A data foundation is critical for businesses that want to leverage AI, and the quality of this foundation will determine the success or failure of AI-driven initiatives.
This is according to Tejas Mehta, senior VP and GM for the Middle East and Africa region at Qlik.
Speaking at the Qlik AI Reality Tour in Johannesburg on 17 September, Mehta said Qlik’s research found that 72% of organisatins is unstructured, and 70% of companies are failing to realise the value of this unstructured data.
These statistics have driven Qlik to enhance its data and AI management strategy, aligning with the market's growing need for maturity in handling AI.
Mehta emphasized that unlocking the full potential of AI requires rigorous effort and careful attention to each step of the process, beginning with the creation of a high-quality data foundation.Mehta said according to the company’s research, 72% of organisations cite data management as a primary challenge, one which prevents them from scaling AI use cases.
Moreover 80% of data in organisations is unstructured and 70% are not realising the value from this unstructured data.
Statistics like these have driven Qlik to enhance its data and AI management strategy, aligning with the market's growing need for maturity in handling AI.
Mehta said that extracting full value of AI requires hard work, as well as attention to each step in the process to establish a high-quality data foundation.
A key aspect of Qlik’s strategy is to assist businesses as AI use cases emerge, and help them adapt to evolving user expectations around the technology.
“Customers want to use AI to generate predictive outcomes, an end-to-end process that takes data through to outcomes.”
This process involves rapidly moving and transforming data at scale, establishing trust through governance and access management, and ensuring confidence in AI models. Ultimately, it enables organisations to analyse, predict, and make informed decisions based on their data.
Qlik Talend cloud platform
The company’s focus on tnd successful AI has materialised in a platform that customers can use to establish a solid data foundation.
The company's focus on the need for a data foundation for AI success has led to the creation of a platform that helps customers achieve this.
Qlik’s acquisition of Talend in May 2023 enabled the launch of the Qlik Talend cloud platform.
Play the long game
Qlik’s chief strategy officer, James Fisher, said while most organisations are still grappling with the complexities of AI, there are no shortcuts – to derive value, companies must play the long game.
Qlik’s commissioned research, Untapped Insights: Unstructured Data & GenAI, found that only 25% of organisations have a formal AI strategy, and just 35% possess the necessary AI skills.
Citing Deloitte’s State of Generative AI in the Enterprise 2024 report, Fisher noted that only 18% of companies are seeing significant benefits from AI, though 97% of executives believe GenAI will transform their businesses and industries.
“You cannot wait, but the path to get there is ultimately unclear. To be good at AI, you must play the long game and you cannot skip any steps. In my discussions with C-level business leaders, especially CEOs, the approach by companies is to ‘rush to get AI and find a solution – but do so without exposing the business to any risk’. Ultimately the investment fails to deliver on value.”
He added that the market has largely moved past the hype and there is a greater understanding of the need to get data right, and to be more focused on how, why, when and where AI is used.
Qlik advises businesses to diversify their AI approaches to reduce risk of failure, but also not be afraid to experiment and fail fast. The focus should be on preparing data for AI and carefully selecting use cases.
“Think about all the functions, about use cases that exist and how to leverage more than one model… be careful not to get caught in the ‘use case trap’ and limit the use of AI, otherwise you will only get limited value.”
Fisher said businesses will need more than just AI experts – success relies on a balance of human and technical skills.
He added that GenAI isn't a fix-all: “A bad business process remains bad, regardless of how much GenAI is applied.”
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