Connect, Reason, and Govern: Activating Distributed Data With Agentic AI

A modern architectural approach is helping organizations move agentic analytics from experiment to production. Sponsored by Simba Intelligence from insightsoftware Data + Analytics, this BARC research note by analyst Kevin Petrie, Connect, Reason, and Govern: Activating Distributed Data with Agentic AI explores why many organizations fall behind on AI-driven analytics and what to do about it. Despite widespread AI adoption, only 27% of organizations have analytics agents in production, a fraction of the 50% deployment rate for AI agents overall. The gap is compounded by fragmented data, weak governance, and insufficient context. Meanwhile, 42% of organizations don't trust their AI outputs, underscoring how urgently the industry needs a better approach. Read the report to learn about a solution featuring:

• A four-layer architecture combining a federated semantic layer

• A rich metadata layer

• Intelligent analytics agents

• End-to-end governance controls

Together, these elements enable agents to connect with distributed data wherever it lives, reason about its meaning, and take actions within a governed framework, without costly migrations or brittle pipelines. Drawing on BARC survey data and illustrated through use cases in financial services, healthcare, and the public sector, the report also provides five concrete steps data and AI leaders can take today to move beyond experimental pilots and into production deployments with confidence.