI agents.
“Enterprise AI at scale is within reach, but success depends on organizations powering it with the right data,” said Ed Lovely, VP and CDO at IBM. “For CDOs, this means establishing a seamlessly integrated enterprise data architecture that fuels innovation and unlocks business value. Organizations that get this right won't just improve their AI, they’ll transform how they operate, make faster decisions, adapt to change more quickly and gain a competitive edge.”
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The evolution of the CDO role
The CDO role is shifting from data custodian to business strategist as proving data's value remains a challenge, the study found.
The majority (92 percent) of CDOs surveyed say they must focus on business outcomes to succeed in their role. However, only one-third of respondents strongly agree they can clearly convey how data facilitates business results and just 29 percent have clear measures to determine the value of data-driven business outcomes.
Deploying data for competitive advantage is now the top priority for CDOs, ahead of governance and security as core responsibilities. Most (84 percent) CDOs surveyed say their unique data products have already provided significant competitive advantages while 78 percent cite leveraging proprietary data as a top strategic objective to differentiate their organization in the market.