Each year, the Gartner Data & Analytics Summit in Orlando brings together industry leaders, analysts, and innovators to discuss the latest trends and challenges shaping the data, analytics, and AI landscape.

Keep reading to dive into team DataGalaxy's key learnings from the summit, focusing on the future of the data governance market and the insights shared by Gartner analysts.

Gartner's state of the market: Key trends & challenges

The Gartner Data & Analytics Summit in Orlando highlighted several key trends and challenges in D&A and AI, including the following:

Putting people first in governance

One prominent theme was the importance of putting people first in governance. Lindsay from our team noted, "People first was a big message in session titles, session talk tracks, and networking conversations. At the heart of governance is change management, and that means people."

This emphasizes that successful data governance is not just about technology but also about fostering a culture of data literacy and adoption within organizations.

Closing the gap

Another recurring challenge was the persistent divide between business users and IT people, leading to a lack of business user adoption. This issue, while not new, remains a significant pain point for many organizations. The concept of "AI-ready data" was also discussed, with a focus on the need for integrated and socialized data catalogs to unlock the full potential of AI initiatives.

As Lindsay elaborated, "If you are serious about AI, you need to be serious about metadata. Metadata provides the understanding that unlocks the value of data."

A shift in market focus

The market is also witnessing a shift in focus. A prospect observed that the talks over the past few years have transitioned from being solely about governance to including AI and operational/tactical considerations.

This reflects the evolving needs of organizations as they strive to leverage data for business value. Additionally, there is a growing emphasis on tying technology investments to clear business outcomes.

Laurent from our team observed, "The market is definitely moving towards AI-ready data as a key message. The market is under high tension due to economic turmoil and uncertainty. Gaining customers takes more time, and budgets are under pressure. AI is a focus, but data governance remains a challenge and is not there yet. Companies have a hard time managing AI use case identification and value."

Insights from Gartner Analysts

While specific talks from Gartner analysts covered a variety of subjects in data and analytics governance, the general consensus was that data governance is a must for realizing AI success.

Kash from our team noted, "Data leaders and analysts agree that data governance is a must to realize AI success." Additionally, there is a trend towards technology consolidation, with vendors offering combined features for metadata management, observability, and data quality.

Melody Chien’s talk was also mentioned, where she recommends establishing a formal data cataloging for inventorying data assets and capturing metadata as a first step. It was also noted that key themes with analysts closely connected with data and analytics governance point that you need three core pillars:

The debate between best-of-breed and all-in-one platforms continues to be a topic of discussion among decision-makers.

Direction of the data governance market

The summit provided valuable insights into the direction of the data governance market. There is a clear move towards AI governance as data governance evolves to support AI initiatives. Unified tooling and consolidation of tools are also gaining traction. Lindsay pointed out, "Data governance will eventually become AI governance. This includes a unified tooling/consolidation of tools."

Prospects are seeking solutions that offer a holistic overview of their systems, data, and data quality. Automation in data discovery, metadata harvesting, lineage, and glossary definitions is highly desired. Laurent mentioned, "Prospects understand the importance of governance and are still struggling to get a holistic overview of all their systems, data, and quality of it. A lot of need for automation in terms of data discovery (connectors) towards trending technologies."

Here are the main takeaways regarding the direction of the data governance market:

Conclusion

The Gartner D&A Summit provided a valuable platform for understanding the current state and future direction of the data and analytics space.

Key takeaways include the importance of people-centric governance, the need for AI-ready data, and the evolving role of data governance in supporting AI initiatives. As the market continues to evolve, organizations must adapt their strategies and invest in solutions that address these key trends and challenges.