4 Trends in Data and AI for 2021

Priorities look a little different this year as organizations respond to changes in the market, employment, and economy. In 2020 we learned that organizations stowing their data on-premises were in for a reality check and that governance means more than data quality. Whether you spent 2020 evaluating your IT environment to keep the lights on or sought learnings to enhance business processes, below are four trends to look forward to in 2021.

Action-Oriented AI

Implementing AI into your business looks a little different than any other software implementation. According to VentureBeat, 87% of data science models never make it into production.

This is because maintenance, testing, and management are necessary steps in launching enterprise data science initiatives.

In 2021, we’re going to see a continued rise in MLOps and model management. These are the essentials to ensuring your AI, ML, or Deep Learning investments are supported by effective governance, measurement processes, technologies, and more. Businesses looking to implement effective enterprise data science need to understand the maintenance involved and reinforce the steps within their culture and operations to avoid becoming one of the 87% mentioned above.

Data Literacy

Data users are not just the ones in IT. At CCG, we see a spike in collaboration with Finance, Innovation/Product, and Marketing departments looking for data and AI services. More department leaders see the value in making decisions based on data and ensuring their teams have access to analytics to improve processes.

“In 2021, we can expect to see a push to increase data literacy skills among professionals in all industries and roles (not just the data experts). There will be a move towards educating employees at all levels on how to read, analyze, interpret, and communicate with data”. Says Kate Strachnyi, Founder of DATAcated.

Businesses looking to improve data literacy should look for ways to overcome barriers to analytics adoption across the enterprise.

Monetization of Data

As we learned via Infonomics, most companies are leveraging data as an asset, whether they know it or not. Businesses that are not harvesting the value from their data environments will be left in the dust by organizations listing it in marketplaces.

According to Bill Schmarzo, “Organizations begin to appreciate the economic value of data and analytics, digital assets that never wear out and get more valuable the more they are used.” Gartner forecasts that 35% of large organizations will be either sellers or buyers of data via formal online data marketplaces by 2022.

Various factors determine your data valuation, and your business may just be sitting on gold and not knowing it.

Cloud-based Innovations

The gap between analytics and the cloud is becoming smaller every day. Businesses are adding data platforms, applications, and enterprise systems to the cloud for a unified experience. In part, this trend is compliments of the evolving technology, but let us also realize the current employment landscape.

The transition from onsite to remote workforces left many organizations to realize the need for governed, unified data access. Cloud strategy, however, is essential for businesses looking to migrate as complex transition plans and brief timelines can lead to processing failure.

2020 taught us to be proactive with seeking innovative technologies, leveraging data, and inspire change across the organization. Look to professionals to help gain momentum in 2021 with data and analytics strategy, data science and AI maintenance, and cloud optimization.

Written by CCG, an organization in Tampa, Florida, that helps companies become more insights-driven, solve complex challenges and accelerate growth through industry-specific data and analytics solutions.