ISG Software Research Analyst Perspectives

The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Data Management

Posted by Matt Aslett on 01 July 2025

If a single phrase could sum up the big data craze of a dozen or so years ago, it would be “more data beats better algorithms.” Attributed to Google research director Peter Norvig, the quote effectively summarized a research paper Norvig jointly authored called The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Data and was embraced by big data enthusiasts as articulating the prevalent thinking that enterprises... Read More

Topics: Operations, AI, Data Intelligence, AI & Technologies, AI and Machine Learning

Solace Enables Agentic AI with Solace Platform

Posted by Matt Aslett on 25 June 2025

My colleagues have recently described how agentic artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to revolutionize enterprise computing by automating the handling of static and dynamic complexity to enable software to take action without the need for human intervention. Put simply, agentic AI is the orchestration of the execution of discreet business tasks by a combination of software components... Read More

Topics: Governance, AI, Generative AI, AI & Technologies, AI and Machine Learning, Streaming & Events

Data Lakehouses Enable Data as a Product

Posted by Matt Aslett on 17 June 2025

I have previously described how data as a product was initially closely aligned with data mesh, a cultural and organizational approach to distributed data processing. As a result of data mesh’s association with distributed data, many assumed that the concept was diametrically opposed to the data lake, which offered a platform for combining large volumes of data from multiple data sources. That... Read More

Topics: Operations, Data Platforms, Data Intelligence, AI & Technologies

Salesforce Intention for Informatica Will Bolster AI and Data Efforts

Posted by Matt Aslett on 11 June 2025

I have previously explained how increased enterprise focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and agentic AI is a forcing function for enterprises to take long-overdue steps to improve data management and data governance. Data is integral to AI: large volumes of data are required to train models, while data freshness is important for inferencing in interactive applications and data quality is... Read More

Topics: Governance, Data Management, Generative AI, AI & Technologies, Agentic AI

Google Plots BigQuery Path from Data to AI

Posted by Matt Aslett on 03 June 2025

A little under a year ago, I explained how Google was positioning its BigQuery product as a unified data platform for processing data in multiple formats, across multiple locations, for multiple use cases—including business intelligence (BI) and artificial intelligence (AI)—using a combination of multiple data engines, including SQL, Spark and Python. The evolution of BigQuery as the focus of... Read More

Topics: Data Platforms, Generative AI, AI & Technologies

Knowledge Graphs are Critical to Data Intelligence and AI

Posted by Matt Aslett on 22 May 2025

I recently described how business data catalogs are evolving into data intelligence catalogs. These catalogs combine technical and business metadata and data governance capabilities with knowledge graph functionality to deliver a holistic, business-level view of data production and consumption. The concept of the knowledge graph has been part of the data sector for decades, but adoption has... Read More

Topics: Governance, Generative AI, Data Intelligence, AI & Technologies

Domo Addresses Data Products and Agentic AI

Posted by Matt Aslett on 20 May 2025

Domo is best known as a business intelligence (BI) and analytics software provider, thanks to its functionality for visualization, reporting, data science and embedded analytics. Additionally, as I recently explained, the company’s platform addresses a broad range of capabilities that includes data governance and security, data integration and application development, as well as the automation... Read More

Topics: Analytics, AI, Generative AI, Technologies

The Symbiotic Relationship Between Data Governance and AI

Posted by Matt Aslett on 14 May 2025

Data governance has always been a critical part of the data and analytics landscape. However, for many years, it was seen as a preventive function to limit access to data and ensure compliance with security and data privacy requirements. To fulfill today’s data-driven agendas, many enterprises need an evolved perspective on data governance. The development of new applications driven by artificial... Read More

Topics: Governance, Machine Learning, Operations, AI, Data Intelligence

Informatica Embraces AI for Data Intelligence and Operations

Posted by Matt Aslett on 08 May 2025

It has been a little over a decade since the term data operations entered the analytics and data lexicon. It describes the application of agile development, DevOps and lean manufacturing by data engineering professionals in support of data production. DataOps was initially seen as antithetical to traditional data management approaches, which typically included batch-based and manual tools and... Read More

Topics: Governance, Machine Learning, Operations, AI, Generative AI, Data Intelligence

ThoughtSpot Delivers Democratized AI-Based Analytics

Posted by Matt Aslett on 06 May 2025

Natural language interfaces for business intelligence products existed long before the emergence of generative artificial intelligence. Large language models have allowed BI providers to accelerate the delivery of functionality to convert natural language questions into analytic queries and generate summarizations and recommendations from data and charts. Features that enable natural language... Read More

Topics: Analytics, AI, Generative AI

Headless BI and Data Democratization Enables AI and Data-Driven Enterprises

Posted by Matt Aslett on 30 April 2025

In an earlier Analyst Perspective, I discussed data democratization’s role in creating a data-driven enterprise agenda. Building a foundation of self-service data discovery, data-driven organizations provide more workers with the ability to analyze and use data. I’ve also examined how generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) could revolutionize business intelligence software by using natural... Read More

Topics: Analytics, AI, Data Intelligence

Progress Enables Knowledge Graphs for Semantic AI

Posted by Matt Aslett on 24 April 2025

As enterprises embrace the potential opportunities presented by artificial intelligence (AI), they are quickly finding that good data management is a prerequisite. As was explained in ISG’s State of Generative AI Market Report, AI requires data that is clean, well-organized and compliant with regulatory standards. There are multiple challenges to delivering AI-ready data, including combining... Read More

Topics: Machine Learning, Analytics, IT, AI, Data Platforms, ADM, DevOps

Alteryx Refines AI Platform for Analytics

Posted by Matt Aslett on 13 March 2025

Increased enterprise focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI (GenAI) has served to sharpen the focus on the need for trusted data and reliable analytics and data operations. The ISG State of Generative AI Market Report highlighted that elevated expectations and demands associated with AI are a forcing function for enterprises to take long-overdue steps to improve data and... Read More

Topics: Analytics, AI, data operations, Analytics and Data

Actian Enables Data Discovery and Data Intelligence

Posted by Matt Aslett on 11 March 2025

Data catalogs provide an inventory of data assets that surface metadata from data platforms, analytics tools and applications that can be used to facilitate data discovery and data usage across an enterprise. As I recently explained, however, there are actually multiple types of data catalogs that offer functionality to address specific use cases and user roles, including data inventory, data... Read More

Topics: Governance, Operations

Domo Enables Data Integration, Analytics and AI

Posted by Matt Aslett on 05 March 2025

As enterprises seek to expand and accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) many are finding that longstanding analytics and data challenges are a barrier to success. As was explained in ISG’s State of Generative AI Market Report, AI requires data that is clean, well-organized and compliant with regulatory standards. The need for good data management is by no means new, but the... Read More

Topics: Machine Learning, Analytics, Data, Artificial intelligence, natural language processing

DataOps: Software for Operations and AI

Posted by Matt Aslett on 27 February 2025

Late 2024 saw the publication of the 2024 ISG Buyers Guides for DataOps, providing an assessment of 49 software providers offering products used by data engineers, data scientists, and data and AI professionals to facilitate the use of data for analytics and AI needs. The DataOps Buyers Guide research includes five reports which are focused on overall DataOps, Data Observability, Data... Read More

Topics: Analytics, data operations, Analytics and Data

Agentic AI Reliability Requirements for Data

Posted by Matt Aslett on 25 February 2025

It is now more than two years since the launch of ChatGPT introduced the world to generative AI (GenAI) and large language models (LLMs). GenAI-based assistants and co-pilots are now widely adopted, with individuals and enterprises adopting GenAI models to automate the generation of text, digital images, audio, video and code, amongst other things. More than four-fifths (81%) of participants in... Read More

Topics: Analytics, AI, Analytics and Data

Redpanda Lowers the Complexity and Cost of Streaming and Event Data

Posted by Matt Aslett on 04 February 2025

I recently wrote about the need for enterprises to harness events to process and act upon data at the speed of business. The core technologies that enable enterprises to process and analyze data in real time have been in existence for many years and are widely adopted. However, streaming and events technologies are also commonly seen as a niche requirement, separate from an enterprise’s primary... Read More

Topics: Streaming Data Events, Analytics and Data

Data Catalogs Serve Multiple Roles and Use Cases

Posted by Matt Aslett on 29 January 2025

Metadata management has played a role in data governance and analytics for many years. It wasn’t until the emergence of the data catalog as a product category just over a decade ago that enterprises had a platform for metadata-driven data management that could span multiple departments and use cases across an entire enterprise. ISG defines a data catalog as an inventory of data assets that... Read More

Topics: Analytics and Data

MongoDB Enhances Developer Data Platform

Posted by Matt Aslett on 21 January 2025

Despite all the interest in artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI (GenAI), ISG’s Buyers Guide for Data Platforms serves as a reminder of the ongoing importance of product experience functionality to address adaptability, manageability, reliability and usability. While new and emerging capabilities might catch the eye, features that address data platform security, performance and... Read More

Topics: AI, Analytics and Data