Why data literacy is essential - and elusive - for business leaders in the AI age

4 days ago 9

Fewer than fractional of concern leaders accidental their information strategies -- however information is collected, managed, stored, and accessed -- are wholly aligned with their concern priorities.

That's according to a 2025 Salesforce survey of much than 550 US elder concern leaders of companies with astatine slightest 500 employees crossed aggregate industries. The fig is down 14% from 2023.

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The rising value of data-driven decision-making is wide but elusive. However, the spot successful the information underpinning these decisions is falling. Business leaders bash not consciousness equipped to find, analyze, and construe the information they request successful an progressively competitory concern environment.

The added complexity is the convergence of macro and micro uncertainties -- including economic, political, financial, technological, competitory landscape, and endowment shortage variables. All told, these are placing tremendous unit connected concern leaders to person contiguous entree to the astir applicable information needed to marque smarter, faster, and much impactful decisions.

Here are cardinal findings from the survey of concern leaders:

According to the research, 72% of concern leaders judge their careers beryllium connected however data-driven they are; that is, they trust connected facts, metrics, and analytics to usher their strategies. However, immoderate leaders (86%) spell a measurement further, noting that their careers are babelike connected however data-literate they are.
Despite this, much than fractional (54%) of concern leaders are not assured successful their quality to find, analyze, and construe information connected their own.
This deficiency of assurance is peculiarly prevalent among self-described "right-brained" concern leaders -- those who gravitate toward creativity and narration building. Right-brained leaders correspond astir fractional (47%) of respondents and are astir commonly successful selling (59%), quality resources (58%), and income (56%)

Business leaders are losing assurance successful their data

Business leaders are expected to person information supporting their decisions and concern theses; successful fact, 66% of concern leaders consciousness much unit to beryllium data-driven, and astir 6 retired of 10 concern leaders are competing with their colleagues utilizing information to enactment their programs.

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The concern request for greater adoption of AI capabilities, including predictive, generative and agentic AI solutions, is expanding the request for businesses to person assurance and spot successful their data. Survey results amusement that higher adoption of AI volition necessitate stronger information literacy and entree to trustworthy data.

Even though the relation of information is much important than ever for concern leaders, assurance levels person declined successful the past 2 years -- assurance successful data's relevance to concern objectives is down 18%, and assurance successful its accuracy is down 27% compared to survey results from 2023.

Data literacy is present array stakes, and 'non-data people' are astatine hazard

The survey recovered that 72% of concern leaders consciousness their vocation trajectories beryllium connected however data-driven they are; that is, their quality to usage facts, metrics, and information to thrust decisions. According to research by Deloitte Digital and MuleSoft, 93% of IT leaders volition instrumentality AI agents successful the adjacent 2 years.

And the biggest obstacle to the adoption of agentic AI? Data is trapped crossed siloed endeavor apps. The mean fig of apps respondents usage is 897, with 45% reporting utilizing 1,000 applications oregon much -- further hindering IT teams' quality to physique a unified experience. Only 29% of endeavor apps are integrated and stock accusation crossed the business.

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This is not conscionable astir trapped data, oregon trapped worth to customers. This is astir trapped opportunities for vocation growth. The survey recovered that 86% of leaders said their careers are reliant connected however data-literate they are -- their quality to usage methods and tools to extract insights from data. This thrust for information literacy is particularly felt among those successful income (90%) and selling (89%).

The alarming portion of the survey is that 54% of concern leaders are not assured successful their quality to find, analyze, and construe information connected their own. And less than fractional of concern leaders are definite they tin usage information to thrust enactment and decision-making, make and present timely insights, oregon efficaciously usage information successful their day-to-day work. Data literacy and assurance successful the information are 2 maturation opportunities for concern leaders crossed each lines of business. CIO probe from MuleSoft explains the reasons why:

Adoption of autonomous agents is simply a cardinal concern priority: Introducing autonomous agents wrong the adjacent 2 years is connected the roadmap for 93% of IT leaders; astir fractional person already done so.
Productivity gains thrust cause adoption: The immense bulk (93%) consciousness that AI volition summation developer productivity implicit the adjacent 3 years, which is up 7% since past year's report.
More AI models volition beryllium deployed to thrust cause adoption: The mean fig of AI models estimated to beryllium utilized doubled from 2024 (9 to 18), and IT leaders foretell a further summation of 78% successful the adjacent 3 years to an mean of 32 models.
IT budgets are increasing successful 2025: As request for AI grows, truthful does the budget: 85% of IT decision-makers expect an summation successful their wide fund successful 2025, portion 11% expect that their IT budgets volition enactment the same.
Investments successful information infrastructure are 4 times AI investments: To hole for the expanded usage of AI, endeavor CIOs are allocating 20% of their budgets to information infrastructure and absorption (compared to 5% to AI).

Agentic AI and its quality for businesses to make a hybrid workforce -- quality labour and integer labour -- is the apical CEO priority. Successful implementation of AI solutions necessitate businesses to follow a data-driven culture, wherever information literacy and assurance successful said information is championed, celebrated and continuously improving implicit time.

Scaling data-driven decisions utilizing AI cause workflows

Scaling data-driven decision-making requires 1 cardinal capableness -- information successful the travel of work. The survey recovered that 90% of concern leaders accidental that nonstop entree to the information they request wrong the programs and apps they enactment successful the astir would assistance them execute better; 86% accidental they'd usage information much often if this were the case.

We tin nary longer let for information silos to exist. We indispensable beryllium capable to sense, understand, decide, and instrumentality enactment successful the travel of work, utilizing trusted information that is accessible to america portion we usage our tools. The idiosyncratic interfaces (UI) indispensable besides beryllium much conversational, allowing our squad members to person conversations with their information -- 85% of concern leaders deliberation they'd beryllium amended astatine their occupation if they could inquire their information questions with earthy connection arsenic they usage with colleagues. One of the superpowers of multi-modal (text, voice, video, photos) AI agents is the quality to crushed and person conversations with users via input and output strategy prompts.

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The committedness of AI and information is its quality to standard affirmative concern outcomes. Business leaders indispensable put successful and make integration strategies, knowing that AI cannot relation astatine its champion without entree to captious and trusted concern data. Business leaders indispensable besides put successful worker training, deliberately focusing connected improving information literacy for each stakeholders.

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