The Future of Data Management is More than Just AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) is undoubtedly one of the most prominent and influential data trends in the past decade. From self-driving cars to smart assistants, AI has enabled new possibilities and applications for data and analytics. However, AI is not the only trend that matters for data leaders in 2024 and beyond. Other trends will shape the future of data, such as:

• Data democratization: The trend of making data accessible and understandable to everyone, regardless of their technical skills or background. Data democratization can empower users to make better decisions, create new insights, and innovate faster. However, it also requires a balance between data quality, security, and governance.
• Data unification: The trend of integrating data from different sources, formats, and systems into a single platform or service. Data unification can improve data quality, consistency, and usability. However, it also poses challenges such as compatibility, interoperability, and scalability.
• Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) & low-code analytics: The trend of providing data as a service through cloud-based platforms or tools that enable users to access, analyze, and visualize data without writing complex code. DaaS & low-code analytics can lower the barriers to entry for data users and enable them to leverage advanced analytics capabilities. However, they also raise issues such as vendor lock-in, performance optimization, and ethical implications.
• Data governance: The trend of establishing policies, standards, and processes for managing the lifecycle of data from creation to disposal. Data governance can ensure the quality, security, privacy, and compliance of data across the organization. However, it also demands a high level of coordination among different stakeholders.
• IoT and real-time data: The trend of connecting physical devices and sensors to the internet and collecting real-time data from them. IoT and real-time data can provide rich insights into various aspects of the environment such as health care, manufacturing, or agriculture. However, they also introduce challenges such as bandwidth consumption, latency, or reliability.

In summary, AI is not the only trend that will influence data in 2024 and beyond. There are other trends that will require cross-domain collaboration and innovation among data leaders. These trends have the potential to create new opportunities for value creation from data but they also pose significant challenges that need to be addressed.