IT leaders told to prioritise basic strategies to unlock AI potential: report

Around 70% of companies have implemented formal data strategies for their IT locations.

IT leaders must prioritise foundational strategies that encompass data processing, storage, infrastructure, and analytics tools to unlock the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and benefit from data-driven initiatives, according to a Digital Realty report.

The report, based on a survey of 2,254 IT leaders across 11 industries, included 362 IT decision-makers in the financial services industry with a company size ranging from $100m to $100b in revenues. 

It revealed that 70% of companies in financial services have implemented formal data strategies for their current or planned IT locations, whilst 66% are executing AI strategies aimed at launching business offerings. 

Despite this progress, challenges remain in deriving actionable insights from data due to inadequate investments in data systems, infrastructure, and analytics tools, cited by 56% of respondents as a key obstacle.

The top three barriers to drawing insights from data include insufficient investment in data systems (58%), consumer reluctance to share data (44%), and stringent data privacy regulations (41%). 

To address these challenges, many organisations are adopting a distributed data approach, with 79% of respondents already implementing such strategies and 70% aligning their data location strategies with AI plans to keep data closer to where business operations occur.

Distributed data strategies are valued for their ability to enable richer insights by situating data closer to users (44%), fostering deeper understanding of data-driven insights across organisations (41%), and supporting proximity to critical business needs. 

These strategies are particularly impactful in improving customer satisfaction and experience, with 54% of leaders citing this as the area where data-driven insights will make the greatest difference.

Despite the opportunities, only 22% of surveyed leaders have adopted a fully distributed data strategy and are considered data and AI leaders. In contrast, 78% lack active AI utilisation, highlighting a significant gap in readiness to leverage emerging technologies.

As data generation accelerates, organisations must establish robust strategies for managing, storing, and accessing data efficiently. This includes ensuring infrastructure performance meets operational demands whilst complying with local and regional regulations, particularly in highly regulated industries like financial services.

For AI to be effectively integrated into financial services, IT leaders need to refine their data strategies, enhance infrastructure capabilities, and adopt a forward-looking approach that positions their organisations to maximise the benefits of emerging AI technologies in the future.