Is Weak Data Holding Back Your AI?

3 Questions Marketers Must Ask Before Launching an AI Strategy

“AI” feels like the most overused buzzword of 2025. And as more industries begin to adopt AI practices and processes, marketers are under pressure to use it to drive efficiency, personalization, and innovation.

But the fact is, 95% of enterprise AI pilots fail to add value according to a recent MIT Nanda report. And despite plenty of executive sponsorship, clear goals, and team training, too many businesses are failing to capitalize on the promises of AI—and the problem is often more foundational than they suspect.

So before diving into (or abandoning) your AI implementation, you have to ask: is your data strategy ready?

According to an MIT Technology Review Insights report sponsored by Snowflake, only 22% of businesses consider their data foundations “very ready” to support AI applications. Marketers continue to face very common challenges when it comes to their data: quality, governance, integration. These challenges will only persist and create new hurdles that threaten to derail even the most ambitious AI initiatives.

This means marketers should be stepping back and asking three questions about their data strategy before moving forward with AI initiatives.

1. Is your data hygienic and accurate?

AI is only as good as the data it’s trained on. Kieran Kennedy, Head of Marketplace for Snowflake, said on our podcast The Marketing Rapport: “you cannot have an AI strategy without a data strategy.” The MIT report highlights that 53% of organizations cite data quality and timeliness as a major challenge. Inaccurate or old data can lead to “hallucinations” in outputs, misinformed decisions, and lost trust.

Businesses must assess whether their consumer data is consistently validated, refreshed, and enriched. This means adopting a strong data practice built around identity resolution and enrichment, monitoring behavioral signals, and the ability to witness consent validation—especially in regulated industries like insurance and financial services.

2. Can you integrate data across silos?

Nearly half of businesses struggle with data integration. The fact that AI thrives on context means that it’s essential to connect disparate data sources, from CRM systems to web behavior to third-party platforms. Without data collaboration and integration, marketers risk missing the full picture of the customers they want to engage—and hindering their efforts to integrate AI practices and processes.

Verisk Marketing Solutions can help by linking and matching records to persistent IDs, enabling a unified view of consumers across channels and online/offline touchpoints. This is especially powerful when you consider your mid-funnel consumers, where understanding in-market behavior outside your own walls can inform relevant, compliant outreach and engagement tactics.

3. Does your business have a data governance framework?

Data governance, security, and privacy are the top concerns cited by 59% of executives in the MIT report. AI can potentially introduce new risks, such as IP leakage, model bias, and compliance violations, all of which require consistent oversight.

Marketers must ensure their data is not only secure, but also ethically sourced and governed. This includes clarity on ownership, consent, and usage rights. Verisk Marketing Solutions’ proprietary data network and deterministic identity graph are built with compliance at the core. This makes it easier for enterprises to use AI responsibly.

Strengthen your chances for AI success with Verisk Marketing Solutions

AI can be transformative to your marketing strategies, but only if your data strategy is ready. At Verisk Marketing Solutions, we help businesses lay the foundation for AI success by providing clean, integrated, and privacy-first data assets and solutions that span the entire marketing funnel.

Whether you’re looking to personalize outreach, enrich CRM records, or optimize performance media, our data solutions ensure you’re targeting the right consumer, at the right time, with the right message.