Data Quality Beats AI Hype: What Really Drives Data & Analytics Success In 2026 

Reflecting on our direct interactions with technology users, our extensive market research, and the many Data, Analytics, and AI conferences held in 2025, it’s clear that the conversation around AI has evolved. What began as excitement over a breakthrough promising more automation, productivity, and intelligence has matured into a more balanced discussion — one that carefully weighs costs against benefits.

A look at the latest results from our Data, BI & Analytics Trend Monitor 2026 confirms this shift. Professionals in the field have long regarded strong foundations as more critical than the next big technology trend. Based on feedback from 1,579 participants worldwide, our survey provides deep insights into what truly matters to data professionals in their daily work.

The verdict is clear: data quality management has returned to the number one spot, followed by data security and privacy, data-driven culture, data and AI governance, and data and AI literacy. Only then come topics such as AI, ML, decision intelligence and generative AI. 

Fundamentals Stay On Top, AI Rises In The Slipstream 

The results reflect a clear shift in mindset. The hype is still there, but the focus has matured. Companies are professionalizing AI by first stabilizing their data. Poor or inconsistent data amplifies bias and hallucination risks, making governance, literacy and security non-negotiable. 

At the same time, human-centric topics are climbing higher than ever. Technology alone cannot create a data-driven organization. Structures, responsibilities and skills matter just as much, especially as AI agents and automation enter daily operations. 

Below the top five, the 2026 edition shows that AI is now mainstream. AI, ML and advanced analytics have climbed and hold their position. Generative AI for data and analytics and decision intelligence and automation continue to move upward, but they still follow the fundamentals. The market is clearly professionalizing AI rather than chasing hype.

How important are the trends in data, BI and analytics?

Leaders Do Both, Laggards Do Only The Basics 

A central insight of the Trend Monitor is the clear gap between best-in-class companies and laggards. Leaders rate data quality, data-driven culture and data security highest, just like everyone else, but they add the innovation layer on top. 

They put significantly higher importance on decision intelligence and automation, data valuation and monetization, and embedded analytics and AI. In other words, leaders secure the basics first and then turn data into products and business value. Laggards stay focused on compliance and operations, a pattern consistent across regions and industries. 

The most successful organizations are those that manage to run two agendas in parallel: governance and innovation. They invest in quality, literacy and culture to build the foundation that allows AI to scale responsibly. 

Users Want Foundations, Vendors Push Innovation 

The study again reveals a familiar tension. Business and IT users rank data quality, data security, culture and governance as most important because they need trusted data for daily operations. Vendors, on the other hand, emphasize cloud for data and analytics, AI and especially generative AI. 

How have the trends in data, BI and analytics changed in importance?

Vendors are pushing for future-oriented adoption while users are still repairing their data house. For buyers, this is a useful signal because it helps distinguish durable trends from current vendor priorities. You can download the full report free of charge here.