The Rise of Data-Driven Decision Making and the AI Challenge
In 2022, Gartner predicted a major shift in B2B sales strategies. According to their forecast, by 2026, 65% of B2B sales organizations will move from intuition-based decision-making to data-driven approaches. This highlights just how critical data has become in today’s business landscape—and why AI must also be part of the conversation.
AI is reshaping how businesses use data. A 2025 MIT Sloan School of Management article explains that generative AI has the power to significantly improve enterprise performance. It enables smarter, faster, and more data-driven decision-making. AI isn’t just a tool—it’s becoming a core part of business intelligence.
But AI is hitting a major roadblock: enterprise data access. Despite its capabilities, generative AI often lacks access to real company data. As Oracle’s Rekha Mathew points out, AI models are trained mostly on public information and don’t understand industry-specific or private enterprise data. Without this, responses are generic and less useful for real business needs.
This lack of access is a missed opportunity, according to IBM’s Jonathan Adashek. In a recent interview, he emphasized that less than 1% of enterprise data is currently available to large AI models. The solution? Stronger data hygiene and better systems integration are urgently needed to close this gap and unlock the full potential of AI.
Data privacy and security concerns remain a top issue. Deloitte’s 2024 report found that 55% of businesses are holding back on AI initiatives due to fears around sensitive data usage. Companies worry about compliance, security breaches, and how their private information will be handled by AI platforms.
The Challenge of Private Enterprise Data
ven with security issues solved, data compatibility is another barrier. According to Salesforce’s Vala Afshar, only 4% of enterprises have data that’s AI-ready. Most companies need to organize, clean, and format their data before it can be used effectively. As IBM’s Adashek put it: getting your data in order may be slow and painful, but it’s also where real progress begins.
he World Economic Forum confirms the gap in readiness. In their 2025 white paper, they reported that just 16% of companies are fully prepared to integrate AI into their operations. That means the majority of businesses still have a long way to go in making their data usable—and gaining a true competitive edge.
Conclusion
Despite the growing potential of AI in B2B decision-making, most companies are still unprepared to fully harness its power due to issues with data privacy, access, and compatibility. Enterprise data remains the missing key for unlocking meaningful, personalized insights that AI alone cannot provide. To truly benefit from AI, businesses must first get their data in order—securely, strategically, and with the future in mind.
