Reltio: New Harvard Business Review Analytic Services Survey Reveals Massive Readiness Gap for Agentic AI

Reltio^®, the context intelligence platform providing trusted business understanding for the enterprise AI era, announced the release of a new pulse survey by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services (HBR-AS), “Unlocking the Data Advantage in the Age of Intelligence.” The survey, sponsored by Reltio, finds that while 94% of organizations are exploring or implementing AI, a stark disconnect remains between enterprise AI aspirations and data readiness.

“Agentic AI represents a step-change in how work gets done, but its autonomy depends on something most enterprises still struggle to scale: unified, real-time, trustworthy data,” said Manish Sood, CEO and Founder of Reltio.

The survey of 325 global business and technology leaders highlights that while “trust in the reliability of data” is ranked as the most critical capability for AI success (94%), only 39% of organizations say they are highly proficient in this area. Furthermore, only 15% of respondents consider their data foundation “very ready” for the shift toward Agentic AI—autonomous systems that can act, decide, and execute workflows with minimal human supervision.

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Bridging the Readiness Divide

As organizations move beyond traditional automation toward the “Age of Intelligence,” the report identifies data silos as the top barrier to progress, cited by 46% of respondents. Other significant hurdles include insufficient data talent (42%) and unclear data strategies (39%).

“Agentic AI represents a step-change in how work gets done, but its autonomy depends on something most enterprises still struggle to scale: unified, real-time, trustworthy data,” said Manish Sood, CEO and Founder of Reltio. “This research confirms that the ‘plumbing’—the data foundation—is still the primary bottleneck. At Reltio, we believe that context is the decisive ingredient. Without a connected, governed, and real-time understanding of every entity and relationship, even the most advanced AI agents will fall short of their promise.”

Key Findings

• The Trust Gap: Despite its importance, 34% of leaders describe their data investment management as “very ad hoc and fragmented.”
• Strategic Misalignment: Only 16% of respondents say their organization’s data investments are very organized and aligned with their business strategy.
• The Shift to Context: Experts interviewed in the report emphasize the need for “semantic layers” that act as translation guides for AI, defining core business concepts and mapping relationships across systems.
• Governance as an Advantage: 89% of leaders say data governance is highly important, but only 37% say their organization is highly proficient, suggesting that governance must evolve from a back-office compliance function to a strategic differentiator.

“We are entering an era where AI agents won’t just analyze data; they will act on it autonomously to resolve customer issues, optimize supply chains, and drive growth. However, an agent is only as effective as the context it is given,” said Sood. “If your data is fragmented or conflicting, your AI will be too. The leaders who win in the Age of Intelligence will be those who move beyond experimentation and treat data readiness not as a one-time project, but as a core organizational evolution. Reltio is committed to providing the context intelligence that allows these systems to reason, act, and deliver value with absolute confidence.”