It’s easy to get lost coming out of Newark Airport with a rental car even when you are using Google Maps. So, on a recent trip there, I decided just to follow the two cars in front of me as they seemed to know where they were going.
Unfortunately, they and I ended up in a long-stay parking lot! Google Maps also seemed quite happy about this as well!
I could see the I-95 freeway from my dead-end position in the lot, so I just turned around and eventually found the ramp onto the freeway that I was looking for.
A few weeks later I was at the Gartner Business Intelligence and Analytics conference in Orlando, FL with about 5,000 other people interested in learning more about the future direction of BI. I was told this used to be the conference to go to in order to see and learn about new innovations in BI.
The conference was hard to navigate mainly because it is no longer just dedicated to BI and Analytics. It now includes Data Management, AI, and Governance, and there was a distinct lack of both content and vendors dealing exclusively with BI and Analytics.
The messaging was also confusing, although somewhat understandable given where Gartner sits today. Many of Gartner’s largest clients are the big software companies who pay them lots of money to write white papers, say nice things about them and position their products in the infamous magic quadrants. So, we should not be surprised that these vendors also have a lot of influence over Gartner’s messaging and predictions. Of course, Gartner has to play a precarious balancing act to keep them all happy but, at the end of the day, they manage to do this for the most part.
However, it is difficult to accept that this messaging and these predictions are truly impartial and not heavily influenced by the software vendors themselves.
One such prediction was that operational and BI reporting will be replaced by AI agents. From where I sit, on the front line dealing with organizations’ BI and reporting needs every day, I do not see such a prediction coming to fruition any time soon.
While most organizations are floundering trying to implement successful AI projects, see my January blog post Confusing 2025 with Economy and AI – Time for Scenario Planning at the same time as making cost savings their top priority for this year, see my February post Why BusinessObjects is Important in 2026, the last thing they should be looking at is moving their operational reporting to AI agents. This will be a rabbit hole that they may never find their way out of and will be a very expensive proposition with no ROI.
The sad thing is that about a week after the conference, I was speaking to an organization who told me their CIO had just returned from the Gartner conference and told everyone that part of their new strategy would be replacing their operational reporting with AI agents!
The global economic situation is more confusing, unpredictable and unstable than ever and most organizations are exercising caution as they try to navigate it. I just hope they don’t make the same mistake as I did at Newark Airport and follow the car in front thinking that the lead car knows where it’s going.
