New IDC Research Reveals Critical Data Foundations Gap Holding Back AI Success - and the Path Forward for Data Leaders
New IDC research shows organizations with mature data foundations achieve 5.9% operational improvements and 24% faster innovation – yet 46% of data leaders struggle to manage AI expectations
Feb. 2, 2026 – DI Squared, a leading data engineering and analytics consultancy, today announced the release of two groundbreaking IDC research publications developed in partnership with Qlik. The research reveals that while AI adoption accelerates across enterprises, the lack of AI-ready data foundations remains the primary barrier to realizing measurable ROI.
The newly published IDC InfoBrief (Optimizing Service Efficiencies: How Services Providers Help Organizations Overcome Barriers to Build Strong Data Foundations for AI Success) and IDC Analyst Connection (Maximizing ROI from AI-Ready Data: Foundations, Architectures, and Service Strategies) provide Directors and C-level executives with actionable frameworks for building enterprise intelligence architectures that deliver both technical performance and business value.
"Organizations are investing heavily in AI, but without the right data foundation, those efforts simply don’t scale. This research with IDC and Qlik reinforces what we see every day: companies that prioritize a modern Enterprise Data Platform and treat data as a product are the ones able to operationalize AI into broad organizational impact, far beyond isolated pilots," said Trey Smith, COO and Partner at DI Squared.
Key Research Findings
The IDC research, based on surveys of 848 data leaders and 612 enterprise intelligence services buyers, uncovered compelling evidence that data maturity drives business outcomes:
- Organizations with mature enterprise intelligence architectures see 5.9% improvements in operational metrics and 4.4% gains in financial performance
- Companies treating data as a product report 8.7% faster time to value and 10.6% improvements in innovation KPIs
- Organizations investing in enterprise intelligence services achieve 24% faster innovation, 23% increased operational efficiency, and 21% revenue growth
- Yet 46% of data leaders cite managing AI expectations as their top challenge, and 40% face critical skills and resource constraints
The Path Forward: Services Enable AI-Ready Data
The research emphasizes that architecture alone does not solve data challenges. Organizations require trusted services partners who can prioritize technology investments, enable organizational change, and deliver measurable ROI. The IDC InfoBrief reveals that 40% of enterprise intelligence buyers prefer a single primary services provider to develop and execute unified strategies, while 45% seek integrated technology stacks to reduce complexity.
"The partnership between Qlik and DI Squared brings together innovative, flexible solutions and implementation expertise to help enterprises move from AI hype to AI results. This research proves that the right combination of technology, services, and strategy accelerates scalable business outcomes," said Peter Kwisthout, VP Global Channels at Qlik.
Both publications are now available for download at https://info.disqr.com/infobrief and https://info.disqr.com/analyst-connect
The IDC webcast is available to watch at CIO.com
About the IDC Research
The research was conducted by IDC's Enterprise Intelligence Services team, led by Senior Research Director Jennifer Hamel, Vice President Stewart Bond, and Research Manager Reid Sherard. The InfoBrief is based on IDC's Office of the CDO Survey and Enterprise Intelligence Services Survey.
