Nearly 80% of enterprise IT leaders say limited data access is constraining their AI and data initiatives, despite most organisations reporting active AI integration across core business processes, according to a new Cloudera survey.

The Data Readiness Index, drawn from 1,270 IT leaders across the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, found a stark gap between perceived preparedness and actual capability.

While 96% of respondents said their organisation has integrated AI into core business processes, and 85% said they have a clear data strategy, the majority still report significant data access limitations.

Cloudera describes this as an 'AI readiness illusion' - a belief that organisations are prepared to scale AI even when critical data challenges remain unresolved.

The top barriers to AI return on investment cited by respondents were data quality (22%), cost overruns (16%), and poor integration into existing workflows (15%). Nearly three-quarters (73%) said performance constraints have hindered operational AI initiatives.

The survey found that only 18% of respondents said their data was fully governed. While 71% said most of their data is governed, Cloudera argues that partial governance is insufficient to support enterprise-wide AI.

The report also reveals significant variation across industries. In telecommunications, 54% of respondents said they have full visibility into where their data resides and 51% said they can access all data at any time. In financial services, those figures drop to 30% and 24% respectively. In the public sector, only 31% have full data visibility and just 16% report unrestricted access.

"Enterprises aren't struggling to adopt AI, they're struggling to operationalize it beyond experiments," said Sergio Gago, Chief Technology Officer at Cloudera.

"AI is only as effective as the data that fuels it. Without seamless access to all their data, organizations limit the accuracy, trust, and business value that AI can deliver."

https://www.cloudera.com