August 12, 2026 | In the News

AI ‌Agents ‌Are ‌Turning Data Silos Into An Existential Threat

Modernizing data access and governance is no longer a luxury, and new data proves it. An article in CIO about a recent study from Cloudera using data from Wakefield Research reminds us that breaking down data silos and enabling real-time access to structured and unstructured data is now table stakes for offering agentic AI that people trust.

Firms are quickly deploying AI agents to make decisions on their own, and legacy data architecture is now a speed bump.

CIO points out that modern enterprise systems were designed around human operators, not the high-speed, complex connections that agentic AI agents demand. Data that is too mixed up to untangle is more than an IT pain point; it is actively impeding AI scalability and eroding any return on investment.

The data from Cloudera is stark and shows a need for an industry-wide infrastructure pivot:

• Projects are stalling: 95% of enterprise architects and cloud infrastructure leads have delayed or canceled AI projects over the last year – often pushing six or more initiatives aside – due to data governance, compliance, or regulatory roadblocks.
• Data is constantly in motion: AI workloads’ appetite for data means 97% of infrastructure leaders move data between environments monthly, with close to one-third moving data daily.
• Governance is getting harder: Mobility creates friction. Almost three-quarters (73%) indicate that AI integration greatly complicates data governance.
• Workloads are moving on-premises: To gain the visibility and control they need, 66% of organizations have pushed AI workloads out of public clouds over the last 12 months and into on-premises data environments or private clouds.

“When enterprises deploy agentic AI, basic data access falls short. That’s why these systems need uncompromising governance and immediate multimodal context,” says Nathan Richter, senior partner at Wakefield Research. “We’re delighted to partner with Cloudera to field this research, which clearly demonstrates why IT leaders are completely flipping their data architecture. We were proud to help them to measure the precise impact of this industry-wide infrastructure pivot.”