People have asked me about my thoughts on what will happen in 2025 regarding data and analytics. This is especially true now that artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI, is in the spotlight.

The truth is, AI in its more “boring” forms, like machine learning, customer segmentation, and predictive analytics, has been quietly reshaping the data landscape for years, ever since the explosion of accessible data. Generative AI might be stealing headlines right now, and it is certainly introducing new possibilities, but AI has been woven into the daily work of data scientists and analytics leaders long before this latest wave of innovation.

So, what do I expect by 2025?

In a nutshell, data and analytics will truly become everyone’s business.

We are essentially moving beyond a world where only data scientists and statisticians with technical, academic, and coding backgrounds hold the keys to valuable insights. Through AI — encompassing both machine learning and generative AI — employees at all levels will be able to make data-backed decisions, often without advanced technical skills. This AI-driven approach is already blending into existing business intelligence platforms, making it that much easier for companies to adopt. As a result, executives, marketers, and even new hires can tap into richer insights to uncover hidden audience segments, spot emerging trends, and pinpoint relationships in massive datasets. It is a game-changer in fast-paced markets where agility and quick pivots can make all the difference.

Part of this shift involves moving away from massive, unwieldy data sets that take ages to parse, toward what we can call “snackable data”. While big data offers depth and scale, it can be cumbersome. Snackable data, on the other hand, focuses on agility, clarity, and immediate usability. It hones in on key metrics and presents them in a storytelling-driven format, so people can understand critical information at a glance — and act on it just as quickly. This human-centric approach lines up perfectly with how modern audiences prefer to receive information, whether they’re scrolling through an app or reviewing insights in a boardroom.

Ultimately, the rise of AI-powered analytics and snackable data signals a broader movement toward the democratization of data. Everyone, regardless of technical skill or job title, can now access and interpret insights to make informed decisions.

The question now is, “How do we transform these AI-enabled analytics results into real actions that can then affect the company’s bottom-line and its relationships with its customers?”

That, I think, is left for the human — the soul behind the AI — to do.