Challenges Facing Data, AI, & Analytics Leaders And Their Teams
Data, AI, and analytics leaders face growing pressure to modernize capabilities, scale AI responsibly, and demonstrate impact — all while navigating organizational complexity and increasing scrutiny.
- Business demand for AI and analytics outpaces readiness, governance, and operating models.
- Insights are produced but fail to influence decisions and outcomes.
- Data, analytics, and AI initiatives remain fragmented across teams and tools.
- Governance struggles to balance speed, trust, and accountability.
- Leaders face pressure to prove ROI while modernizing platforms and skills.
To succeed, data, AI, and analytics leaders must shift from isolated initiatives to integrated decision systems that connect data, analytics, AI, and business outcomes.
The Data Behind Today’s AI And Analytics Challenges
of AI decision-makers indicate their organization is already using genAI in production applications
of companies have made limited progress in their data journey, falling further behind competitors each year
of AI decision-makers are highly concerned about developing organizational skills and governance for genAI
Make Data, AI, & Analytics Decisions With Confidence
Data and AI strategy now demands continuous alignment to business decisions — not disconnected dashboards or experimentation. Rising AI expectations, governance challenges, and value scrutiny increase the cost of misalignment. Forrester frameworks help data, AI, and analytics leaders focus investments on the decisions that matter most, unify execution across teams, and establish governance that enables scale without sacrificing trust.
Connect Data To Decisions To Drive Business Impact
This framework helps data, AI, and analytics leaders move beyond insight generation to decision enablement. It centers strategy on identifying high-value business decisions and aligning data, analytics, and AI capabilities directly to those decisions. By focusing on decision clarity, accountability, and outcomes, leaders can ensure that analytics and AI investments improve confidence, speed, and results — not just reporting volume.
Unify Data, AI, & Analytics To Activate Business Outcomes
This framework provides a practical model for integrating data management, analytics, and AI into a cohesive operating model. It helps leaders define shared priorities, establish scalable governance, and align teams around business value. By unifying strategy and execution, leaders can reduce fragmentation, improve trust, and scale AI and analytics responsibly across the organization.
Questions We Answer
Common Data, AI, & Analytics Leader Questions That Forrester Helps Answer
Many leaders generate insights but struggle to demonstrate impact. Forrester helps leaders tie initiatives to specific business decisions, adoption, and outcomes — enabling credible measurement that builds trust with executives and stakeholders.
As AI adoption accelerates, traditional governance models often break down. Forrester research helps leaders design governance systems that embed accountability into workflows, enabling responsible AI use while maintaining speed and flexibility.
Forrester helps leaders move from request-driven prioritization to value‑based decision‑making, ensuring that investments align to the decisions and outcomes that matter most.
Scale Your AI Strategy To Maximize ROI
Unlock the blueprint for AI success. Discover how to align strategy, prioritize impactful use cases, and close the talent gap — everything you need to expedite ROI and achieve tangible success through AI.
Forrester Decisions For Data, AI, And Analytics
Forrester Decisions provides continuous, role-specific guidance to help data, AI, and analytics leaders make better decisions faster — combining research, frameworks, tools, and analyst expertise to support strategy, governance, and execution.
What’s Included In This Service
Forrester Decisions services are uniquely built to give you strategic insights for your role as a business leader in your organization and help you deliver on your functional role as a division or department leader. Here’s what’s inside:
Insights
Shape strategy, guide transformational change, and stay ahead of the curve with leading research and insights.
- Customer obsession research
- Customer insights
- Trends and predictions
- Market forecasts
- Industry highlights
- Planning guides
- Technology and service provider landscapes
- Forrester Wave™ evaluations
Tools
Empower your team to conquer your priorities with proven strategic models and plug-and-play templates.
- KPIs and peer benchmarks
- Assessments
- Strategic models and frameworks
- Execution tools and templates
- Forrester Wave™ evaluations for your function
- Certification courses
Guidance
Accelerate progress and de-risk decisions with expert advice and hands-on support tailored to you and your team.
- Guidance sessions
- Peer discussions
- Event attendance
- Client webinars
- Dedicated relationship management
Forrester AI Where You Work
Powered by generative AI, Forrester AI helps clients make progress on their top initiatives faster, with trusted answers from Forrester research. Get AI-powered insights and advice from Forrester directly in the tools you use every day.
Support For Data, AI, & Analytics Leaders And Their Teams
Forrester supports data, analytics, AI, and governance teams with role-specific research and guidance designed to scale decision-making, improve alignment, and accelerate execution.
Executive Leader
Leverage support from a trusted partner and former executive who understands your challenges and supports your strategic agenda every step of the way. Availability may vary by geographic region.
Leader
Procure deep expertise across your functional discipline through expert-led guidance sessions that help you apply unique research, tools, and data to your specific needs.
Team
Develop a common language and toolset to strengthen your team’s expertise and skills with access to relevant certification courses and insights.
AI Access
Equip everyone in your organization to get trusted advice fast through AI in a flexible self-service model.
Key Benefits For Data, AI, & Analytics Leaders
Data, AI, and analytics leaders use Forrester to turn insight into impact and sustain trust across the business.
- Align data, analytics, and AI strategy to business outcomes.
- Improve decision quality and adoption across the organization.
- Govern AI responsibly without slowing innovation.
- Prioritize investments based on value and readiness.
- Demonstrate measurable impact to executives and stakeholders.
What Our Clients Are Saying
Roche Optimizes IT Organization To Get The Most From Generative AI
Learn how Roche partners with Forrester to adapt its IT organization’s skills to leverage generative AI.
How DRÄXLMAIER’s Enterprise Architecture Team Won The Trust Of Its Business Partners
Learn how the enterprise architecture (EA) practice at DRÄXLMAIER expanded its influence and impact across the business.
The Data And IT Team At Newell Brands Works To Communicate Its Value
Learn how the information delivery team at Newell Brands works with Forrester to better communicate its value to the organization.
Afreximbank Develops An IT Strategy To Support Its Unique Business Mandate
Watch this video to learn how Forrester helped Afreximbank develop an IT strategy to support a unique business mandate.
Upcoming Events For Data, AI, And Analytics Leaders
Explore Related Technology Leadership Roles
Data, AI, and analytics leaders work closely with peers across technology and business domains. Forrester offers dedicated guidance for these closely aligned roles and their distinct decision needs.
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For leaders turning strategy into scalable platforms and reliable delivery.
Technology Executives
For leaders accountable for enterprise technology strategy, governance, and value delivery.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Forrester Decisions for Data, AI & Analytics designed for?
It’s built for senior leaders responsible for turning data, analytics, and AI investments into measurable business outcomes while maintaining trust, governance, and scalability. This includes chief data officers, heads of analytics, AI leaders, and senior executives accountable for data strategy, insight delivery, AI adoption, and value realization.
Whether you directly own data and AI strategy or lead teams that support enterprise decision‑making, Forrester Decisions helps you make confident choices that balance innovation, responsibility, and measurable impact.
What topics and priorities does this service cover?
Forrester research addresses the full range of priorities facing data, AI, and analytics leaders — from setting enterprise data and AI strategy to modernizing analytics capabilities, governing AI responsibly, and improving decision quality across the business.
The service also covers cross‑functional challenges such as operating model design, prioritization under capacity constraints, value measurement, and alignment with business stakeholders. As data and AI become inseparable from enterprise strategy, this guidance supports leaders navigating rising expectations, complexity, and scrutiny.
What resources are included in this service?
Forrester clients gain access to leading research, practical frameworks, planning guides, maturity assessments, templates, and analyst guidance designed to de‑risk complex data, analytics, and AI decisions. These resources help leaders assess readiness, prioritize initiatives, and guide execution with confidence. Clients also receive access to Forrester AI, which surfaces trusted Forrester insights directly within daily workflows, helping leaders apply research faster and make better decisions in the moment.
How does Forrester Decisions help data, AI, and analytics leaders deliver sustained results?
Forrester Decisions helps leaders move from isolated initiatives to integrated decision systems that connect data, analytics, AI, and business outcomes. Our frameworks focus on aligning investments to the decisions that matter most, unifying execution across teams, and establishing governance that enables scale without slowing progress.
By combining continuous research, practical tools, and expert guidance, Forrester supports leaders as they adapt to changing demands, recalibrate priorities, and consistently demonstrate value to executives and stakeholders.
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