A survey from Wakefield Research for Informatica has found that organisations expect to partner with seven tech providers to support their data management priorities in 2026.
Along with having to organise multiple data management providers, the poll of 600 data leaders reported that those companies that have adopted generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) say they expect they will be working with eight IT providers, while those deploying agentic AI anticipate they will need nine.
The survey suggests that some organisations are opting for multiple partners for more practical reasons, such as perceived cost-effectiveness (41%) or to meet the specific requirements of their organisation (41%).
Looking at regional difference, data leaders in the US say cost-effectiveness is more likely to be a reason for companies to use multiple IT providers (48%) compared with those located in the Asia-Pacific region (36%). The UK and European Union falls in the middle at 40%.
According to Informatica, using multiple IT providers for data and AI management increases risk. It believes that the multi-supplier approach suggested by the survey results is just a temporary trend.
As companies develop the skills to do more of their own AI development – combined with industry consolidation of tools and platforms – Informatica believes there will be less reliance on using multiple data management software providers in the future, which it claimed would improve the total cost of ownership of an organisation’s data management strategy.
Among European data leaders, the survey found that 85% of European businesses are increasing their data management investments in 2026, with 23% expecting to significantly increase their spend. The top drivers for this are: upskilling employees to improve data and AI fluency (44%); improving data privacy and security (44%); and enhancing data and AI governance (44%). Businesses in the UK have a heightened appetite to improve data literacy, with 49% planning to invest in this area.
When asked about their AI readiness, more than three-quarters (77%) of European businesses say their company’s AI visibility and governance has not kept pace with employee use of AI technology.
There also appears to be a lack of data and AI literacy. Data leaders believe the majority of employees trust “most” or “all” of the data that their organisations are using for AI. However, 96% believe that employees need more data or AI literacy training to use AI or its outputs responsibly. In fact, 82% say their employees need more data literacy training, and 71% feel there is a need to improve employees’ AI literacy training.
“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. “Although employees generally trust the data used for AI, many are lacking in data and AI literacy skills, and organisations 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.”
He added that organisations need to prioritise 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.
