According to ISG Data Platforms Buyers Guide report by Information Services Group (ISG), demand for advanced data platforms is likely to grow significantly over the next three years as more organisations adopt intelligent applications driven by generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and other forms of AI.
The report stated that by the end of 2027, the development of intelligent applications providing personalised experiences through the use of GenAI will increase demand for hybrid data platforms capable of supporting both operational and analytical processing.
As per the report, despite the anticipated growing demand for hybrid data platforms, there will continue to be a role for specialist analytic and operational data platforms to support a range of intelligent applications that might rely on real-time analytic or operational processing to deliver functionality and contextual recommendations or processing.
The report highlighted that adoption of GenAI capabilities by data platform providers remains relatively nascent. Among the more than 40 providers evaluated by ISG, only one quarter (ten) providers have generally available digital assistant capabilities for converting natural language questions into database queries. Further, other ten providers have natural language query capabilities in preview, while the remainder have such capabilities in development.
Furthermore, the report stated that data platforms are essential for organising, managing, and analysing data within an enterprise, supporting operational applications for business operations and analytic applications for business evaluation. Additionally, data operations platforms and tools, as well as data intelligence platforms and tools, complement data platforms by enabling agile development and facilitating a better understanding of data production and consumption.
The report further highlighted that when choosing a data platform, the primary consideration is whether the workload to be run on the platform is operational or analytic. Operational data platforms support applications for running the business, such as finance, operations, sales and customer experience, while analytic data platforms are used for decision support, business intelligence, data science and AI/ machine learning (ML) analysis.
The report noted that the data platforms market is shifting from traditional relational data models to a proliferation of non-relational data platforms, including the use of NoSQL databases and object storage. Moreover, the increasing importance of intelligent operational applications driven by AI is blurring the traditional segmentation between operational and analytic data platforms.
