The excitement around generative AI (gen AI) and its massive potential value has energized organizations to rethink their approaches to business itself. Organizations are looking to seize a range of opportunities, from creating new medicines to enabling intelligent agents that run entire processes to increasing productivity for all workers. A raft of new risks and considerations, of course, go hand in hand with these developments. At the center of it all is data. Without access to good and relevant data, this new world of possibilities and value will remain out of reach.
Building on our interactive “The data-driven enterprise of 2025,” this article is intended to help executives think through seven essential priorities that reflect the most important shifts that are occurring, what the main complexities are, and where leaders can focus their energy to realize the data-driven enterprise of 2030.
As technology permeates businesses and society, the importance of data will continue to increase—as will the accompanying challenges. The levels of uncertainty and the rapidly changing dynamics of technology mean that there are few clear answers today. But by sticking to the most important priorities and understanding the essence of the issues facing them, data leaders can navigate a path to a data-driven enterprise.
McKinsey Quarterly 60th birthday
We are celebrating the 60th birthday of the McKinsey Quarterly with a yearlong campaign featuring four issues on major themes related to the future of business and society, as well as related interactives, collections from the magazine’s archives, and more. This article will appear in the first themed issue, on the Future of Technology, which will launch in October. Sign up for the McKinsey Quarterly alert list to be notified as soon as other new Quarterly articles are published.
