As AI adoption accelerates across industries, a new survey from Dremio underscores the growing importance of data unification, AI-ready architectures, and governance enhancements. The State of Data Unification, AI Readiness, and Governance in 2025 report, which surveyed 101 data and technology leaders, reveals that 86% of organizations are prioritizing data unification in the coming year.
Learn about marketing automation with hekadoc.
Breaking Down Data Silos for AI Success
To maximize the value of AI-driven transformation, enterprises are focusing on strategies that enhance data accessibility and break down silos. The survey found that companies are leveraging a combination of:
- API integration layers (80%)
- Data lake/lakehouse architectures (77%)
- Enterprise data warehouses (72%)
These approaches aim to unify data across multi-cloud environments and improve the quality of AI and machine learning (ML) initiatives. Additionally, 28% of respondents emphasized that better data access is crucial for faster AI development, while 39% prioritize self-service data access to empower data teams and business users.
The Governance Imperative: Metadata Ownership and Open Table Formats
Data governance and compliance remain key concerns, with 88% of data leaders stating that retaining metadata ownership is a top priority. Open table formats are also on the rise as organizations seek vendor-agnostic, flexible data architectures. The survey highlights growing adoption of:
- Delta Lake (66%)
- Apache Hudi (65%)
- Apache Iceberg (53%)
These formats provide companies with greater control over their data, making it easier to integrate, manage, and leverage for AI initiatives.
A Major Shift Toward Unified Data Platforms
“Demand for unified data platforms has reached a tipping point, with organizations actively seeking solutions that simplify data governance, analytics, and AI enablement,” said Tomer Shiran, founder of Dremio.
The report found that:
- 99% of respondents would invest in a technology solution that simplifies data management.
- 98% are interested in demoing a platform that unifies and accelerates data access.
These findings reflect a growing shift toward platforms that eliminate complexity, helping businesses scale their AI initiatives efficiently.
The Industry Push for AI-Ready Architectures
This trend aligns with a Gartner study, which found that 78% of organizations are revamping their data and analytics (D&A) architectures to support AI growth. Many companies are migrating toward lakehouse architectures, which offer the scalability and flexibility needed for AI-driven transformation.
As enterprises strive to overcome performance bottlenecks, data silos, and governance gaps, the push for modern, AI-ready data management strategies is stronger than ever.
For more insights, Dremio will be showcasing its solutions at the Gartner Data and Analytics Summit in Orlandofrom March 3-5, 2025.
The post Survey: 86% of Companies Focus on Data Unification for AI first appeared on AI-Tech Park.
