September 17, 2025
When Insights Don’t Connect, AI Becomes an Expensive Illusion
The AI gold rush is well underway. Companies are hiring data specialists, building integration pipelines, and investing heavily in artificial intelligence to sharpen decision-making. Yet, many of those efforts are built on shaky ground. Without connected insights, AI could become an expensive illusion rather than a driver of strategy.
According to Zappi’s Connected Insights Imperative 2025 report, organisations that have centralised, connected insights achieve vastly different results than those still battling data silos. Companies with connected insights report a 24-point higher satisfaction with their insights function, while half of the respondents admit their data remains fragmented, blocking decision-making and limiting the effectiveness of AI.
Fragmentation Erodes Impact
Although 44% of organisations hired for AI or data integration roles in the past year, fragmentation continues to erode returns. Forty-one percent of respondents called it their biggest barrier, outpacing other issues such as converting insights into action (33%), budget constraints (33%), expertise gaps (29%), and time shortages (26%). As a result, companies funnel resources into AI initiatives only to find themselves with disconnected data, leaving algorithms starved of the clarity needed to generate real business impact.
Nataly Kelly, CMO at Zappi, said: “Connected insights create an accessible foundation where the consumer voice is embedded into every decision, enabling marketing and insights teams to democratize access to consumer intelligence and unlock real organisational impact.”
A rare achievement
Only 38% of respondents said their organisation has truly connected insights, while half remain fragmented, and 12% are disconnected altogether.
When it comes to the benefits, 75% of companies with connected insights are satisfied with their insights function, compared with 51% at fragmented organisations and 48% at disconnected ones. The ripple effect extends to collaboration, too: 80% of connected firms rate their marketing-insights relationship positively, versus less than half among their fragmented peers.
Technology plays a defining role in how companies handle data. Eighty-two percent of connected organisations rely on tech to integrate insights, compared to 69% of fragmented firms and 68% of disconnected ones.
Beyond the Illusion
The report highlights a small set of “Level 4” organisations where insights aren’t a siloed activity but part of an operational feedback loop powered by AI. In these companies, insights function as organisational DNA, influencing decisions daily. Achieving this requires CEO sponsorship, cross-functional commitment, and a culture where insights are non-negotiable.
That cultural piece is critical. A recent MIT study found that 95% of AI deployments have yet to deliver measurable business impact, a sobering reminder that investment alone won’t guarantee outcomes. Joel Neeb, Chief Transformation and Business Operations Officer at 8×8, argues the difference lies in how companies approach adoption. The 5% that are succeeding, he notes, are those that not only understand use cases but also bring employees along the journey.
