Making data
AI-ready
but today much of that data lives in silos, tucked away in hundreds of different systems that aren’t interconnected. ServiceNow’s Enterprise AI Maturity Index 2026 found that AI-mature organizations are further along in the journey of getting their data and governance house in order:
of “Pacesetter” organizations assess potential AI applications to understand data requirements
of “Pacesetter” organizations evolve data governance and security policies, including those specific to AI
Building a solid data foundation for AI means connecting disparate data and also contextualizing it in real time. It’s important to have real-time, secure, and governed access to systems and data sources to unify the enterprise data foundation along with an ability to federate live queries across the entire data estate without replication or lock-in.
Data without context won’t drive AI success. It’s crucial to map data to business context and ensure continuous discovery across connected assets, clouds, and AI agents. Every action, exception, and resolution should feed the data flywheel, compounding operational history that makes automation smarter and governance stronger over time.
