Updated March 12, 2026
Hits and Misses from Gartner Data & Analytics Summit 2026Gartner opened the Data & Analytics Summit 2026 with a memorable metaphor. The keynote framed the current moment as a raft ride through a roaring, treacherous river. The river represented AI. Fast-moving. Powerful. Difficult to control. The message was clear.…
Updated March 11, 2026
AI Can’t Run on Untrusted Data: Why Agentic Analytics Requires Live Semantic ConnectivityA logistics company deploys an AI agent to monitor inventory and automatically trigger reorders. The model is solid. The prompts are well-engineered. The agent connects to their analytics environment and starts running. Three weeks in, it fires a reorder for…
Updated March 5, 2026
Autonomous AI Without a Semantic Layer Is Just Expensive GuessingI've been in the BI and data space long enough to recognize when something fundamental shifts. Denny Lee and I first worked together when he was at Microsoft on SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS), and I was a customer building…
Updated February 25, 2026
Headless AI Agents Are Already Here and They’re Where the ROI IsMost enterprise AI conversations still center on prompts, whether through chat interfaces, copilots, or question-answer workflows. But the highest-value AI agents don’t wait for someone to ask a question. They monitor signals, detect thresholds, and trigger actions. These are headless…
Updated February 10, 2026
AI Governance Isn’t Theoretical Anymore: What Enterprise Leaders Are Actually AskingAI governance discussions used to center on frameworks and theoretical risk scenarios. This month’s TDWI webinar with Cal Al-Dhubaib, head of AI and data science at Further, revealed the many ways in which theory has moved to the practical. As…
Updated December 9, 2025
From Governance to Guidance: The Next Phase of AI ReadinessAI Adoption Has Outpaced AI Readiness Every enterprise I talk to right now is chasing the same goal: operationalizing AI agents and agentic analytics. The enthusiasm is there. The budgets are there. The pilots are running. But the confidence? That's…
Updated September 9, 2025
Why 95% of Enterprise Generative AI Pilots Fail & How to Fix the Failure RateThe Harsh Reality: AI Pilots Are Stalling MIT’s NANDA initiative recently published a study showing that “the 95% failure rate for enterprise AI solutions represents the clearest manifestation of the GenAI Divide.” For executives betting big on AI, that number…
Updated August 21, 2025
Retail Analytics Solutions: How to Eliminate Data Silos and Conflicting ReportsA Fortune 50 home improvement retailer with 2,200+ stores was drowning in data chaos. Finance reported one margin number. Store operations had another. Marketing's revenue figures never matched either department. The reconciliation process? A grueling 2-3 weeks of manual Excel…
Updated March 20, 2025
Semantic Layers in Data Strategy: Enabling Governance and DemocratizationRecently, I had the opportunity to join the EDM Council webinar, Semantic Layers in Data Strategy: Enabling Governance and Democratization, alongside industry experts, including Morgan Templar, Chief Executive Officer at First CDO Partners, and Leigh Pence, Data Governance Senior Tech…
Updated November 21, 2024
New Approach to Governance: Reliability, Relevance, and Integrity – How Semantic Layers Ensure Accuracy and Consistency Across UsersIn today's data-driven world, organizations are inundated with vast amounts of data generated from countless sources. The challenge lies in managing this data deluge and ensuring its reliability, relevance, and integrity. A promising solution to this challenge is implementing a…
