New Global CDO Report Reveals Data Governance and AI Literacy as Key Accelerators in AI Adoption

Informatica “CDO Insights 2026” study highlights a trust paradox as organizations accelerate AI initiatives, emphasizing the urgent need to improve data management and upskill workforces

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Informatica from Salesforce, a leader in enterprise AI-powered cloud data management, has published a new global study titled “CDO Insights 2026: Data governance and the trust paradox of data and AI literacy take center stage”. The study found that while organizations are rapidly accelerating their use of AI, many face challenges with data readiness, data and AI literacy, required to realize the full value of their AI investments.

The study, which surveyed 600 global data leaders across the U.S., UK/EU and APAC, reveals there is growing adoption in AI. Today, 69% of companies have integrated Generative AI (GenAI) into their business practices, marking a significant increase from 48% just one year ago. Additionally, nearly half of organizations (47%) have already embraced agentic AI. However, this rapid integration is outpacing the essential foundational frameworks required for responsible and effective AI use.

The study uncovers several key findings that underscore the challenges data leaders face:

• Data Reliability Remains a Major Barrier Despite High Internal Trust: Poor data quality continues to be a primary obstacle to success, with 57% of leaders viewing data reliability as a key barrier to moving AI projects from pilots to production. Half of these leaders cite data quality as the top challenge in deploying agentic AI. Despite these challenges, 65% of data leaders believe that most or nearly all their employees trust the data they are using for AI.
• Governance Lags Behind AI Usage: More than three-quarters (76%) say their company’s AI governance does not completely keep pace with employee use of AI technology, increasing exposure to vulnerabilities related to privacy, security and ethical use, as well as regulatory compliance failure.
• Workforce Upskilling Urgently Needed: 75% of data leaders say their employees need upskilling in data literacy and 74% require more AI literacy training to responsibly use AI in day-to-day operations.

In response to these challenges, a vast majority of companies (86%) are proactively increasing their data management investment in 2026. The top drivers for this spending are: improving data privacy and security (43%), enhancing data and AI governance (41%), and upskilling employees to improve data and AI fluency (39%).

Amanda Fitzsimmons, Senior Director of Customer Data at RS Group, commented: "This report highlights the significant risks of accelerating AI adoption without strong data governance and literacy. At RS Group, we address this challenge by embedding governance and accountability into how we evaluate and scale AI initiatives.

"For all AI initiatives, we thoroughly evaluate the technological, security, legal, and strategic implications to maximize opportunities while minimizing risks. This approach helps ensure innovation moves forward responsibly, with risks understood and value clearly defined from the outset.

"Through investments in robust data-driven solutions, comprehensive upskilling, and close collaboration with partners like Informatica, we believe we are taking the essential steps to foster trusted, responsible AI that delivers real, measurable value to our customers and employees.”

“The promise of AI is immense, but so are the risks if you don’t have confidence in a reliable data foundation,” said Krish Vitaldevara, Chief Product Officer at Informatica. “Our CDO Insights 2026 report reveals a ‘trust paradox’, although employees generally trust the data used for AI, many are lacking in data and AI literacy skills, and organizations lack underlying AI governance structures for achieving the responsible and ethical outcomes they desire. This poses significant risk exposure and hurts confidence in AI initiatives.”

“For AI to deliver its transformative outcomes and ROI, organizations must prioritize data reliability, invest in rigorous AI governance and upskill their workforce to help ensure their AI-driven decision making is based on trusted, high-quality data and everyone in the organization knows how to use it responsibly,” Vitaldevara added.

The “CDO Insights 2026" report also highlights the regional differences, data management priorities and vendor approaches, as well as key AI-powered use cases organizations are prioritizing. To view the full report, please visit here.

About Informatica

Informatica from Salesforce is a leader in AI-powered enterprise cloud data management. Its Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) platform enables organizations to connect, manage and unify AI-ready data across the enterprise. With capabilities spanning data cataloging, integration, governance, quality, privacy, metadata management and master data management, Informatica supports a broad partner ecosystem and helps customers unlock the full value of their data and AI initiatives.

About Salesforce

Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, empowering companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way through the power of artificial intelligence, data, and trust. For more information about Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), visit: www.salesforce.com.