Gartner Data & Analytics Summit 2024 Orlando: Day 2 Highlights

We are bringing you news and highlights from the Gartner Data & Analytics Summit, taking place this week in Orlando, Florida. Below is a collection of the key announcements and insights coming out of the conference. You can read the highlights from Day 1 here and Day 3 here.

On Day 2 from the conference, we are highlighting how chief data and analytics officers (CDAOs) must lead data-driven change management, insights from Gartner’s 2024 CDAO Agenda and how AI risks have become a societal concern. Be sure to check this page throughout the day for updates.

• Gartner Predicts One-Third of Interactions with GenAI Services Will Use Action Models & Autonomous Agents for Task Completion by 2028

Presented by Sarah James, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner

Chief data and analytics officers play a critical role in driving and overseeing major business changes to deliver enterprise value. In this session, Sarah James, Sr Director Analyst at Gartner, discussed how clear, actionable change management plans are essential for both proactive and reactive data-driven change.

• “Recruit change team members who represent the stakeholders implementing the changes and who are affected by data-driven change management programs themselves. Only a few of the ‘must have roles’ are oriented substantively to matters of engaging with people, rather than technologies.” 

• “The building of stuff is the means to the end, not the end in itself. If data management isn't understood as primarily an intellectual endeavor, then you've totally missed the point and you shouldn't be doing data management.”

• “CDAOs must communicate hard benefits for both the organization and the individual stakeholders”

• “You have to be able to measure the results - and the metrics help shape the narrative. People don't make decisions based on data; they make decisions based on narrative.”

• “Address resistance to change by diagnosing cultural and behavioral barriers. Guide stakeholders by contrasting desired and resistant stakeholder behaviors.”

Presented by Nate Novosel, VP Analyst, Gartner

The 2024 Gartner Chief Data & Analytics Office (CDAO) Agenda Survey revealed that CDAOs must rapidly reinvent themselves as drivers of business innovation with the acceleration of generative AI. In this session, Nate Novosel, VP Analyst at Gartner,discussed how the foundational capabilities of data and analytics strategy, governance and solution delivery need to be reframed so CDAOs do not risk becoming irrelevant.

• “Be prepared to spread yourself thin and learn the art of ‘survivable disappointment.’ Choose/navigate the trade-offs of what not to do.”

• “By 2026, 75% of CDAOs who fail to make organization-wide influence and measurably impact their top priority will be assimilated into technology functions.” 

• “Put data governance, master data management, data quality and metadata management in place that support use cases and measurable business value - especially link to innovation cases and opportunities to support AI.” 

• “By 2027, 40% of CDAOs will have rebranded governance as business enablement of strategic business initiatives from the outset.” 

• “By 2026, the CDAOs ability to deliver data and AI literacy, culture change, and a skilled workforce will be a top-three determining factor in supporting business strategy.”

Presented by Svetlana Sicular, VP Analyst, Gartner

The hype around generative AI (GenAI) and the concentration of pretrained AI models in the hands of a few providers make it a societal concern. Organizations must develop AI governance to get ready for new AI regulations. In this session, Svetlana Sicular, VP Analyst at Gartner, discussed new GenAI risks and how AI governance can balance AI value and risk.

• “AI is not just a technology, it’s a leadership responsibility.”

• “By 2027, the productivity value of AI will be recognized as a primary economic indicator of national power.” 

• “AI is the only industry ever that asked to be regulated because there are so many gray areas.”

• “Become familiar with the AI policy and regulation efforts underway in all jurisdictions where you operate. Use them as a baseline for your own policies, but don’t rely on them alone to prepare your organization.”

• “Determine criticality of use cases to assess how much risk is appropriate. Differentiate your governance depending on criticality.”