AI adoption in a world of data quality and data governance concerns

Different leaders delved into how there is a varying level of importance between data culture and data quality and collaborated on how AI adoption can be effectively achieved. There have been numerous conversations around how data culture can be built, examining data quality, and defining data culture, but the specifics of weighing up the importance of data culture and data quality in the AI adoption lens is new.  

Guy Whitley, Director, Strategy for Alteryx sat in on the roundtable discussions and provides the following findings from DataIQ members.  

GenAI is still centre stage 

In an environment teaming with data evangelists from a wide spectrum of industries, the excitement around AI, notably generative AI (genAI), naturally dominated the day, and it was our pleasure to chair multiple animated discussions on best practice in setting the core foundations for AI success: data governance and data culture.  

Talk of genAI hype was quickly exchanged for palpable enthusiasm and pride of new proof of concepts, and models in production today, delivering exciting results that are changing the ways these organisations do business. From hyper-personalised recommendations at the fingertips of in-store customer service assistants, to automated product descriptions saving copyrighters countless hours, the participants candidly shared wins with cautious optimism, and exchanged battle scars of long development and fine-tuning cycles littered with hallucinations. The benefits are real, but data leaders must be ready for the journey to get to them. 

But it is the opportunity to harness and nurture this surging enthusiasm from our business counterparts that brings with it the potential for a data culture revolution. Ease of use and accessibility in data and analytics have always been critical, and the bar – or at least the potential future bar – has never been lower.  

Education and awareness, transforming the business understanding of data from by-product to commodity to differentiator has been a journey; now is the time to capitalise on the excitement, capture and prioritise front line needs, to fuel the AI development fire, where appropriate use of each technology makes sense. The message from participants the room was loud and clear, we are ready to receive. 

Good governance for AI adoption 

Good governance should not slow or hinder progress, but instead create sufficient security and confidence to experiment and scale. Despite embracing the cultural tailwinds, this topic brought our tables down to earth, and we were pushed to face the realities within many organisations; data quality was lacking, data sourcing needs optimisation, and latterly data leakage is front page news.  

Best efforts become table stakes as AI exposes the good, bad, and the ugly. But where front-end genAI reveals what is lurking beneath the surface, AI properly applied in the back end, for instance in streamlining and optimising workflows through smart matching, can greatly improve the quest for perfect data hygiene.   

Interestingly, many of the participants around the table spoke of the tenure of this specific debate; although AI has intensified the need –and in some instances resulted in snap decisions – we have been making real strides in the realms of governance and culture for over a decade. 

However, tenure has evidently not resulted in fatigue, nor apathy, but sustained optimism and growth as we – as an industry – learn from each other and strive to implement best practice.  

In our experience, riding this wave necessitates continued improvements in enterprise data governance, while fostering incessant cultural shifts toward democratisation of data, analytics and AI; focus through key sponsorship and lighthouse results will carve a path for success, that creates the confidence, guardrails, and positive environment for the wider organisation to thrive with AI technology by its side.   

Contact Guy Whitley about Alteryx and AI adoption, click here or get in touch via Alteryx Contact Us. 

To get involved with upcoming exclusive roundtable discussions, click here.