Ottawa, ON – September 07, 2026 -- Enterprises that embed real-time data into their workflows are more than three times as likely to see measurable results across the majority of their AI projects, according to a new IDC InfoBrief sponsored by Solace. The study, based on a survey of 623 senior technology decision-makers at companies with over $1 billion in revenue across eight countries, found that organizations classified as real-time data leaders report roughly 23% average annual gains in speed to market, risk reduction, and responsiveness to change.
Agentic AI is the top driver reshaping enterprise data priorities
80% of respondents said they are investing in or already running AI agents, and 90% report increasing their focus on real-time data specifically to support agentic AI initiatives. Survey participants ranked advances in agentic AI as the single biggest force reshaping their data priorities, ahead of security, cost, and regulatory pressure.
Connecting agents to trusted data outranks building them as the top obstacle
40% of organizations identified connecting AI agents in real-time to reliable enterprise data as a top barrier to production deployment, rather than agent construction itself. Data quality and consistency was cited by 46% as the leading technical challenge overall, a concern shared even by the most mature organizations.
Operating practices, not company size, separate AI leaders from laggards
The study found real-time readiness and AI success vary only modestly by company size or industry. 76% of leader-tier organizations run real-time data across most or all operations, compared with just 7% of emerging organizations. Leaders also standardize on a single unified platform rather than fragmented tools and embed real-time data talent directly within operating teams.
Agent deployment and AI project success roughly triple from emerging to leader tiers
Agents deployed in production rise from 20% among emerging organizations to 59% among leaders, while the share of AI projects delivering measurable outcomes climbs from 35% to 67% across the same span.
90% of organizations report real-time data investments meeting or exceeding expectations
Between 94% and 97% of surveyed organizations plan to increase spending on both real-time data infrastructure and agentic AI. "Every enterprise has the same AI models. The winners are the ones whose agents run on trusted, real-time data, and the numbers back it up," said Paul Fitzpatrick, Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer at Solace.
IDC scored respondents from 0 to 100 on real-time data maturity, combining real-time deployment, agentic AI adoption, and measurable business outcomes into four tiers. The survey, conducted in June 2026, carries a margin of error of +/- 3.9% at a 95% confidence interval, with 78% of respondents identified as primary decision-makers for real-time data and 71% owning their organization's AI or agentic initiatives.