This report unravels the layers of a successful longitudinal data literacy and communications training initiative, illustrating its importance through the lens of a UK-based ambulance service. As a result of this effort, the ambulance corps was able to increase the data literacy and storytelling skills of staff, which in turn bolstered data-driven decision-making, collaboration, and communication, resulting in faster call response times and reduced staff stress and burnout.

In the wake of market volatility and economic uncertainty, making the right decisions could mean the difference between failure and success. The ability to systematically apply data and analytics to drive decision-making has become essential rather than optional. Firms can use the Forrester Data, AI, And Analytics Decision Model to navigate the evolving business landscape and consistently deliver value from their AI investments.

AI is an ongoing hot topic among Forrester clients. Enterprises want to know if they are on track in leveraging AI in their business and what competitors and firms in other categories are doing. To help answer these questions, Forrester’s State Of AI Survey, 2024, asked AI decision-makers around the world about their firm’s AI implementation. This report highlights predictive AI and generative AI (genAI) adoption, budgets, motivators, concerns, and vendor sourcing trends to help tech strategists and leaders understand the current state and trajectory of the market.

As businesses increasingly rely on data and AI to drive decisions, many data and AI leaders are looking for an optimal way to organize data roles. Many teams struggle to achieve their mission due to outdated organizational models, poor collaboration, and rapid technological advancements. While there is no universal solution for structuring data teams, data leaders can use rules of thumb and benchmarks from analogous companies along with the unique characteristics of their organization to set an organizational path. Adopting flexible, adaptive strategies and fostering cross-functional collaboration will make teams resilient and capable of navigating complexity and rapid change to serve enterprise data and AI needs.

In a world where data is as abundant as clarity is elusive, mastering the discipline of decision-making is more important than ever. Many organizations and leaders fall short at decision-making, approaching it intuitively rather than analytically. For those in charge of an organization where success relies on their ability to optimize business decisions, a mystery […]

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to building a successful data practice. By reading this report, chief data officers (CDOs) and data leaders can gain practical guidance on the foundations of a data practice; learn what types of data, analytics, and AI roles to hire; how to optimize team structures; and how to effectively measure success for data and AI initiatives. Here we provide a comprehensive view of the possibilities and best practices for structuring data organizations, offering valuable inspiration for those seeking to enhance their own data teams and drive transformative outcomes within their organizations.

Data-driven businesses (DDBs) must excel in five competencies: strategy, partners/people, practices/processes, data, and platforms/technology. Underemphasizing or deprioritizing any of the five will significantly jeopardize chances to become a more advanced data-driven business. This customizable tool dives into the partners/people part of the success equation, defining 19 major data-driven business roles/personas and showing how these roles interact with each other. Technology and data leaders can use this tool to understand the complex interactions among data-driven business roles.

Organizations rely heavily on data to gain insights into their market performance and to make informed business decisions. Data harmonization — the process of collating and standardizing disparate data sources — can be a challenging task for even the most technologically mature organizations. Using The Coca-Cola Company’s initiative to unify multiple data sources and processes across global business units, this case study shows how companies can use Forrester’s Connected Intelligence Framework, encompassing practices, partners, and platforms, to achieve data harmonization.

A chief data officer (CDO) has executive responsibility over an organization’s data value chain. This report outlines key activities that incoming CDOs should focus on completing in their first 90 days and references relevant Forrester research to help ease the transition and accelerate success.

Generative AI (genAI) has the ability to transform complex or abundant data into human-friendly forms, such as text or images. That ability has significant implications for knowledge management, as genAI can address some of knowledge management’s perennial challenges and offers a viable way to incorporate AI into everyday workflows. Technology leaders and knowledge managers can use this report to determine best first steps in their genAI journey.