By Charles Southwood, Regional Vice President Northern Europe & Africa, Denodo
Data is the main driver of innovation in modern society. However, for companies to fully harness the potential for enhanced decision-making and competitiveness, they must enable data democratisation. This means empowering the entire organisation, irrespective of technical expertise, to feel comfortable with data.
Where 2023 was the year in which Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) first came to the attention of the wider public, it is in 2024 that has seen its potential fully realised. At the same time, it’s no secret that AI’s quality is dependent on the data it uses. The higher the quality of the data, the more effective the AI.
According to our 2023 Data Gap Report, 68% of organisations believe there is room for improvement in their data and analytics platform’s efficiency, and 59% are planning to boost their utilisation of AI- based solutions. Based on this, there are some clear benefits of applying Generative AI in a self-service data environment.
The left bone’s connected to the right
Gen AI is changing the way companies operate, transforming processes through automation and significantly improving productivity and innovation, revolutionising the way we interact with data itself. But this process of making information more accessible must be facilitated by data democratisation.
Essentially, the relationship between Gen AI and data democratisation is symbiotic. Gen AI makes information more accessible and understandable, while democratised data enables better training and utilisation of Gen AI models. Together, they hold the promise of making data-driven insights and innovation more accessible, leading to better informed decision-making and enhanced organisational agility in a number of ways.
Generative AI can provide context and a set of explanations that help users understand data, giving them the ability to better interact with it and fully utilise its potential for comprehending information. Furthermore, thanks to LLMs (Large Language Models), each user can access (and read) even the most complex information more easily.
Artificial Intelligence acts as a collaborative platform that facilitates the sharing of ideas and discussions between different figures within organisations. Under this model, all users have access to data, meaning decision making can become truly collaborative. This can bring positive changes to every business area, from the development of complex codes to the definitions of marketing strategies. Generative AI is also able to recognise the preferences of each user, suggesting the most relevant data sets based on their needs. This guarantees faster access to the most useful data for each area of the business. This technology can also simplify and improve relationships with customers, offering personalised messages based on the information collected and analysed.
Thanks to the real-time indications provided by AI, different teams are able to make informed, data-driven strategic decisions. For example, Generative AI can identify and simulate potential risks along the entire supply chain, thus helping to prevent or address them more easily. This opens the door to the optimisation of processes and revenues, as well as the possibility of offering services with greater added value.
AI enables more effective communication, providing organisations with clearer documentation, supported by simple, but detailed, explanations of actions they should take. It should also be considered that data explainability offers a level of transparency that leads to greater trust on the part of end users, thus contributing to greater adoption of the technology itself.
Generative AI learns from user interactions and feedback, improving its responses over time. This allows data platforms to offer constantly improved experiences, provide increasingly timely and relevant insights, and ultimately promote a growing democratisation of data.
From better understanding data to increased collaboration, personalised suggestions, and continuous learning, data-driven decisions today undoubtedly rely on Artificial Intelligence. However, it is imperative that AI is integrated in the right way.
It should come as no surprise that Gen AI will profoundly impact data management in the years to come. Much like other areas of the technology sector, the opportunities presented by Gen AI will accelerate our efforts around all aspects of data management, including self-service, automation, data governance and security. On the other hand, it is becoming increasingly clear that to fully realise the potential of AI assistants powered by Gen AI, we need novel implementation strategies and a reimagined data architecture. This presents an exciting yet challenging future, requiring innovative thinking and methodologies in data management. Through this, Gen AI can deliver on its promise of long-term efficiency and automation.
The convergence of tech and brands 