Updated February 20, 2026

Why Agentic AI Fails Without a Semantic Layer

Many teams assume they’re doing agentic analytics because they support text-to-SQL or chat-based BI. And while conversational BI does change how questions are asked, it doesn’t go so far as to change how decisions are made. It’s like transitioning from…

Posted by: Dave Mariani

Updated February 17, 2026

The Hidden Costs of Letting People “Talk to Data” with AI

Conversational BI pilots succeed because they operate in constrained environments. A dozen users, curated datasets, predictable query patterns. When AI agents enter the picture, everything breaks. Gartner forecasts that more than 40% of agentic AI projects will be abandoned by…

Posted by: Dave Mariani

Updated January 29, 2026

Why Context Became the Most Critical Layer in Enterprise AI

I recently sat down with Juan Sequeda, Principal Researcher at ServiceNow and co-author of Designing and Building Enterprise Knowledge Graphs, to discuss what's happening in enterprise data and AI. Listen to the full podcast episode here. Juan brings a unique…

Posted by: Dave Mariani

Updated January 21, 2026

The Hidden Cost of Semantic Drift in Enterprise AI

Three teams ask the same question: "What was our gross margin last quarter?" Finance's dashboard shows it’s 30%. Sales’ margin reports show 32%. The AI copilot reports 31%. Which one's correct? Technically, all of them. Each system defines "gross margin"…

Posted by: Dave Mariani

Updated January 6, 2026

Data & Analytics Predictions for 2026

As 2025 comes to a close, one thing is clear: the experimentation phase of GenAI in data and analytics is ending. In its place, enterprises are entering a more pragmatic era focused on trust, governance, economics, and tangible business outcomes.…

Posted by: Dave Mariani