BARC x Actian Research: Scaling Data Products–Key Challenges and What’s Next
Summary
- Organizations still face challenges scaling data products, particularly around ownership, governance, and cross-team collaboration.
- These challenges are gradually decreasing as enterprises gain experience and refine their data product strategies.
- Data observability is emerging as a top priority (43%) to ensure data reliability and proactively detect issues.
- Future focus is shifting toward building trustworthy, well-governed data foundations to support AI at scale.
Conclusiones del estudio global realizado en 2026 por BARC y Actian entre más de 300 responsables de datos en empresas
Organizaciones de todos los sectores están realizando importantes inversiones en inteligencia artificial. Sin embargo, muchas iniciativas siguen teniendo dificultades para ir más allá de la fase experimental y generar un valor empresarial constante.
Para comprender mejor qué diferencia a las iniciativas de IA que prosperan de las que se estancan, Actian se asoció con BARC, una firma líder mundial en análisis de datos, para llevar a cabo un estudio de investigación global entre los responsables de datos de las empresas.
Basándose en las opiniones de más de 300 encuestados de diversos sectores y regiones, el estudio analiza cómo las organizaciones adoptan y ponen en práctica los productos y contratos de datos, y cómo estos enfoques influyen en el éxito de las iniciativas de inteligencia artificial.
While adoption is accelerating, the research also highlights an important reality: implementing data products at scale remains a work in progress for many organizations.
Informe de investigación global de BARC × Actian (2026)
Scaling Data Products Still Presents Challenges
Despite the growing adoption of data products, organizations report several challenges when implementing them in practice.
Challenges when implementing data products – © BARC 2026
These challenges reflect the complexity of operationalizing data products across large organizations. Implementing this approach requires new practices for data ownership, governance, and collaboration between teams responsible for producing and consuming data.
As highlighted in the research, the transition toward managing data as products is still evolving, and organizations are refining how they structure and govern these initiatives.
Signs of Progress Across the Industry
Encouragingly, the research also indicates that many of these challenges are becoming less severe than in an earlier 2024 study.
As organizations gain experience with data product approaches, they are gradually learning to address operational and governance questions that arise as they scale these initiatives.
This suggests that data products are moving from an emerging concept toward a more established practice within enterprise data strategies.
Future Priorities: Strengthening Data Foundations for AI
Looking ahead, the research also examined which areas organizations plan to prioritize over the next 12 months as they continue scaling data products.
Areas related to data products that organizations are prioritizing in the next 12 months – © BARC 2026
The research shows that the primary driver of data product adoption is data quality—trustworthy inputs for AI systems and decision-making.
It is therefore no surprise that data observability is emerging as the next focus area (43%), as organizations seek greater visibility into the health and reliability of their data pipelines and the ability to detect and resolve issues before they affect production systems.
Alongside observability tools, practices such as data contracts are increasingly used to ensure that expectations around schema, ownership, and quality are clearly defined.
Overall, these new priorities highlight a broader shift: enterprises are increasingly focusing not only on building data platforms but also on ensuring that the data powering analytics and AI is trustworthy and well-governed.
Descargar el informe completo de investigación
Este artículo presenta varias conclusiones clave del estudio de investigación global realizado por BARC y Actian.
El informe completo, Productos de datos y contratos de datos en 2026: la base del éxito de la IA, analiza cómo las organizaciones de distintos sectores y regiones están adoptando y poniendo en práctica los productos de datos y los contratos de datos, y cómo estas prácticas influyen en la madurez de la IA, la gobernanza y los resultados en el mundo real.
Consigue el informe completo para conocer los resultados y descubrir cómo las organizaciones líderes están ampliando el uso de la IA mediante productos de datos.
Descargar el informe completo
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